900 days in jail for a man who committed no crime

"Corruptus in Extremis"

Notes from the Police State

• The American "justice" system is one giant clusterfuck of a joke.  Many cases won't even come to trial for two years, three years or sometimes even more.  Such "justice" as there is only goes to defendants with the deepest pockets who are able to hire teams of lawyers.
• Reform  -  As long as the scumbag attorneys charge by the hour there will never be fast trials and true justice.  If lawyers were forced to charge a flat fee or lump sum for their services, there would be no incentive to drag out "justice" for years on end.  But the corruption goes and and on.

(The Oregonian)  -  Benito Vasquez-Hernandez has orange canvas slip-ons, a single spoon, a wristband he wears at all times. He has little else.

He lives in a small cell with a single window high above his head and sleeps on a skinny mattress resting on a cinderblock frame.

Vasquez-Hernandez is treated like any other inmate in the Washington County Jail. But he's unlike every other inmate there.

At 897 days and counting, the 59-year-old may be the longest-held material witness in Oregon and perhaps the nation. He's waiting to testify in a murder case.

Legal experts are aware of no other witness jailed for so long. While no one appears to systematically track such cases, a law professor recalls only one similar instance - more than a century ago, in California.

In Oregon, a judge can keep material witnesses in custody until they testify, or release them pending trial. Under state law, material witness holds have no expiration, but detention typically lasts less than a week.

Civil rights advocates say a witness should never be locked up for long - certainly not more than two years. But it's not only the extraordinary length of Vasquez-Hernandez's imprisonment that disturbs them.

It's also his staggering disadvantages. He's poor. He's had no formal education and can't read or write. He's an immigrant who doesn't understand the American justice system. He's had no contact with his family.

His defense attorney has tried to get Vasquez-Hernandez out, devising a plan to take his sworn statement in a deposition so a judge could free him.

But Vasquez-Hernandez didn't cooperate -- either because he couldn't follow what was happening, as his attorney argues, or because he didn't want to, as the prosecution claims.

Led into the courtroom in an orange jumpsuit and chains last September to make the statement, he had only questions: "Why am I in jail? It's been two years. It's been too long."

His imprisonment now exceeds that of the other material witness in the case: His 28-year-old son, Moises Vasquez-Santiago, who was finally released last fall after 727 days in jail.

The incarceration pushed the son to breaking, a doctor noted. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia while in custody. His lawyer said the isolation Moises felt drove his unraveling.

As for the father, his days inside wear on.

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900 days in jail for not committing a crime.
The windowless cell of Benito Vasquez-Hernandez.