Pretrial Services staff is respectful

I WOULD like to show my most gratitude and thankfulness to the Pretrial Services Division on the sixth floor of the Bernalillo County Public Service Building on 401 Roma NW. I am a disabled accused 78-year-old human being, and I have lived the experience of being maltreated. Some people may believe the accused neither needs nor wants some kindness from the staff at every point of the pretrial (period) or during the judicial court period. These assumptions are completely wrong, because we haven’t lost our humanity. We are innocent until our culpability is demonstrated in the final legal determination.

Creating this external stress is unnecessary, and many times the accused is declared innocent. We, the accused elders, have to face a lot of stress during the legal process. In addition to the internal stress, many times, the officers in charge of attending to us in different offices add an external stress with their negative behavior and the lack of kindness toward the accused.

In addition, I have talked on different occasions with many accused involved in legal issues against them, and all agreed that officers and legal staff, without distinction, should show some kindness during every step of the legal process from the first day. Every time I go to the Pretrial Services Division, everybody treats me with respect and patience.

I want to underline the excellent way clerk Naomi Medina treats me. Her patience is enormous because I am deaf and English is my second language; I need to see the lips of the person I am talking to understand what she/he is telling me.

Also, during the months I have been attending the Pretrial Services Division, I have found the incredible help of Rosalinda Galaviz and now Angel Guevara, both of whom treat me with respect and kindness. Let me (be) clear that not only (do) they treat me like this, but all the other accused who (are sent to) their offices.

The whole community of Albuquerque must recognize how (very) humane are all the personnel in the Pretrial Services Division, (and) the rigorous kindness and respect (with) which we the accused have been treated. With this purpose, I talked to Gilbert Jaramillo, the program manager of the Pretrial Services Division, and I was convinced that this information about his staff must be known by the whole community. It is an example of the high standard others attending accused should have.

I would like all the personnel of the Pretrial Services Division (to) read this grateful note. It has been written in the name of all the accused who feel treated as human beings every time we go to this place and we don’t feel excluded from the human race.