sherri13
06-04-2002, 07:47 AM
Monday, June 3, 2002
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A prisoner's respectful letter to a federal judge
finally led to his release - more than two years after the judge ordered
him set free because his conviction had been overturned.
Reynaldo Tovar-Valdivia, now 42, was arrested by Kansas City police in
April 1998 and charged with possessing methamphetamines with intent to
distribute. A little over a year later he pleaded guilty and was sentenced
to 10 years in prison.
But he appealed on grounds that he'd been searched illegally, and won, and
U.S. District Judge Howard Sachs signed an order for Tovar-Valdivia's
release in January 2000.
But somehow, the release never happened, and Tovar-Valdivia remained behind
bars at a federal prison in California, where he had asked to serve his time.
In March, Sachs got a letter from Tovar-Valdivia, including pages from the
October 1999 ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that told the
judge to order the prisoner's release.
"I would like to humbly request that this court makes an order invalidating
my conviction," the prisoner wrote.
It was not clear why he waited so long before writing his letter. But in
the letter, he said he had not been able to reach his lawyer in two years.
His attorney, Larry Pace, said he never heard back from his client.
"I assumed he had been released," Pace said. "He wasn't released. It's nuts."
After Sachs received the letter, he issued a new order, and Tovar-Valdivia
was finally freed April 4.
No one knows what happened to the original order, according to court and
prison officials and deputies.
Patricia Brune, clerk of federal court in Kansas City, said her computer
records indicated the order was routinely processed. "We don't know what
happened," she said.
According to court records, police arrested Tovar-Valdivia on April 6,
1998, at a Kansas City bus station after officers found more than nine
pounds of methamphetamine taped to his body. They had already searched his
bag, with Tovar-Valdivia's permission, and had found nothing out of the
ordinary, but then noticed bulges under his shirt.
In October 1999, the St. Louis-based Court of Appeals ruled that the search
was improper because there was no probable cause, and sent the case back to
Sachs to issue the order freeing the prisoner.
For a man wrongly imprisoned for more than two years, Tovar-Valdivia didn't
appear bitter in his letter to the judge.
He ended it, "Thanks for your time, and have a nice day."
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A prisoner's respectful letter to a federal judge
finally led to his release - more than two years after the judge ordered
him set free because his conviction had been overturned.
Reynaldo Tovar-Valdivia, now 42, was arrested by Kansas City police in
April 1998 and charged with possessing methamphetamines with intent to
distribute. A little over a year later he pleaded guilty and was sentenced
to 10 years in prison.
But he appealed on grounds that he'd been searched illegally, and won, and
U.S. District Judge Howard Sachs signed an order for Tovar-Valdivia's
release in January 2000.
But somehow, the release never happened, and Tovar-Valdivia remained behind
bars at a federal prison in California, where he had asked to serve his time.
In March, Sachs got a letter from Tovar-Valdivia, including pages from the
October 1999 ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that told the
judge to order the prisoner's release.
"I would like to humbly request that this court makes an order invalidating
my conviction," the prisoner wrote.
It was not clear why he waited so long before writing his letter. But in
the letter, he said he had not been able to reach his lawyer in two years.
His attorney, Larry Pace, said he never heard back from his client.
"I assumed he had been released," Pace said. "He wasn't released. It's nuts."
After Sachs received the letter, he issued a new order, and Tovar-Valdivia
was finally freed April 4.
No one knows what happened to the original order, according to court and
prison officials and deputies.
Patricia Brune, clerk of federal court in Kansas City, said her computer
records indicated the order was routinely processed. "We don't know what
happened," she said.
According to court records, police arrested Tovar-Valdivia on April 6,
1998, at a Kansas City bus station after officers found more than nine
pounds of methamphetamine taped to his body. They had already searched his
bag, with Tovar-Valdivia's permission, and had found nothing out of the
ordinary, but then noticed bulges under his shirt.
In October 1999, the St. Louis-based Court of Appeals ruled that the search
was improper because there was no probable cause, and sent the case back to
Sachs to issue the order freeing the prisoner.
For a man wrongly imprisoned for more than two years, Tovar-Valdivia didn't
appear bitter in his letter to the judge.
He ended it, "Thanks for your time, and have a nice day."