EDINBURG — The judge overseeing the case involving the death of a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper said on Wednesday that she needed to wait for the new courthouse to open to proceed with the trial.
State District Judge Letty Lopez told defense attorney O. Rene Flores and his client, Victor Alejandro Godinez, she would need a large panel of people for jury selection because Godinez is facing the death penalty, and the auditorium in the current courthouse only fits about 175 people.
Godinez was charged with capital murder of a peace officer and two counts of attempt to commit capital murder of a peace of a peace officer for the death of trooper Moises Sanchez, who died Aug. 24, 2019, following a surgery.
Authorities say Godinez used a .357 magnum, which was recovered near east Mon Mack Road and State Highway 107 where he was arrested, to shoot Sanchez once in the head and once in the shoulder after the trooper caught up with Godinez as he fled the scene of a car crash on April 6, 2019.
Godinez is also accused of shooting at two Edinburg police officers.
Sanchez had been in recovery for months and was set for a surgery to replace his bone flap with a reconstructed titanium mesh one, but he died following complications from the surgery.
Lopez asked the courtroom for an update on when the new courthouse would be completed, but no one could offer a definitive answer.
Lopez then explained to Godinez that the COVID-19 pandemic posed many problems for the court and that the current auditorium was too small to allow her to “do what [she] needs to do.”
The judge gave Flores 60 days to process any pre-trials that need to be completed before they can finally set the trial in motion.
If convicted, Godinez faces the death penalty.
