A judge gave a prosecutor two months to tell him whether the death penalty would be sought against a 36-year-old Pharr man should he be convicted on a charge of capital murder of a person under 10 years old over allegations he broke a 1-year-old child’s spine.
State District Judge Mario E. Ramirez Jr. issued the directive to Hope Palacios, chief of the Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office’s Special Crimes Division, following the arraignment of Ubence Ruben Hernandez III on an indictment charging him with capital murder of a person under 10 years old, murder and injury to a child.
Hernandez, who looked down and gestured no by nodding his head at one point while Palacios read the three-count indictment against him aloud, pleaded not guilty to all three counts during a video-conference hearing Friday morning.
Donna police arrested Hernandez on Oct. 7, 2020, alleging that he broke 1-year-old Julius Flores’ spine “due to blunt force trauma” on Sept. 22 at a residence in the 3700 block of E. Business 83 while babysitting the child when his mother went to the store.
After his arrest, Hernandez denied the charges in front of Donna Municipal Judge Javier Garza, saying “Man, I didn’t do this s—, bro.”
Hernandez faces another charge stemming from Sept. 22.
Donna police arrested him on Nov. 19 and allege that he pointed a gun at a woman named Patricia Ann Garces. The complaint does not explain how or whether Hernandez and Garces know each other.
The man has remained jailed on a $750,000 bond for the capital murder charge.
Following his arraignment Friday, Ramirez, the judge, set a $100,000 bond on each of the counts of murder and injury to child bringing his total bond to $950,000.
Ramirez told Palacios, the prosecutor, that he wants to know what the DA’s death penalty decision is by April 14.
The capital murder charge carries penalties of either life in prison without parole or execution.
Hernandez’s defense attorneys, O. Rene Flores and Abner Burnett, may urge a motion to reduce their client’s bond in the near future.
