I don't recall. A common thread with Detective Jorge Baluja...

Everyone remember the Blanton Harris traffic accident investigation that introduced us to Detective Baluja's keen investigative skills? I know we've beat that story to death, but for $hits and giggles, let's take a look at one aspect of that story that we didn't investigate before, the Internal Affairs investigation, specifically a summary of the IA investigators interview of Jorge Baluja. Here's a page from the IA interview summary:


Now, it seems from this report that Detective Baluja DOESN'T REMEMBER ANYTHING! In fact not only does he draw a complete blank regarding the entire incident, he can't even remember if he was working that day. From the report...

OK!, he's shown pictures of the drivers involved then shown pictures of one of the witnesses, to which he still indicates that he doesn't recall anything about this accident! Let's take a closer look at how the investigator tried to "refresh" his memory...

Does it get any better than that? Detective Baluja is shown FIFTY THREE PHOTOS OF THE ACCIDENT SCENE, photos of the drivers involved and photos of the witnesses involved AND HE STILL DOESN'T RECALL ANYTHING REGARDING THIS ACCIDENT?

This is where I have to give comedic points to the Internal Affairs investigator, feeling stifled by Detective Baluja's answers and his lack of recollection of the incident, the investigator goes on to suggest that there maybe a Baluja look alike or perhaps another Jorge Baluja on the MDPD!

That's precious isn't it? Can you imagine the horror of another Jorge Baluja in the PD? YIKES! Despite Jorges assertions of not even knowing if he was there, his partner provides proof in the form of another accident report that indeed he was working that day and that he had responded to another accident as a back up the same day. As we'll see later, it's Jorge's M.O. to try to weasel out of responsibility, in fact the investigator in this case sums up the interview by saying:

"that he did not have any independent recollection of the incident after evading all the materials provided"

I like that word, "evading". The good detective can't remember a mess he created just 18 months prior that ended up with him getting investigated by internal affairs, even after there's a mountain of evidence put in front of him to "refresh" his memory. Not remembering is one thing, but "evading" answering question pertaining to a case is something else all together different.

Jorge, how can you put together a case and be expected to testify with such a bad memory? Do you have trouble finding your way to work in the morning? How the hell do you remember where to go? Does someone have to remind you to breath? How do you remember how to find this blog? (more on that tomorrow, you'll laugh your ass off when you find out how Jorge gets to this blog every day.)

Once again, another arrow in the quill of a defense attorney working against Detective Baluja.