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The raid on the Reese family gun shop and homes south of Deming took place under a glare of publicity in 2011 as federal agents seized more than 1,400 weapons, $117,000 in cash, $117,000 in gold and silver coins, 17 gun safes and four vehicles.
A trial this summer resulted in acquittal on the most serious charges in a 30-count indictment against Rick and Terri Reese and their son, Ryin — money laundering and shipping guns to the Juárez cartel.
Now, a new problem has come up in connection with the convictions federal prosecutors did win.
How big a problem isn’t known because documents filed in federal court late last month have been sealed at the request of federal prosecutors.
But defense motions that were not sealed claim federal prosecutors violated their clients’ constitutional rights by not turning over documents during their trial.
Terri and Rick Reese each were convicted of one count of making false statements in connection with the acquisition of a firearm.
Ryin, 25, was convicted of two counts of the same charge.
A Homeland Security Investigations agent walks toward the New Deal gun shop, owned by the Reese family, during a raid on the property in August 2011. (Matt Robinson/Deming Headlight/The Associated Press)
Remington Reese, the youngest son of Rick and Terri, was acquitted of all charges, including conspiracy and aiding and abetting gun smuggling.
Lawyers with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Albuquerque filed the documents and 126 pages of exhibits under seal in late November and asked U.S. District Judge Robert C. Brack to keep defense attorneys from disclosing the contents.
Defense attorneys Robert Gorence and Jason Bowles accuse prosecutors of “alleged constitutional violations” in failing to turn over information that could have been used to discredit government witnesses during the Reeses’ trial.
Meanwhile, the sentencing of two prosecution witnesses was delayed after prosecutors filed the sealed documents and has not been rescheduled.
Asked about the sealed filings and why prosecutors asked that they be kept secret, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Kenneth Gonzales said in a statement, “The U.S. Attorney’s Office cannot comment on matters that are sealed or that have been submitted for ruling by the Court.”
Gorence and Bowles did not describe the material in the documents because Brack apparently ordered them not to.
That order is also sealed.
Gorence and Bowles asked the court to release their clients, Rick and Ryin Reese, from jail pending their sentencing and motions for a new trial.
Brack has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. in Las Cruces.
According to court records, Terri Reese’s attorneys, Brad Hall and Pete Domenici Jr., haven’t seen the material sealed by the court and have asked Brack to order the government to disclose the documents.
They also ask for a delay in Terri Reese’s sentencing.
The defense lawyers claim prosecutors violated their obligations that require them to release evidence that could impeach or discredit government witnesses when the reliability of the witness may determine the defendant’s guilt or innocence.
That information is known as “Giglio” material after the U.S. Supreme Court case bearing that name.
Pre-sentence reports
Terri and Rick Reese each face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Ryin Reese faces up to five years in prison for each of the two counts for which he was convicted and fines.
But the actual length of the sentences will depend on how much weight Judge Brack gives material in the pre-sentence reports.
The government also filed a forfeiture action against the Reeses’ guns, cash, home, business and 85 acres of surrounding land but legal proceedings were halted until after the Reeses and their son were sentenced.
The main non-government witnesses against the family were Jose Roman, his wife Yadira and Penny Torres, a Deming woman they recruited to help buy weapons from the Reese gun shop to ship to Mexico.
During the trial Roman testified that he had lost three loads of marijuana owned by the Juárez Cartel that were intercepted by U.S. law enforcement.
He claimed to have been coerced into procuring weapons for La Linea, the enforcement arm of the cartel.
After his arrest, Roman agreed to help agents from Homeland Security build a case against the Reese family, from whom he previously had bought guns using Penny Torres as a “straw buyer.”
Roman then took undercover federal agents into the Reese gun shop to buy weapons on several occasions, having the agents fill out the paperwork.
None of the weapons purchased during the undercover operation were sent to Mexico, but guns sold to Roman’s straw buyers, prior to his arrest, were found by Mexican police in drug raids.
Information leak
The developments in the Reese case come on the heels of the indictment of the husband of an assistant U.S. Attorney for leaking wiretap information to the police chief in Columbus, N.M., who was involved in a separate gun smuggling ring.
Eleven people in that case have pleaded guilty, including Angelo Vega, the former head of the village police department.
Danny Burnett, who is charged with leaking the wiretap information and lying to federal agents, is free on bond.
His wife, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paula Burnett, has not been charged with any wrongdoing but she did resign as chief of the criminal division.
Danny Burnett is being prosecuted by attorneys from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in El Paso.
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