Murder charges to be dropped in death of homeless McAllen man

Prosecutors on Monday afternoon announced they will abandon murder charges against a Reynosa man accused of beating of a homeless and disabled man in McAllen over the summer.

Gregorio Garza

A grand jury had indicted 52-year-old Gregorio Garza on charges of murder, injury to a disabled individual and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in the beating of Michael Wright.

It’s unclear when Wright died. The date of his death is not listed in the indictment and was still alive at the time the probable cause affidavit and the attached police reports were generated.

The alleged beating happened July 23, and the grand jury indicted Garza Sept. 16.

Garza had initially been scheduled for arraignment Oct. 20, but the hearing was postponed after the suspect’s attorney, O. Rene Flores, told 370th state District Judge Noe Gonzalez that the case against his client had “significant” problems, which prosecutors didn’t dispute.

The only detail publicly revealed about those problems is that Wright’s autopsy results apparently do not exist and he was cremated.

Autopsy results are critical pieces of evidence in murder cases that show cause of death. At trials, medical examiners who conduct autopsies are called as witnesses and explain in detail to juries how they arrived at determining the cause of death.

The parties concurred that the case needed more investigation before the arraignment.

Garza appeared in-person Monday for his arraignment, which was also broadcast on YouTube, and prosecutors confirmed for the judge that they would not pursue the murder charges.

However, Garza is still facing charges of injury to a disabled individual and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

The hearing also revealed that Garza has a mental disability that sometimes impairs his understanding of the proceedings against him and the judge also noted that he, prosecutors and Flores, the defense attorney, have talked about some of the communication issues that Garza has.

But Gonzalez found Garza competent for his arraignment Monday and Garza also confirmed he understood why he was in the courtroom and what the hearing was about.

McAllen police arrested Garza July 23 after responding to 1700 N. 10th St. for a report of an assault in progress.

Wright, who was homeless and used a wheelchair because of an amputated leg, told the responding officers that Garza attacked him.

The probable cause affidavit alleges Garza used a wooden board with rusty nails in it to beat Wright.

The officers found Garza sitting at a close distance away from Wright, who was on the ground and screaming for help next to his wheelchair, according to the affidavit.

Wright told police he was traveling through an alleyway and saw Garza, but didn’t exchange words with him before the alleged assault occurred. Wright told the officer that he had belongings in a cart in a nearby lot and had gone to sort through those items when Garza walked up and told him the area belonged to him and that he needed to leave, according to the affidavit.

The report said Wright left and that Garza followed and attacked him.

Garza told police that Wright told him to go buy him beer while proposing the two have sexual relations, according to the affidavit.

“Garza advised that he told Wright that he was not going to have sexual relationship so they began to argue. Garza stated he got upset and hit Wright with the stick,” the affidavit stated.

Garza has since pleaded not guilty to the charges of injury to a disabled individual and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and remained jailed Monday on a $100,000 bond.