By MOLLY SMITH
Staff Writer
EDINBURG — Six hours of deliberation ended 57 years of speculation yesterday when a jury found former priest John Feit guilty of the April 1960 murder of schoolteacher Irene Garza.
As Feit was being led out of the courtroom, defense attorney O. Rene Flores said the 85-year-old defendant would not be providing comments to the media.
Members of Garza’s family were present in the courtroom yesterday evening when the verdict was read. They were visibly emotional and embraced following news of Feit’s fate, which ends a nearly six-decade wait for justice in the death of the 25-year-old.
Over the course of five days of testimony, jurors learned Garza went to confession at McAllen’s Sacred Heart Catholic Church the evening of April 16, 1960. After she was reported missing, her body was discovered in a canal five days later, and an autopsy report concluded she’d been beaten, raped and asphyxiated.
A viewfinder that Feit later claimed ownership of in a note was found near the body.
Assistant District Attorney Michael Garza, the lead prosecutor in the case, described Feit during closing arguments as “a wolf in priest’s clothing waiting to attack” who came down to the Rio Grande Valley “to find his prey.” He was a man, the prosecutor said, who “sure did cause a lot of trouble” despite only being in the Valley since June 1959, and a man with the potential to inflict greater damage on the community.
In addition to murdering an elementary school teacher who was adored by family and friends, the prosecution reminded jurors that Feit pleaded no contest to the aggravated assault of Maria America Guerra in Edinburg’s Sacred Heart Catholic Church and threatened other women.
Considered among the country’s oldest cold cases, Garza’s murder has drawn national attention as well as factored into local politics. In fact, among the 2014 campaign promises of current Hidalgo County District Attorney Ricardo Rodriguez was to bring justice to Garza’s family.
Rodriguez said he was “happy for the family” and that “justice has been served.”
Feit, who showed little emotion when the verdict was read, asked that the jury decide his punishment. Sentencing is scheduled for Friday morning.
