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Moving Kickapoo trial to Waco clearly unfair


The so-called Kickapoo Seven's trial hasn't started yet, and they already are being punished.

Last year, a federal grand jury issued a 25-count indictment accusing the defendants of charges stemming from the alleged personal use of income from a casino on the Kickapoo Indian Reservation near Eagle Pass.

This spring, the defendants, all from Eagle Pass, asked that a jurist other than U.S. District Judge Alia Moses Ludlum of Del Rio hear their case.

The request for a new judge was granted but, the Express-News reported, the district's chief judge, Walter Smith, decided to hear the trial himself in Waco, which is a six-hour drive from Eagle Pass.

The defendants didn't seek a change of venue, and their pleadings state that holding the trial in Waco would cause extreme difficulties. Three of the seven defendants already have lost their lawyers because of the economic stress of a prolonged trial in Waco.

In their pleadings, lawyers for the defense noted that most of the government witnesses are from San Antonio or Del Rio.

Asking that the trial be moved back to South Texas, defense lawyers also stated "most of the defendants are literally checking on the possibility of residing in shelters or the Salvation Army facilities while in Waco."

The allegations in the Kickapoo case are serious, and defendants should face stiff sentences if they are found guilty.

But moving the trial from South Texas — it could easily be conducted in San Antonio or Del Rio — is a major burden for the economically strapped Kickapoo Seven, whose defense witnesses also are mostly poor and live in the Eagle Pass area.

Placing an unnecessary economic burden on these defendants, who face an adversary with almost unlimited resources, is unfair.