Conviction affirmed for Mission man who skipped out on his 2008 murder trial

An appellate court has denied an appeal from a 38-year-old Mission man who skipped out on his sentencing in 2008 and wasn’t brought to justice until a decade later.

The 13th Court of Appeals issued its ruling last week, affirming Oscar Davila Rodriguez’s murder conviction for stalking, harassing and eventually murdering 19-year-old Nydia Maldonado on Oct. 31, 2005 after breaking into her home.

Maldonado, who was Rodriguez’s ex-girlfriend, was strangled and stabbed with tweezers and Rodriguez attempted to make her death look like a suicide.

Rodriguez, who was sentenced to 40 years in prison in 2018, failed to appear on the last day of his trial in 2008 when a jury convicted him.

He had been free on bond at the time.

Authorities eventually captured Rodriguez in Coahuila, Mexico, and he was returned to Hidalgo County on Nov. 14, 2018. He was finally sentenced on Nov. 26, 2018.

In his appeal, Rodriguez made multiple claims, including that the trial court erred by denying a motion to suppress his statements to police; that the trial court failed to properly instruct the jury; and that trial counsel was ineffective by failing to object to the jury instructions.

Rodriguez also claimed the trial court erred by admitting “extraneous-matter evidence” and because it denied his motion for a new trial based on “newly discovered evidence.”

The appellate court found all of these claims lacked merit.

As of now, Rodriguez does have another motion for a new trial that hasn’t been yet ruled on.

He is not eligible for parole until 2038 and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice lists his projected release date as 2058.