The news broke fast.
The Texas Rangers had arrested the city of Edinburg’s newest mayor along with his wife.
The allegations involved voter fraud in the same 2017 election where Richard Molina unseated the city’s longtime mayor Richard Garcia by 1,240 votes.
The day was April 25, 2019.
As the news unfolded, Rio Grande Valley reporters descended on the Pharr Municipal Court where the mayor and his wife, Dalia, were scheduled to make a first appearance on the allegations.
During the initial appearance, Molina remained calm and smiled.
The proceeding ended and was marked by former city spokeswoman Cary Zayas chiding reporters for taking video of the handcuffed Molinas being transferred in a vehicle for processing at the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center.
Zayas, a former KRGV reporter, even physically blocked media from taking video — all on the city’s dime.
Now, more than three years later, the stage is set after the parties on Friday picked a jury of Molina’s peers.
Those jurors will be tasked with deciding whether the now-former Edinburg mayor cheated during the 2017 election or whether as Molina and his attorney Carlos A. Garcia have claimed since the arrest that the prosecution is a witch hunt.
They have alleged in comments to The Monitor and during a failed attempt to disqualify District Attorney Ricardo Rodriguez Jr., that the charges are retaliation for Molina voting to end a lucrative insurance contract with Mary Alice Palacios, the district attorney’s aunt.
She filed the initial voter fraud complaint against Molina with the Texas Secretary of State that resulted in the investigation that led to an indictment charging him with one count of engaging in organized voter fraud and 11 counts of voter fraud.
Prosecutors, however, have filed a motion seeking to prevent Molina’s attorneys from bringing this up in front of the jury.
And on Tuesday, jurors are scheduled to begin hearing testimony and evidence in the trial that is expected to last more than a week with more than 20 witnesses possibly taking the stand.
That is, unless Jerad Wayne Najvar, who is also representing Molina, and Garcia can convince visiting state District Judge Carlos Valdez to disqualify the DA’s office from prosecuting the case.
Najvar said the defense team would re-urge its motion to disqualify Rodriguez again prior to the trial, which is not likely.
Valdez denied that motion late last year.
The judge indicated he would allow Najvar and Garcia to do so for the appellate record.
“This case is going forward,” Valdez said during the final pre-trial hearing.
That, however, depends on a Thursday filing from Molina that seeks to quash his indictment.
