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Civil attorneys at the Hidalgo County District Attorney’s office are asking the Texas Attorney General to withhold an affidavit from the public that is related to a recently solved cold case in Weslaco.
The Monitor requested the affidavit for the arrest of 50-year-old Alberto Davila, who is accused of shooting and killing 29-year-old Daniel Salazar Burnias on Dec. 2, 2014. Another man who was a minor at the time of the shooting has also been arrested and charged with murder, but police have not yet identified him because of his age at the time of the alleged crime.
The attorneys with the District Attorney’s Office filed the request on behalf of the sheriff’s office.
In that request, they argue that the information should be withheld from the public because although an unnamed child is in the document, the location of the crime itself would reveal that child’s identity.
The location of the alleged crime is not a residential area. Weslaco police say the shooting happened in the 3600 block of east Interstate 2, which is where officers found Burnias’ bullet-riddled body after responding to a one-vehicle crash at approximately 1:30 a.m. that day.
The other argument the attorneys make is that the affidavit contains information about a victim who was younger than 18.
The only victim Weslaco police have named is Burnias, who was 29 at the time of his death.
This argument might be related to a routine one the attorneys make to the Attorney General, which is that the affidavit contains information created during an investigation into abuse or neglect of a minor. This is a broad argument the attorneys use to keep public information secret by claiming that a minor who is a witness to a crime triggers an investigation into abuse or neglect of a minor.
Weslaco police did not mention any investigation into the abuse or neglect of a minor related to the alleged crime that happened a little more than seven years ago.
Nonetheless, the attorneys will likely prevail with their arguments to the Texas Attorney General’s Office, which routinely sides with them.
As for Davila, police say his wife approached the Los Fresnos Police Department with information about the case, telling officers she believed her husband was involved in the 2014 shooting.
During a press conference announcing his arrest, Weslaco Police Chief Joel Rivera said a weapon was recovered and tested by the Texas Department of Public Safety crime lab.
Davila, who was arrested May 18, remains jailed in the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on a $1 million bond.
