The Trial

The initial charge which led to the July 18 confronta-tion with the police was later dismissed.

In the end, Alvaro was convicted of “threatening” the sheriff, but acquitted on the charge of shooting Sgt. Hines in the hand and the initial charge which led to the confrontation. The mostly-white jury explained that they would have “disgraced” the police and sent the “wrong message” to others that it is justified un-der law to defend oneself against the armed violence of the state. extreme sentence of 50 years handed down by the judge.

Video Evidence Denied

Afterward in a TV interview, the sheriff stated that Alvaro only disarmed him of his gun and never acted aggressive or in a threatening way.  The video clip, considered pivotal evidence, was to be subpoenaed in his 1997 trial, but the prosecution squelched its intro-duction and convinced the judge to block it, then forced the Sheriff to recant his off-the-record story in subsequent testimony.

Support Alvaro Luna Hernandez!Alvaro’s community activism is what the police feared most. He was seeking to re-open the police murder of 16 year old Ervay Ramos when the inci-dent took place. He was deemed a “troublemaker” during trial for his work around police accountability. Now he is serving an incredible 50 years for defend-ing himself against a police force that had harassed and even murdered people in the Chicano commu-nity.

Free Alvaro, Free All Political Prisoners!

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Alvaro Luna HernandezAlvaro Luna Hernandez is a Chicano-Mexicano political prisoner sentenced to 50 years in prison for aggravated assault on an officer when he disarmed a sheriff at-tempting to shoot him.

Personal Background

He was born in Alpine, Texas, in 1952, into a racially segregated society, where police ruled the Chicano barrio with an iron fist.

On June 12, 1968, Alvaro was with 16 year old Ervay Ramos and witnessed Ramos murdered in cold-blood by Alpine Police Bud Powers, a known racist cop with a history of brutality against Chicanos. Pow-ers never served a day in jail and escaped justice under the protection of the U.S. ju-dicial system.

Since that day in 1968, Alvaro worked tire-lessly for Chicano rights and against police brutality. As a result, he was also the con-stant target of police harassment and bru-tality. In 1976 Alvaro was falsely accused

What followed next was the most massive po-lice manhunt in recent West Texas history.

Stand Off with the Police

Days later, police Alvaro at his mother’s house where they began shooting indiscriminately at the house.

To back them off their murderous intent, Al-varo returned fire in self-defense but never shot nor injured anyone. He then dialed 911 (emer-gency) and alerted other officials that the police were shooting at him and would not allow him to surrender. During the police barrage, Sgt. Curtis Hines was shot in the left hand by a ricocheting police bullet.

Alvaro Arrested

Alvaro surrendered and was charged with two counts of aggravated assault; one count for dis-arming the sheriff and one count for Sgt. Hines’ wound.

of murder, for which he narrowly escaped the death penalty. After media highlighted Alvaro’s unfair trial and proof of his innocence, he was released.

In the 1990s Alvaro worked as the national coordinator of the Ricardo Aldape Guerra Defense Committee, which led the successful struggle to free Mexican na-tional Aldape Guerra from Texas’ death row after being framed by Houston police for allegedly killing a cop. 

In 1993, Alvaro spoke on the U.S. Government’s human rights violations against political prisoners as a non-governmental organization delegate before the 49th ses-sion of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland.

Legal CaseAlvaro Disarms Officer

On July 18, 1996, Sheriff Jack McDaniel of Alpine, Texas, went to arrest Alvaro at his home on a charge of aggravated robbery. No warrant for the arrest was issued and when the unarmed Alvaro questioned the sheriff’s abuse of power, McDaniel became violently angry and drew his weapon. Before he could raise it and shoot, Alvaro disarmed him and fled to a nearby mountain.