Attorney: Jail beating has left client ‘thoroughly demoralized’
Las Cruces Attorney Kelly O’Connell confirmed to ABC-7 his client, Larry Hopkins, was attacked Tuesday while being held in jail.
Hopkins is the self-proclaimed leader of the United Constitutional Patriots, a group that set up a camp near the Anapra Gap, the spot where the border barrier ends in the Sunland Park area.
The group’s spokesman confirmed to ABC-7 they would detain undocumented immigrants crossing into the U.S. while Border Patrol agents arrived at the scene. The group’s camp was reportedly set up on land owned by Union Pacific and the City of Sunland Park. It was forced to leave the site on April 23, 2019.
Hopkins – also known as Johnny Horton Jr. – was arrested on April 20, 2019 for allegedly being a felon in possession of a firearm. Hopkins has a detention hearing scheduled for next week in Albuquerque and is expected to plead not guilty, ABC-7 has learned.
Wednesday, ABC-7’s New Mexico Mobile Newsroom confirmed U.S. Marshals transferred Hopkins out of the Dona Ana County Jail. ABC-7 is working to confirm if Hopkins is being taken to Albuquerque.
O’Connell told ABC-7 he spoke with Hopkins after the attack and sayid Hopkins had sore ribs, but otherwise is okay. At the time, O’Connell told ABC-7 he was concerned about Hopkins’ safety and was calling on the Dona Ana County detention center to step up safety measures to protect him. O’Connell said it would be a travesty if prison officials actually left Hopkins alone in the jail, given the high profile nature of his case.
In a letter to Vince Pokluda, the acting jail administrator for Dona Ana County, O’Connell said his client was “beaten, bruised, injured, dazed – and thoroughly demoralized.”
“Has the attacker been identified?” O’Connell asked in the letter, then cautions, “Mr. Hopkins’ case is certainly high-profile and he has developed a controversial reputation because of his border activities. Further, there is undoubtedly a great deal of resentment and even fury at (Hopkins) in some inmates because of how he has been portrayed in the media.”
O’Connell goes on to request his client be placed in isolation until he is transferred to an Albuquerque jail. Wendesday, O’Connell told ABC-7 he was unaware his client had been taken out of the county jail by U.S. Marshals.
