About eight months have gone by since someone shot and killed Robert Barraza after a confrontation turned violent outside two nearby parties on Valaire Drive.
Eight months have passed because the state crime lab in Watsonville assigned with testing the fatal bullet has buried the case on its priority list - while citing a lacking arrest as the main factor in the holdup.
It's a ludicrous amount of time to wait - as mounting delays can compromise justice - for any investigation, let alone one as serious as this. And although local authorities are communicating with the lab to get the bullet results back, we encourage Sheriff Curtis Hill and District Attorney Candice Hooper to take an even more active, vocal, displeased role if that's what is necessary to get the state crime lab interested in solving this case.
Holding up an arrest
Hill even has noted how investigators pinpointed a suspect but how they want the ballistics results to progress with an arrest - which makes sense because it should solidify the case.
Considering the amount of time gone by and the seriousness involved, it's time to be frank.
While a crime lab official has explained the state's system for prioritization to the Free Lance - notably that an arrest means a case's tests have a better chance of getting done before others - it's an example of why the policy is far too broad while leaving no room for flexibility when local authorities are waiting on those very results to arrest and charge a suspect.
Local case shows policy's flaws
It's also an example of why the policy, marked by its apparent stringency, can act as harmful and stands to potentially taint the process.
Authorities are strapped without the results, but this investigation has gone on far too long, especially considering the sheriff's office has a good idea who they're going to arrest on suspicion of shooting Barraza.
It's time for our sheriff and district attorney to get involved in a lobbying effort to speed up this process, and it's time for the state crime lab to re-examine a policy that, at least on this one local case, has outright stalled justice.
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