BROWNSVILLE — Indicted Cameron County Tax Assessor-Collector Tony Yzaguirre Jr. will return to the courtroom on Jan. 24, but it will not be in the Rio Grande Valley.
Defense attorneys Robert Garza and Myles Garza successfully argued yesterday that Yzaguirre would not face a fair trial if the case stayed in Cameron County. They reasoned the high publicity of the arrest and the subsequent negative opinions surrounding it would prevent a fair trial here.
“I think everybody in this county — in my opinion — has made a determination,” Yzaguirre said when he took the stand.
Yzaguirre is charged with 11 counts of abuse of official capacity, 10 counts of bribery, one count of engaging in organized criminal activity and one count of official oppression.
Senior State District Judge Manuel Banales agreed to move the trial to Nueces County.
“What distinguishes this case from others is that in all probability, the jurors are people who vote. These people know the defendant and have likely seen him at least seven times on the ballot,” Banales said. “I think it’s a truism that in most counties in the state of Texas, the two officials most known are the sheriff and the tax assessor-collector.”
Members of the community were called to testify whether Yzaguirre could find a fair trial in Cameron County.
Sylvia Suarez, a retired teacher from Brownsville Independent School District, admitted to a prejudice against the public official.
“I was glad when he got caught,” Suarez said. “If I was a juror and had read the paper and seen the news, I couldn’t be fair because in my mind I had already created this image of him as a guilty person.”
In her social circles, people had a similar opinion, she said.
Maria Hoekema, owner of International Coffee Shop, recalled how when the story first came out, the comments already were negative.
“I think I got the news from my customers first before I even read the paper,” Hoekema said.
The state first attempted to argue that the high publicity was not a reasonable justification to change the location, then suggested doing a jury selection first before considering a different venue.
After Banales made his decision, prosecutors unsuccessfully argued Hidalgo County would be far enough.
Yzaguirre is still on paid administrative leave, although he has been ordered to stay away from the Tax Assessor-Collector’s Office until his case has been settled. According to a salary survey by the Texas Association of Counties, his salary should be $86,230.
The employees arrested with Yzaguirre — Pedro Garza Jr., Lt. Jose Mireles, Claudia Elisa Sanchez, Omar Sanchez-Paz and Marisol Sifuentes on Jan. 6 in “Operation Dirty Deeds”— had the charges filed against them dismissed.
Nathaniel Perez, Garza’s attorney, said even in the event a case is dismissed or a person was found not guilty of a crime, an employer can still feel they violated the rules and fire them.
“A dismissal doesn’t mean it’s over. It just means that they are not prosecuting at this time,” Perez said.
The statute of limitations on these charges is five years.
A fair jury was especially critical for Yzaguirre, who has chosen to have the jury decide his punishment, his attorneys said.
