SAN ANGELO, TX — Former San Angelo Police Chief Tim Vasquez initiated an appeal of his convictions in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans in August. He was convicted in March 2022 on one count of bribery and three counts of honest services mail fraud and sentenced to 15.5 years in federal prison in August 2022. The court is allowing his appeal to be delayed pending the final outcome of another city official bribery case at the City of Dallas.
Ruel Hamilton is a real estate developer in Dallas. Between 2013 and 2015, a jury determined, he gave more than $40,000 in cash and valuables to Dallas Councilwoman Carolyn Davis who also was the head of the City’s housing committee. In addition, in 2018, Hamilton wrote a $7,000 check to former Dallas Councilman Dwaine Caraway.
The elected city officials promised in return to help Hamilton politically and by advocating to get his affordable housing projects approved, jurors determined. Jurors viewed a surveillance video of Hamilton writing the $7,000 check to Councilman Caraway.
In 2021, Hamilton was convicted on three counts of bribery. He was sentenced to eight years in federal prison in November 2021. His conviction was overturned in August 2022 by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeals court ruled that the federal district court gave improper instructions to the jury that allowed the panel to convict Hamilton on “mere gratuities” that were miscategorized as bribes.
The federal bribery statues criminalizes bribery where there is an exact give-and-take, or “quid pro quo.” The appeals court found the jury instructions allowed the jury in Hamilton’s case to convict him for monies given that didn’t have an exact instruction for Hamilton’s “takings.”
The filings to delay the Vasquez appeal pending the outcome of the Hamilton case points to Vasquez’s appeals strategy: Jury instructions were not explicit enough for the panel to determine an exact quid pro quo. Indeed, according to court testimony and evidence, $50,000 of the decade-long stream of cumulative payments to Vasquez totaling $175,000 came six months after he was out of office when Vasquez could do nothing to help public safety radio vendor Dailey and Wells.
The federal prosecutor has not filed charges against Richard Wells or his company Dailey and Wells for bribery in the wake of the Vasquez conviction. In the Hamilton case, former Councilwoman Davis has since died and Dallas Councilman Caraway pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges in an unrelated case involving a school bus stop arm vendor. His 56-month sentence that began in 2019 was reduced five months for his cooperation and testimony against Hamilton. WFAA reported that he was out of prison and spotted at a Dallas gas station in March 2022.
The US Attorney in Hamilton’s case filed a motion for a rehearing of the appeal. Once the appeals court disposes the rehearing, and pending its outcome, the Vasquez appeal will move forward.
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Vasquez is imprisoned in a federal lockup facility in Georgia. His estimated release date is June 8, 2035. He will be 65 years old on that date.
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