Tom Hayden

LOS ANGELES. Jan. 13. U.S. Judge Manuel Real granted Alex Sanchez bail after a closed ninety-minute session with law enforcement and civic officials today. The former gang member and founder of Homies Unidos is expected to be freed in ten days after posting $2 million property and sureties.

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In an unexpected turn, federal Judge Manuel Real today ordered prosecutor and defense attorneys in the Alex Sanchez case to bring in top LA city and police officials to advise the court about the gang peacemaker’s public activity over the past decade in a special hearing on January 13. Real repeatedly questioned the prosecution’s evidence for the first time in the proceeding’s six-month history. Lawyers and advocates scrambled to make sense of the judge’s order, which must be met in six days. Professor Beatriz Cortez, coordinator of the nation’s first Central American Studies program at Cal State Northridge, was among the skeptics. “How will this hearing be conducted, will it be secret, will the community be left out?”, she asked. Others claimed the judge was going through the motions in response to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recent admonishing. The Sanchez family and official defense team expressed guarded optimism about the development.

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Responding to an admonishment by the federal appeals court, Judge Manuel Real has set a new bail hearing for Alex Sanchez at the federal court in downtown Los Angeles at 10 a.m. on January 6, leaving little time for legal preparations.

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I never expected to write anything like this, but the federal judge in the Alex Sanchez case, Manuel Real, is even worse than Judge Julius Hoffman, who presided over the 1969 Chicago conspiracy trial in which I was a defendant. Such a judgment, I realize, disqualifies me from being taken seriously as a reporter in some circles, but somebody has to say it. Alex Sanchez simply has zero chance of either bail or a fair trial as long as his case is before Judge Real. The evidence follows.

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US Judge Manuel Real denied Father Gregory Boyle, nationally-known for his gang prevention work, the opportunity to testify as an expert defense witness for Alex Sanchez on Monday, then promptly denied Sanchez bail while reading from prepared notes. The prosecution’s fear was that the widely-respected Jesuit priest would dismantle the state’s gang conspiracy case based on his long experience with street gangs in Los Angeles and El Salvador. They received immediate relief from Judge Real who dismissed Boyle’s right to testify on the confusing grounds that Boyle thinks Sanchez is innocent.

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