A request for an opinion to the Attorney General’s Office revealed that three minors were involved in a major crash in Mission that left two people dead on Dec. 11.
The Monitor filed an open records request with the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office on Dec. 15 seeking the release of more than a dozen affidavits for the arrest of 18-year-old Mission resident Esteban Cantu Jr.
Mission police allege Cantu fled from them, Border Patrol and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers while transporting six people in the country illegally before hitting a brown 2014 Honda passenger car at the intersection of West 2 Mile Line and Holland Road. The crash killed two Mission residents: 59-year-old Carmen Huerta Sosa and 22-year-old Viridiana Charon.
Cantu was charged with two counts of murder, a count of evading arrest causing death, six counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and six counts of smuggling of persons causing serious bodily injury or death.
He remained jailed Tuesday at the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on a total of $3.3 million in bonds.
The civil division of the Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office notified The Monitor on Monday afternoon of its intent to shield the affidavits from public view, arguing Texas Family Code prohibits the release of the charging documents.
The division routinely makes these requests and the Texas Attorney General’s Office always rules on the office’s side.
The DA’s office makes two arguments. The first is that the information relates to an investigation of abuse or neglect of a minor, an argument the office commonly makes when the newspaper files a request involving a minor, including when suspects aren’t facing child abuse-like charges.
In this case, Cantu is not facing child abuse charges.
However, in the request for an opinion, the civil attorneys cite a part of the Texas Government Code that they believe prohibits the release of information related to crime victims who are minors.
A spokesperson with the Mission Police Department didn’t immediately respond to a question about the minors’ involvement in the fatal crash.
