In re Rivera Escalera

75 P.R. 40
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedJune 24, 1953
DocketNo. 1
StatusPublished

This text of 75 P.R. 40 (In re Rivera Escalera) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Rivera Escalera, 75 P.R. 40 (prsupreme 1953).

Opinion

Per curiam :

On April 8, 1953, the Secretary of Justice

of Puerto Rico, in compliance with the terms of an order entered by this Court on the 16th of the previous month, filed a complaint against Roberto Rivera Escalera, Judge of the District Court of Puerto Rico, containing five charges which, copied verbatim, read as follows:

“First Charge
“Sometime during a night in April 1952, while drinking intoxicating liquors together with several friends in ‘El Chévere’ restaurant in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, which is a public place, the respondent Roberto Rivera Escalera behaved in an illegal and immoral manner unbecoming to a judge when he fired, as he did fire, his revolver in the presence of several persons at a juke box belonging to the owner of said establishment, Mr. Raúl López Gamio, damaging the mechanism at a cost of $52.
“Second Charge
“On or about December 19, 1952, in the commercial establishment of Mr. Ramón Añeses Arrache, in Victoria Street, in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, the respondent Roberto Rivera Escalera, Judge of the District Court of Puerto Rico, while under the effects of intoxicating liquors, behaved in an illegal and immoral manner unbecoming to a judge when he burst into the latter commercial establishment and interrupted, as he did interrupt, an investigation which was then and there being conducted by Mr. José L. Purcell, an attorney -of the Office of Court Administration, and by Prosecuting Attorney Julio Fernández Cabrera, in connection with the events referred to in the first charge of this complaint, the respondent displaying .then and there a disorderly and offen-[42]*42give conduct, making use of vile language and obscene words in the presence of the aforesaid investigating officers and of other persons, which compelled the latter officers to stop their investigation.
“Third Charge
“On or about December 19, 1952, in Victoria Street, in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, a few minutes after the events referred to in the second charge, the respondent Roberto Rivera Escalera, Judge of the District Court of Puerto Rico, while under the effects of intoxicating liquors, behaved in an illegal and immoral manner unbecoming to a judge when he disturbed, as he did disturb, the peace and order of the proximate neighborhood by publicly drawing out, showing and exhibiting, as he did take out, show and exhibit, in his right hand a revolver, in a violent, truculent and menacing manner, at the same time that he behaved in a disorderly and offensive manner which provoked citizens Arturo Lau-sell Ubiñas and Luis Lausell Ubiñas.
“Fourth Charge
“Sometime in December 1952, in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, the respondent Roberto Rivera Escalera, Judge of the District Court of Puerto Rico, behaved in an immoral and improper manner unbecoming to a judge, when, knowing that the Hon. Judge Juan B. Zamora, Judge of the District Court of Puerto Rico and Prosecuting Attorney Julio Fernández Cabrera had ordered the Aguadilla Police on December 19, 1952, to file complaints against the respondent and Luis Lausell Ubiñas and Arturo Lausell Ubiñas for Breach of the Peace on account of the events referred to in the Third Charge of this complaint, the respondent went to the Police Headquarters of that city and, availing himself of his position as a judge, directed the policemen in charge of preparing the complaints in the latter headquarters, Messrs. Juan Nieves Badillo and Rosendo Pellot, not to file the aforesaid complaint for Breach of the Peace against him or against [43]*43Arturo Lausell Ubiñas, informing said public officers and making them believe that it had been so ordered by Prosecuting Attorney Julio Fernández Cabrera and Judge Juan B. Zamora, which was false information, and which the respondent knew was false.
“Fifth Charge
“Sometime during January 1953, in a place known as ‘El Tamarindo’, on the road between Aguadilla and Isabela, the respondent Roberto Rivera Escalera, Judge of the District Court of Puerto Rico, behaved in an illegal and immoral manner unbecoming to a judge when he urged, as he did urge, Orlando Marchand González, as essential witness to the facts involved in the First Charge of this complaint, to change the terms of his sworn testimony in connection with the facts which the witness had given before Prosecuting Attorney Julio Fernández Cabrera, in order to help the respondent in the investigation that the latter prosecuting attorney and Mr. José L. Purcell, an attorney of the Office of Court Administration were making of his conduct.”

The complaint ends by praying that, after the proper procedure, an order be entered permanently removing the respondent from his position as District Judge.

In the exercise of our discretion and at the request of the Attorney General, we ordered, on the same day the complaint was filed, that the respondent be suspended from office and pay pending a final determination of the case. On that same date we ordered the marshal of this Court to serve a copy of the complaint on the respondent, pursuant to §. 24 of the Judiciary Act,1 and granted the latter 20 days to answer or make whatever allegations he deemed pertinent.

[44]*44After moving for an extension, the respondent answered the first charge of the complaint as follows:

“In connection with the first charge, the respondent admits that sometime in April 1952, he was at a social gathering in ‘El Chévere’ Restaurant, in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, accompanied by some friends of irreproachable reputation, and that at the time he was suffering from an intense emotional crisis whose cause he is unable to reveal because it is an intimate and personal affair involving third persons, and that accidentally and without any intention to hurt anyone or to damage the property of others, he fired his revolver unfortunately damaging a juke box belonging to the owner of the establishment, who was indemnified by the respondent for the damages caused. The respondent expressly denies the other facts and conclusions contained in said charge,”

denying the facts set forth in the second, third, fourth and fifth charges of the complaint and setting up as a special [45]*45defense that this Court lacks jurisdiction to take cognizance of the facts alleged in the first charge.2

The hearing of the complaint commenced on May 18 at 9 a. m., in a division composed of three judges of this Court. The respondent was present personally and assisted by counsel. . The Attorney General also appeared through two of his special prosecuting attorneys at large. At the beginning of the hearing the complainant raised the question that since the respondent admits in his answer the facts alleged in the first charge, under the circumstances set forth above, and considering that the facts charged therein are of such a nature that they could result in the respondent’s removal, the case in his opinion, could be submitted on that charge alone. The respondent maintained that the complainant’s contention was belated. The Division took the question under advisement and proceeded at once to hear- the evidence of both parties on all the charges contained in the complaint.

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Bluebook (online)
75 P.R. 40, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-rivera-escalera-prsupreme-1953.