On June 22, 1979, the United States Department of Justice issued a press release announcing that ...

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TO PRESIDENT CARTER:
On June 22, 1979, the United States Department of Justice issued a
press release announcing that it had determined not to seek indictments
against the Ector County (Odessa) Texas law enforcement officers who vio-
lently beat Larry Ortega Lozano to death. In =nary, Justice found that
no unreasonable force had been used and as a result Lozano's death was not
a crime punishable by federal law.
We take strong exception to this unwarranted decision. In order to
explain and support our position, we have put together a packet of informa-
tion. To maximize the value of this packet, we suggest that you begin by
looking at the photographs included in an envelope which follows this intro-
duction. Then, we urge you to read the pages in the order in which they
appear. It may be helpful to use the index as a cross reference to the im-
portant points from each of the documents. In particular, this index is de-
signed to dispel' the incorrect information upon which the Department of Jus-
tice based its decision not to prosecute.
There are a number of curious actions by the Department of Justice in
this case. As a mattPr of policy, a local U.S. Attorney does not have the
discretion to prosecute in cases involving deprivations of Civil Rights.
Rather, that decision rests with the Assistant Attorney General for Civil
Rights who is currently Drew S. Days III. While the U.S. Attorney cannot go
forward on his own, usually his suggestions carry great weight. In this case,
the local U.S. Attorney conducted a grand jury investigation comprising over
60 witnesses. As a result of the grand jury study as well as a full F.B.I.
investigation, Jamie (cid:9) U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas,
recommended indictment of the law en=nrant officers responsible for Lozano's
death.
Nevertheless, Drew Days and his sucerior. Deputy Attorney General
Benjamin Civiletti. decided to ignore the reco7rerritions of the U.S.
Attorney. Indeed, they determined that the grand jury would not be allowed
to vote on whether to return indictments. In a very unusual move, the grand
jurors were disbanded several weeks in advance of the normal conclusion of
their term. Thus the proceedings were frustrated.
We believe that if you will read the information presented in this
packet you will agree with the Dallas Tines Herald editorial that:
The U.S. Department of Justice has washed its hands of
Larry Lozano by deciding against prcsecuting anyone
connected with his death, but the grime still remains.
The Justice Department has not reached a satisfactory
conclusion in our opinion.
This editorial is included in its entirety at cage 43 of this document.
A decision to correct this gross injustice =last be made by you as the
President of the United States. We believe that we can expect such action.
It is your responsibility as President and it is our right as citizens to
expect no less.
Respectfully;
0.'-.

RUBEN BCNILLA, Attorney at Law At .rney at Law and
National President of the League Chairperson - Mexican American Derrocratics
of United Latin American Citizens
0= ffea is:. 73)
(LULAC)
RUBEN SANDOVAL, Attorney at Law PT= TORRES, Attorney at Law and Chair-
Special Legal Advisor to LULAC person of t':-.e State Bar of Texas, Section
on Sanish s7..-.-akitig----oommunity of Texas
RAY L. RAMIREZ
:,--t.„----1 ,,„Attorney at Law
The League of United Latin Ameri-
can Citizens
(Con't.)
To President Carter
.‘ A
C .
tA, -
'PAUL MORaNO, AAorney at Law
J9NWIN AVALA, Attorney at Law
and Chairperson, Mexican American
TT5,as Regional Counsel, Mexican-
Legislative Caucus of Texas American Legal Defense and
Educational Fund MIMI
cc: PRESIDENTE C. JOSE LOPEZ PORTILLO
HONORABLE GRIFFM B. BELL
U.S. Attorney General
HONORABLE MARK WHIlh
Attorney General of Texas
U.S. SENATOR JOHN TOWER
U.S. SENATOR EDWARD M. KENNEDY
U.S. SENATOR LLOYD M. BaNTSEN, JR.
U.S. SENATOR BIRCH BAYH
U.S. SENATOR HOWARD M. METZENBAUM
U.S. SENATOR CHARLES MATHIAS, JR.
CONGRESSMAN BOB GARCIA
CONGRESSMAN JOHN CONYERS, JR.
CONGRESSMAN MICKEY LELAND
CONGRESSMAN EDWARD ROYBAL
CONGRESSMAN DON EDWARDS
CONGRESSMAN ROBERT DRINAN
CONGRESSWOMAN ELIZABETH HCETZMAN
JOHN HILL
Former Attorney General of Texas
iii
(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)
INDEX
PAGES
1-3 (cid:9) Dallas Times Herald article (February 12, 1978) which is a
general overview of the facts of the Lozano case.
4-9 (cid:9) Medical Examiner's autopsy of Larry Ortega Lozano. This
document concludes the cause of death to be hamocide.
"It is my opinion that this man died from extensive
blunt trauma such as beating, hitting, and kicking
as well as possible small wounds with sharp instru-
ments. Therefore, I consider the mode of death
hanocide." (see page 9)
10-15 (cid:9) Notes from physicians and nurses. In particular see page 1/
where the physician orders 30 miligrams of a strong sedative.
At page 12, the nurse who administers the sedative notes that
just hours prior to his death Lozano was "talkative and coop-
erative, walking in room" and that he gave a urine srecimin
at the request of the nurse.
The fact that Lozano was extremely sedated just prior to
death and was noted as cooperative with the nurse belies the
findings by the Department of Justice that he was struggling
with the law enforcement officials.
16-17 (cid:9) Dallas Times Herald article (February 8, 1978) which summarizes
the medical examiner's report as well as other facts surrounding
the Lozano death.
18-19 (cid:9) San Angelo Standard Times article -0.hich summarizes the -testimony
of one of the other prisoners in the Ector County Jail. Among
other things, the article notes that the prisoner:
"personally witnessed officers trying to get him (Lozano)
to lose his cool so they could work on him again. They
brought Texas Rangers, they brought state police, they
iv
(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)
brought city police up and Pointed him out. They'd
bring than up on the walk around the cell and say
'that's Lozano see what we done to him?' and laugh
about it."
20-22 (cid:9)
A letter (April 22, 1978) from another prisoner dealing with
the night of the Lozano death.
23-23a (cid:9)
A letter from Lozano to a friend which was written from the
jail. Page 23 is a lucid request for clean clothes coupled
with ca plaints about treatment by the police. Page 23a is
an account in Lozano's own hand of his arrest and beating.
24-27 (cid:9)
Editorials from Texas newspapers concerning the case.
28-29 (cid:9)
Dallas Times Herald article (December 29, 1978) concerning an
investigation of police brutality by Texas Attorney General
John Hill which was sent to the U.S. Department of Justice,
but as yet has not been made public. In it Attorney General
Hill finds the death of Jesus Martinez Gallegos, shot by a Waco,
Texas police officer to be unjustified. Hill is quoted (see page
29) as saying that he understood that the Department of Justice
"soon will bring the Gallegos case before a federal grand jury
in Austin". However, Drew Days later refused to allow that case
to be brought before a federal grand jury. See page 30 where it
indicates that the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas
was "frustrated" in that case.
The Hill report evidently stooped just short of concluding as
a matter of law that the Lozano killing was likewise unjustified.
However, it is clear that the greater weight of the evidence was in
that direction and Hill is quoted as calling for further legal action
in both the Gallegos and Lozano cases.
30 (cid:9) San Antonio Express article (June 8, 1979) under a byline which
it indicates that on June 8, 1979, the U.S. Attorney for the
Western District of Texas went to Washington with two of his
assistants "to press for action in the 1978 Ector County Jail
death of Larry Ortega Lozano..."
The article continues noting that "the case had languished
in the halls of the Justice Department since (theli.S. Attorney)
sent his recommendations (to prosecute) in October."
31 (cid:9) San. Antonio Express article (June 9, 1979) again indicating the
U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, Jami Boyd,
"was puShing for federal prosecution in the ... Lozano" case.
32-36 (cid:9) This is a press release dated June 22, 1979 in which Attorney
General Griffin B. Bell announced that in his opinion the "extended
federal investigation into the death of Larry Lozano did not yield
evidence legally sufficient to prosecute..."
Deputy Attorney Benjamin R. Civiletti, acting for Attorney
General Bell, who was out of the country, stated that in order to
justify prosecution it must be shown that the "force used was ex-
cessive, deliberate and not the result of reasonable responsive
action, accident, mistake or mere negligence."
The press release indicates that U.S. Attorney Jamie Boyd and
his staff agreed that the evidence was legally insufficient to
support an indictment." This is contrary to positions they had
taken in San Antonio. (See Danes 26, 30 and 31)
The case is summed up by noting that "the force used to subdue
(Lozano)...on the occasions of his arrest, booking and detention
vi
could not be shown to have been excessive." (page 33) In support
of this statement the press release indicates that four pathologists
had studied the situation. it fails to point out that only two of
them had access to the body, and performed actual autopsies. It
further fails to point out that both of those found unreasonable
force and harocide. See in particular the report of Dr. E.P.
Bornstein's autopsy at pages 4-9 where he concludes that Lozano
"died from extensive blunt trauma such as beating, hitting and
kicking as well as possible small wounds with sharp instruments."
As a result he concluded the "mode of death as homocide". (See
page 9)
The Bornstein autopsy is completely inconsistent with the
study done by the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology more than a
year after the date of death and without benefit of an examination
of the body. The press release does not mention Dr. Bornstein or
his autopsy report nor does it explain why the Department of Justice
chose to ignore it in favor of an examination on the basis of hearsay.
Next, the press release at 34 states that "all credible evidence
concerning the altercations with Mr. Lozano, including the medical
evidence, was found consistent with the deputies' assertions -- that
only necessary force was used." This is inspite of the notes of the
nurse who administered a strong sedative to Lozano only hours before
his death. Lozano was noted as "talkative and cooperative" and as
"walking in the room". Indeed Lozano gave the nurse a "urine speci-
men" at her request. (see cage 12)
Furthermore, the press release neglects to note that the first
vii
position taken by the sheriff's department was that Lozano had
committed suicide. (See page 29) Nor does it explain why the
Sheriff found it necessary to call a meeting of all the officers
involved to "get their stories straight". (See page 3)
Next the press release concludes that "the evidence indi-
cated that Mr. Lozano had been banging on the
had broken a glass window in the cell and that he died a few
minutes after several deputies went to his cell to restrain him
so that a doctor could administer a sedative." (See page 34)
Once again the press release leaves out several important facts.
Lozano was in a padded cell just before his death. In addition
it is unlikely that they would have intended to administer a
second sedative as the first one was extremely strong. In point
of fact the press release fails completely to note that Lozano
had been heavily sedated only a short time before his death.
Then the press release observes that the medical evidence
indicated that "most of Mr. Lozano's injuries were suffered prior
to the day of his death..." This is directly contrary to the
autopsy done by Dr. Bornstein. See page 9 where he concludes
"from the gross appearance, 92 separate hematanas were found dis-
tributed all over the skin, none of them older than a week, most
of them very recent." It is significant also that the medical exami-
nation done on Lozano on January 11, 1978, the day of his arrest in-
dicates only that the "right eye swollen - large laceration on fron-
tal bone right side." (See rage 14) In any event, if Lozano had
been beaten so badly before the day of his death to result in the
viii
condition sham in the photos in the envelope at the end of
this document, it is difficult to understand why the nurse did
not note his condition (see page 12). Indeed her notes indicates
that he was "walking in the roue(Ibid.) The press release sim-
ply ignores all facts on this conclusion.
Next the press release indicates that 'Mr. Civiletti pointed
out that the pathologists did not agree on the exact cause of death.
The pathologists indicated that, among others, the possibilities in-
cluded shock from a blow to the neck, suffocation resulting from an
injury to the larynx caused by struggling against a choke hold, and
an adverse reaction to a phenothiazine drug." (See page 35) Signi-
ficantly the explanation of a blow to the back of the neck and se-
vere damage to the larynx as a result of "a choke hold" would appear
to be inconsistent to the conclusion that only reasonable force was
used.
It is probably even more significant, however, to note that
Deputy Attorney General Civiletti once again completely ignores
the conclusion of Dr. Bornstein that the cause of death was "from
extensive blunt trauma such as beating, hitting and kicking as well
as small wounds with sharp instruments..." (See page 9)
Finally, Mr. Civiletti is ouoted as saying that "the federal
investigation attempted to verify public accusations and press
accounts that local officials att.:.:)ted to cover up the circumstances
surrounding Yr. Lozano's death, but those accounts proved to be false
or incapable of confirmation." (See page 36) Texas Attorney General
Hill's investigation referred to the local examination of the facts
ix
(cid:9)
surrounding Lozano's death as "one sided in nature" (see page
29). In addition, the press release ignores key facts. Once
again it is significant to point out that the first official
position taken by the Ector County Sheriff's office was that
Lozano committed suicide (see pages 16 and 29). It was only
after Dr. Bornstein's autopsy that the story was changed to in-
dicate that Lozano died while being restrained. It is likewise
important that the press release ignores the fact that Odessa
Sheriff Faught confirmed that he met with the persons involved
in the Lozano death "to discuss the probability of a federal in-
vestigation and...to get their stories straight." (See page 17
and page 3). See also the story from The Texas Observer at 57
which documents other accusations of conspiracy by the Ector
County District Attorney John Creen and Sheriff Faught.
37-43 (cid:9) Examples of newspaper coverage (June 23-24, 1979) of the state-
wide reaction to the Department of Justice decision not to pursue
the Lozano matter. It is sumed up in the Dallas Times Herald
editorial:"the Justice Department has not reached a satisfactory
conclusion in our opinion". (See page 43)
44 (cid:9) June 29, 1979 Resolution of the State Bar of Texas, Hispanic Section
condemning the insensitive and irresponsible actions of" the Justice
Department "especially in the Santos Rodriguez and Larry Lozano cases."
In addition this resolution demands "re-opening of the Lozano case..."
45 (cid:9) Copy of June 25, 1979 telegram sent to several U.S. Senators and
Congressmen colylaining of the disrosition of the Lozano case.