WHAT YOU CAN DO: It's simple. Make four phone calls to the following people and voice your protest about this unlawful arrest and detainment. We may be protesting your situation the next time, and it is imperative that we fight to hang on to the right to free assembly and free speech. It's about all we have at our disposal right now to inform the public about government official wrongdoing in our state. Please forward this information to your friends, family, and acquaintances and ask them to do the same.

• San Miguel Co. District Atty Richard Flores (505) 425-6746
• San Miguel Co. Sheriff Benjie Vigil (505) 425-7589
• Las Vegas, NM Mayor Henry Sanchez phone (866) 454-1401, fax (505) 425-7335 (let him know that you will avoid Las Vegas and tell all your friends to do so since you could so easily be unlawfully detained there)
• Governor Richardson (505) 476-2200

While the men were protesting on February 15, Las Vegas Police Lt. Phil Esquibel came out of the DA/Sheriff's building with a camera and stood on the sidewalk blocking the protestor's way. Notice from the picture at the top of this page Lt. Esquibel also grabbed one of the protestors. Then San Miguel County Sheriff Benjie Vigil came out and told the three protestors that they would have to leave. Dale and Lee politely responded that it was a public sidewalk and that they had a right under the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution to peacefully demonstrate there. (They are absolutely correct.) The three protesters made no physical attack or threat. The protestors were fully clothed. They were not yelling or bothering passersby in any way.

Isn't it amazing how three law enforcement agencies: The Las Vegas Police Department, The San Miguel County Sheriff's Department, and the San Miguel County District Attorney's office coordinated so smoothly in their aggression, false arrest, and false charges against three innocent citizens when it comes to self-protection of the reputation of one of their agencies? One wonders if the citizens of San Miguel County enjoy this same swift and coordinated, multi-agency response when it comes to the actual charge of these offices to protect the public from real crime.

The protestors were charged with three crimes:

• NMSA 30-8-1: Public nuisance
  • A public nuisance consists of knowingly creating, performing or maintaining anything affecting any number of citizens without lawful authority which is either:
    • A. injurious to public health, safety, morals or welfare; or
    • B. interferes with the exercise and enjoyment of public rights, including the right to use public property
  • Whoever commits disorderly conduct is guilty of a petty misdemeanor.
  • They were charged with part A, but Lt. Phil Esquibel was ACTUALLY committing part B when he blocked their way and grabbed Gilbert.
• NMSA 30-20-1: Disorderly conduct consists of:
  • A. engaging in violent, abusive, indecent, profane, boisterous, unreasonably loud or otherwise disorderly conduct which tends to disturb the peace; or
  • B. maliciously disturbing, threatening or, in an insolent manner, intentionally touching any house occupied by any person.
    Whoever commits disorderly conduct is guilty of a petty misdemeanor.
  • They were charged with part A above
• NMSA 30-20-3:
  • Unlawful assembly consists of three or more persons assembling together with intent to do any unlawful act with force or violence against the person or property of another, and who shall make any overt act to carry out such unlawful purpose.
  • Whoever commits unlawful assembly is guilty of a petty misdemeanor.

Each of the men showed up separately in February for arraignment. They are ordered not to have any contact with each other in the meantime (another very clear violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution). At first, they were told to show up Monday, February 19, which was President's Day. When Lee called to clarify, they said any time over the next month would do. The case for Lee Kittell was set to be heard before Judge Phillip Romero, but inexplicably it was changed at the last minute without any notice to the parties to Judge Chris Najar, a Governor Bill Richardson appointee, who just happens to be the former sheriff of San Miguel County and Benjie Vigil's supervisor. Lee pled not guilty and was given a very restrictive and conflicting set of conditions of release including:

• he cannot discuss the case with anyone [we obtained these documents from a third party who requested them from the Court]
• he will not leave the City of Las Vegas
• he will reside at his current Albuquerque address unless otherwise agreed to by the Court
• he will avoid all contact with the District Attorney's office and witnesses in this case
• he will not leave his residence between certain (unspecified) hours without prior permission of the court
• he will not possess a firearm, destructive device or other dangerous weapons
• he will not drink any alcoholic beverages or enter into liquor establishments
• he will not take or use any narcotic drugs without a prescription
• he will not drive any motor vehicle unless legally licensed
• he will maintain contact with his attorney on a weekly basis
• he will obey all federal, state, and local criminal and traffic laws

Lee Kittell has provided us with his statement regarding this incident prior to his arraignment. Dale Harapat has provided us with his statement as well. Compare his statement with those of Sheriff Benjie Vigil, Police Lt. Phil Esquibel, and District Attorney employee Tony Valdez. None of the statements contain any specific information about any member of the public with whom the three protestors allegedly interfered. Sheriff Vigil claims a secretary from inside the building noted a "disturbance". All three statements repeatedly accuse the three protestors of yelling and being argumentative and yet none of the many pictures taken by law enforcement show any actions of that type. Lee confirmed that he never yelled or raised his voice.

Law enforcement statements seem to indicate that the three protestors wanted to be arrested. This statement on its face is not credible and Lee confirms that no such requests for arrest were made. Although the statements repeatedly relay Gilbert Bustos' request for an ambulance, all statements concur that no ambulance was called until after the men were arrested, transported to the detention center and seen by a nurse (estimated to be more than an hour later).

Law enforcement statements repeatedly imply that both Lee and Gilbert were exaggerating about chest pain symptoms. Yet, the prison nurse administered nitroglycerin to Lee more than once, the men were transported to a hospital and hospital personnel desired to observe them overnight. Both men clearly have medical histories of heart trouble. Sheriff Vigil implies that Lee had a small container containing a powder substance. Lee's container was a standard nitroglycerin container carried by most heart patients. Nitroglycerin tablets within such a container can get broken and ground into powder over time. A simple test would reveal the nature of the powder substance, but this was not necessary since the prison nurse administered some of the nitroglycerin pills to Lee - information that Sheriff Vigil left out of his statement. Sheriff Vigil once again implies that Gilbert and Lee's medical conditions are not to be taken seriously because both men checked out of the hospital and returned home to their own respective New Mexico cities and cardiologists.

Police Lt. Equibel's statement claims that Tony Valdez was asked to take photographs of the protestors by Assistant District Attorney Tom Clayton, and that Sheriff Vigil "just happened to walk outside and assisted us". This series of statements from Tony Valdez shows the aggression with which the three protestors were treated. "I then got my camera...and proceeded toward Gilbert...he [Gilbert] then approached me and got right in my face and started yelling at me to get off [sic] of his way. I then told him that if he wanted to go by me he could, but I was not going to move off [sic] of his way". If Gilbert had stepped off of the public sidewalk he would have been unlawfully protesting at that point. Gilbert wisely chose to stay on the sidewalk and ask Tony Valdez who was interfering with his protest to move. Tony Valdez openly admits he was obstructing Gilbert's way on a public sidewalk. As described in this article Tony Valdez violated New Mexico Statute 30-20-13. Furthermore, Valdez' statement continues, "Sheriff Vigil then asked that they move onto the gravel area in front of the office." Should the protestors have followed this instruction they would have stepped off the public sidewalk and could have been legitimately charged with protesting in an improper location.

This whole thing smacks of cronyism, false arrest, and fascism. We will keep you informed regarding this situation, but in the meantime, please forward this information to your friends and acquaintances. We need a lot of calls to force our government officials (remember that as a New Mexican these guys work for YOU) to uphold the U.S. Constitution and remove these bogus charges from Lee, Dale, and Gilbert's records.