Molina
The trial of former Edinburg Mayor Richard Molina will begin next month as planned after a judge denied a request for continuance.
During a hearing Friday morning, visiting Judge Carlos Valdez denied a motion for a continuance filed by one of Molina’s attorneys.
Though the trial is still set to take place in mid-August, there was one slight change in the schedule. Jury selection will still be held on Friday, Aug. 12, but opening statements in the trial, previously scheduled for Aug. 15, are pushed back a day to Aug. 16, according to Carlos A. Garcia, one of the attorneys representing Molina.
Garcia said he expected the trial to spill over into the following week as state prosecutors will be calling on 21 witnesses to testify.
Prosecutors allege Molina — along with a dozen other people including his wife, Dalia Molina — participated in voter fraud during the city of Edinburg’s 2017 mayoral election in which he was elected mayor.
Molina is facing 11 counts of illegal voting and one count of engaging in organized election fraud.
Law enforcement arrested the former mayor and his wife in April 2019, but the trial was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
All of the defendants in the case have pleaded not guilty.
