DISTRICT ATTORNEY JAIME ESPARZA REVIEWS DISTRICT COURT JUDGE MANUEL BARRAZA
CASES

EL PASO - The district attorney's review of 253 drug cases that
indicted District Court Judge Manuel Barraza handled in three months
on the bench should be completed by next week.

District Attorney Jaime Esparza said in an interview that he decided
to start reviewing Barraza's rulings after learning that a federal
investigation of the judge was under way. Esparza would not say when
he knew that FBI agents were watching Barraza.

They arrested the judge last week on three counts of wire fraud and
deprivation of honest services, and one count of making a false
statement to the FBI.

All of the charges are connected to an allegation that Barraza agreed
to take bribes to sway his rulings. The bribes were money and sexual
favors, according to the federal indictment.

Barraza, who is free on $10,000 bond, could not be reached for comment
Tuesday. He is scheduled to enter a plea Thursday, but probably will
do so without actually appearing in court.

According to district court and district attorney re cords, Barraza
presided over 253 to 278 cases. Some cases had multiple defendants and
involved multiple charges, which is why the numbers kept by the two
offices do not match.

Of the cases Barraza handled, 181 defendants pleaded guilty, 71
received deferred judgment resulting in sentences of probation, and he
dismissed 26 cases.

"I'm not worried about the dismissals because we had to agree to the
dismissals," Esparza said of his line prosecutors. "We are looking at
the other cases, and based on their final disposition, we are seeing
if something isn't out of place."

He said he did not expect to find anything out of the ordinary because
the prosecutors assigned to Barraza's Criminal District Court No. 1
tracked every case and recommended sentences.

"We just want to make sure our final recommendations were followed,"
Esparza said.

Barraza, 53, was elected to the court in November and took office Jan.
1. The state Commission on Judicial Conduct suspended him from his
$140,000-a-year judgeship last week.

Judge Peter Peca has replaced Barraza for the short term. Peca is
overseeing a drug court docket that routinely includes 400 cases every
three months. He declined to be interviewed.