Andy Albarran was missing at the Thanksgiving table this year; and to the family surviving him,he is horribly missed. While we sat among our loved ones, Andy’s loved ones felt the inconsolable aching of hearts done wrong. Last year, Andy Albarran was gunned down in cold blood outside a local nightclub in Beaumont. Earlier this month, Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Jon Brandon failed to convict murder suspect Demario Jackson for the cold-blooded assassination of Andy Albarran.
Andy’s grandchildren,whom he spent the last year of his life helping to raise, looked with endless sorrow to an empty spot at the head of the Thanksgiving table; Andy’s son and daughter, whose holiday is overshadowed with the full, adult knowledge of despair, had to decide which of them will carry on tradition, and carve the Thanksgiving turkey in Andy’s stead.
Andy’s daughter mourns,“I had faith in the District Attorney’s office. They let me down”. She went on to say, “I called DA Brandon repeatedly on the day of the verdict, at 6:00pm that day he finally called me back.” Despite repeated attempts to contact the DA, that was the last time she has heard from Brandon, who now refuses to return her calls. “I have questions with no answers” she says as her voice falters with emotion, tears welling in her eyes.
Andy’s son Chuco Albarran, an honorable US Marine who toured in Iraq, put it best, “Demario Jackson murdered my dad – without a doubt in my mind. Beaumont Police Officer Brent Cohan did not kill my dad as Jackson defense lawyer wants us to believe”. Even Yolanda Cruz of the Victim’s Rights division of the DA office said in a text message the verdict was, “sad and unfair”.Despite police testimony, despite the evidence, the courts acquitted Demario Jackson. How could Jackson’s well-oiled defense convince a jury.
1)That it was acceptable for 25 years-old Jackson to carry a concealed handgun
into a public place and feign chivalry to justify his ruthless attack on Andy
2) This gang-member & meth-addict, Jackson, was an upstanding business man
(who never repaid a cent of $550k to the city of Banning for “redevelopment”
loans)
3) To ignore the unsupported claim that the officer on the scene was actually
at fault.
Unfortunately, all these things are possible, even for sale, with enough money. Convenient for the DA and Jackson, neither was held legally accountable. This Thanksgiving, they might as well have shared a turkey dinner, sharing sly winks and sleazy smiles, cutting meat analogously like cutting deals.This travesty and more will continue to plague our community for as long as our so-called justice system allows money to buy and imply justice. Who can we rely upon, if even our elected officials are held unaccountable.
