SAN ANTONIO – Months after a special prosecutor agreed to not move forward with family violence and burglary charges against a fired San Antonio police detective, she was hired to represent the alleged victim, his mistress, in a separate case, the KSAT 12 Defenders confirmed Friday.
The revelation comes as ex-SAPD detective Daniel Pue continues to fight to be reinstated to the department that fired him more than two years ago.
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His termination stemmed from a family violence incident outside his far West Side home in January 2019.
On Friday, during day four of testimony in Pue’s arbitration hearing, SAPD Detective Manuel Nunez revealed that he recommended to prosecutors that Pue be charged with burglary for a break-in at his mistress’ apartment that took place hours before Bexar County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Pue for family violence.
The burglary case, however, was tossed out after Nunez filed it with the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office.
A spokesperson for District Attorney Joe Gonzales confirmed Friday that his office had recused itself from all cases involving Pue because of a conflict. The special prosecutor assigned to those cases was the person who ultimately decided to dismiss the charges, the spokesperson said.
The special prosecutor, identified as attorney Suzanne Kramer, agreed to toss out Pue’s family violence charge in May 2019 after he completed an anger management class, she previously said.
Pue’s mistress, who is also his cousin, was charged with DWI with an elevated blood alcohol content in late November 2018, court records show.
Her arrest came about five weeks before deputies said Pue repeatedly punched her in the front yard of his home.
An official for County Court 11, where the mistress’ drunk driving case was heard, confirmed Friday that the defendant hired Kramer in July 2019.
The mistress, who we are not naming since she is a victim of family violence, accepted a plea deal in February 2020 that reduced her charge to obstruction of a roadway in exchange for her serving a year of probation and paying a fine and court costs, records show.
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Kramer pushed back on Friday, claiming there were no conflicts with her taking on the woman’s DWI case because it had nothing to do with Pue’s criminal matters.
Kramer released the following statement via text message:
“Out of an abundance of caution because of things like this, I affirmatively got her to waive any conflict, which there was none. Her case had nothing to do with Pue’s case. And as opposed to a DA, who as a defense attorney represented someone who later got charged with a crime, they usually recuse because they were, as a defense attorney in a position to know personal information about a defendant that they, as a DA might not otherwise be entitled to know. (Defendant’s name redacted), the complainant, contacted me well after I dismissed the Pue case and asked if I would represent her. As I said I got her to waive conflict and it had nothing whatsoever to do with Pue’s case. And there was obviously no ethical issues involved.”
Throughout Pue’s arbitration, which stretched over most of this week, witnesses for the city have provided evidence pointing to him and his mistress being dishonest as law enforcement agencies attempted to investigate him both criminally and administratively.
Nunez and a second SAPD officer testified Friday that the mistress’ statements about the possible break-in at her apartment and subsequent altercation in front of Pue’s home were most truthful right after the incidents, but began to change as more and more time passed.