For Immediate Release
March 21, 2008

Travis County District Attorney Ronald Earle today released the following statement:

The Travis County Grand Jury has indicted former Austin Police Department (APD) Officer Alejandro Sanchez for tampering with a governmental record.

The indictment alleges that Sanchez presented a false document in a legal dispute. The document, a Plaintiff’s Original Petition for Forcible Detainer against Latania Walker and Residential Lease for 6209-B Langham, contained a forged signature of the tenant, Latania Walker.

Tampering with a governmental record is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by confinement in jail for up to a year and a possible fine of up to $4,000.

Last week, the same Grand Jury returned a “No Bill” in another case of tampering, the case involving former APD Officer James Learmonth. Learmonth had admitted to APD Internal Affairs that he had lied in his police report concerning the arrest of Earnest Smith and Phyllis Harris on June 1, 2006.

Learmonth’s statement to Internal Affairs could not be used as evidence against him because under police civil service rules he was compelled to make it.

Such a compelled statement, under the United States Supreme Court ruling in Garrity v. New Jersey, cannot be used as evidence in a criminal investigation and prosecution.

Because the evidence against Learmonth consisted of that inadmissible statement and his patrol car video, which was inconclusive, the Grand Jury declined to indict.

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