Case 5:20-cv-00095 Document 1-7 Filed on 06/16/20 in TXSD Page 1 of 4

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
LAREDO DIVISION
Gloria Carolina Manzo-Hernandez,
Victor Zepeta-Jasso,
Moises Amadeo Mancia-Mendoza,
Mercy Rocio Duchi-Vargas,
Jatzeel Antonio Cuevas-Cortes,
Victor Manuel Nuñez-Hernandez,

Civil Action No. 20-cv-

Petitioners,
v.
Warden Omar Juarez, in his official capacity,
Respondent.

DECLARATION OF CAITLIN HALPERN
1.

My name is Caitlin Halpern. I am over eighteen years of age and am competent

to give the testimony contained in this declaration. I have personal knowledge of the facts stated
herein, and they are true and correct.
2.

I am an associate attorney at Gibbs & Bruns LLP. Along with other attorneys

from Gibbs & Bruns and the ACLU of Texas, I represent the Petitioners in the above-captioned
action.
3.

On June 5, 2020, I logged on to the Pacer.gov website and navigated to the

Official Court Electronic Document Filing System for the U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of Texas. In that system, I ran a Criminal Cases Report for all pending Criminal and
Magistrate Judge cases filed in the Laredo division between January 1, 2020 and June 5, 2020.
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Attorney David Donatti of the ACLU of Texas ran an identical search. I performed supplemental
searches on June 8, June 9, June 14, and June 16, 2020 to add cases filed after June 5, 2020 and
to update the status of each case.
4.

Mr. Donatti and I personally reviewed each pending case by clicking on the case

number and running a Docket Sheet report. We identified a total of 139 material witnesses in 67
cases who are currently detained, i.e., who have been committed to the custody of the U.S.
Marshal’s Service through an Order on Material Witness Affidavit and have not been ordered
released as of June 16, 2020.
5.

Another 75 material witnesses were recently ordered released on a single day,

June 8, 2020, when defendants in 35 cases pled guilty. All of these witnesses had been detained
for three to six months, and none of them ever testified in the underlying criminal proceedings.
6.

The Material Witness Affidavits for each witness are identical, apart from the

witnesses’ names and nationalities. In addition to seeking the witnesses’ arrest, the Affidavits
request that the witnesses be subject to $25,000 bonds and detained pending disposition of
criminal proceedings.
7.

In every case, the magistrate judge issued an Order on Material Witness Affidavit

without a hearing. These Orders uniformly consist of attestations and signatures added to the
bottom of the Material Witness Affidavit. They therefore grant the identical relief requested by
the government in each case, namely, each witness’s commitment to the custody of the U.S.
Marshal’s Service on a $25,000 cash or surety bond, pending disposition of the criminal case.
8.

Each witness has appeared before the court just once, for an initial appearance.

The initial appearances, which occurred in groups of up to 11 witnesses from as many as 5
unrelated cases, lasted an average of 7 minutes.
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9.

During the initial appearances, the court made a finding of indigence as to each

and every material witness. With the exception of eight witnesses involved in four cases, who
declined appointed counsel during a joint initial appearance, the court appointed counsel for each
witness from the Federal Public Defenders Office or CJA list. The minute entries from the initial
appearances frequently note that the attorney was not present in the courtroom.
10.

The court also set an identical $25,000 cash or surety bond for each and every

material witness. None of the witnesses have been released on bond.
11.

Apart from just two witnesses involved in a single case, every witness is

designated to testify in criminal proceedings under 8 U.S.C. § 1324, which specifically
contemplates admission of testimony by deposition. The court sua sponte ordered the
government to depose and release four witnesses detained in one case, 5:20-cr-00614, where the
defendant was undergoing a competency review. Of the remaining 133 witnesses detained in
65 cases brought under § 1324, none have moved for a deposition or been ordered deposed.
12.

None of the material witnesses have received detention hearings or written

detention orders addressing the potential for conditional release, the individual’s ability to pay a
$25,000 bond, the adequacy of testimony secured by deposition, or the necessity of continued
detention to prevent a failure of justice. After the initial appearances, none of these witnesses
appeared have before the court—either in person, telephonically, or via Zoom—again.
13.

Of the 139 material witnesses currently in detention in Laredo, 57 have been

detained for more than three months, and at least one has been detained since 2019.
14.

None of these witnesses have scheduled release dates. Additionally, on June 14,

2020, the court added minute entries in six cases terminating an upcoming hearing and stating:
“Due to health concerns, Court is cancelled until further notice.”
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I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.

Executed in Harris County, State of Texas, on the 16th day of June, 2020.

__________________
Caitlin Halpern

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