Motion for early release denied; Dora Cisneros to serve out life sentence

It appears that an 83-year-old Brownsville woman convicted of hiring a hit man to kill her daughter’s ex-boyfriend in March of 1993 will spend the rest of her life in prison.

Dora Cisneros, the former wife of a prominent Brownsville physician, on May 12, 1998, was found guilty by a federal jury on one count of use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire. She was sentenced to life in prison.

A Feb. 23, 1998, federal indictment filed against Cisneros said she used telephone communications with the intent that the murder of Albert Joseph “Joey” Fischer Jr., be committed. Authorities said Cisneros paid $3,000 as an agreement to have the St. Joseph High School senior killed. He was gunned down on March 3, 1993, in front of his family’s home in Rancho Viejo while he was rinsing off his mother’s vehicle.

On Feb. 22, 2021, Cisneros filed a motion with U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. seeking a reduction of her sentence due to medical complications. She stated she had exhausted all legal remedies in her case.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 10, 2008 denied Cisneros’ motion to have her case reviewed by the highest court.

Cisneros wrote she should not have received more than 20 years for the crime she committed and requested a reduced sentence. She also requested the court appoint her legal counsel.

“I am writing the courts to ask that you please accept this as a motion under 18 U.S.C. 3582. I have filed all the remedies. I suffer from neurocognitive disorder, thyroid arthritis, high cholesterol also being treated for dementia. I am unable to care for myself,” her hand-written motion states. “I do believe that I should not have gotten more than 20 years for my crime. I have been locked up almost 30 years.”

The motion further states, “I ask the courts at this time to appoint me counsel as I am uneducated in the legal field. As I am getting help from another inmate with this motion.”

Rodriguez responded to Cisneros’ motion on March 11, 2021 denying her request writing, “Defendant Dora Garcia Cisneros’s request for compassionate release under 18 U.S.C. 3582 ….is denied without prejudice; and ordered that Defendant Dora Garcia Cisneros’s request for appointment of counsel is denied.”

A review of the federal court docket reflects that on Sept. 3, 2021 there was a sealed event pertaining to Cisneros’ case in the U.S. District Courts in the Southern District of Texas. Also, on Sept. 2, 2021 United States Assistant Attorney Oscar Ponce appeared before U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez, whose court Cisneros case has been assigned to. No additional details on Ponce’s court appearance were noted on the docket.

According to court documents, sometime in 1992 Cisneros became upset with Fischer because he had broken up with her daughter. She tried to get him to change his mind, documents said. When she was unable to do so, Cisneros met with fortune teller Maria Martinez and asked her to put a curse on Fischer, court documents reflect. She later asked Martinez to find someone to beat Fischer up, according to the documents. In October 1992, Martinez asked her client Daniel Garza “to find someone to rough up Fischer,” the documents reflect. According to the documents, Garza was one of Martinez’s clients.

In early 1993, Cisneros told Martinez she wanted Fischer murdered, according to the documents. Martinez relayed the request to Garza, who said he would find someone to do the job, the documents state. “Martinez, however, was under daily pressure from Cisneros for updates on the murder scheme,” the documents say.

In February 1993, Garza found two men to kill Fischer, the documents indicate. The men “were both hit men and car thieves working for a drug smuggling and car theft ring,” the documents state. One man “told Garza that they would commit the crime the next time they were in Brownsville,” the documents state.

According to the documents, Garza gave the men a photo of Fischer and a map to his home. On March 2, 1993 Garza met one of the men at the La Quinta Inn in Brownsville and the man told Garza that “he was ready to do the job,” according to the documents.

The documents state that a white Grand Marquis with Mexican license plates crossed into the U.S. on that date at the Brownsville Port of Entry. A vehicle with the plate had crossed from Mexico into the U.S. 18 times from August 1992 to 1993, the documents indicate. The men were riding in a white Grand Marquis, the documents state.

Sometime around 7 a.m. on March 3, 1993 Fischer, 18, was shot and killed outside his family’s home. A white Grand Marquis was seen in the area of Fischer’s home at the time of the murder, the documents state. Within an hour of Fischer’s murder, one of the men told Garza the high school student was dead, according to the documents. Garza told Martinez and she paid him the money, according to the documents. Garza gave the money to one of the men, according to the documents.

Authorities managed to link Garza to Fischer’s death through a clue left at the scene and he agreed to cooperate with them by wearing a wire, according to the documents. He called Martinez twice and told her the gunmen wanted more money and each time she gave him the money, according to the documents. Police then arrested Martinez, who also agreed to cooperate with them, the documents state. “Martinez agreed to arrange a meeting with Cisneros. The police arrested Cisneros in her car as she was giving Martinez $500,” the documents state.

Cisneros was initially tried in a state District Court in Cameron County and found guilty of capital murder on March 8, 1994 and sent prison. However, on Jan. 25, 1996 her conviction was overturned due to a technicality and she was released from jail.

On Feb. 25, 1998, Cisneros was rearrested on murder for hire charges by federal authorities and her case was tried in federal court where she was found guilty on May 12, 1998.

Garza was found guilty of one count of capital murder in Fischer’s death and sentenced to life in prison. He remains incarcerated at the Estelle Unit in Huntsville. Martinez served six years of her prison sentence and was released from jail in April 2001. Reports indicate she later died in Matamoros, Mexico. The two men were never tried, reports also indicate.

Cisneros remains incarcerated at FMC Carswell which is an administrative security medical federal center for female offenders in Fort Worth.


[email protected]