Contrary to a Breitbart Texas article published Sunday, The Monitor’s Feb. 10 story headlined “Informant’s killing still haunts unsolved Starr County murder 19 years later” did not link attorney Terry Palacios to the informant’s, Marcelino Rodriguez’s murder.
In fact, The Monitor not only stands by its coverage — which reported a lack of progress investigating the 2003 deaths of San Juan residents Melissa Godinez and Juan Valenzuela, deaths which Rodriguez’s cooperation with law enforcement was important to solving — but will continue to be faithful to its duty to readers to report any developments, or lack thereof, in this cold case. Just as the newspaper has always done.
During the trial over the informant’s death, an employee at the time of the Palacios law firm, Joel “BJ” Carcaño, was identified by a witness in court testimony as having disclosed that Rodriguez was a confidential government informant. Rodriguez was later shot and killed. Carcaño was convicted of leaking the informant’s identity and was sentenced to 52 months in prison.
In the same murder trial, a federal ATF agent also testified in court that he thought Terry Palacios was the one who leaked the informant’s identity.
The Monitor’s story is clear in its explanation that Palacios was contacted to clarify, but he chose not to comment, citing attorney-client privilege.
At no point did The Monitor or any of its employees link Palacios to the disclosure of the informant’s identity, nor did The Monitor convey that impression to readers. The Monitor simply reported in-court testimony by individuals — who have no relationship to The Monitor — in a murder trial and allowed readers to form their own conclusions.
Any criticism by another news organization that The Monitor wrongly reported the testimony of these trial witnesses is completely unfounded.
Readers are assured that, in the future, The Monitor will continue sourcing and reporting important news in the community, consistent with the highest journalistic standards.
