DISTRICT ATTORNEY LUIS V. SAENZ GIVEN ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO GIVE CAMERON COUNTY JUSTICE

District Attorney Luis V. Saenz will get another opportunity to show Cameron County taxpayers that he can handle his duties without nepotism, prosecuting wrongdoers equally under the law.

His nephew, Victor Garcia, has been, once again, arrested on a DWI.

As well reported in Juan Montoya's El Rrun Rrun, Victor Garcia was arrested in September 2013 for striking a 21 year pedestrian while driving drunk.  In an effort to fool the police, Victor and his sister, Kacie, switched seats to make it appear that she was driving.

Brownsville PD said both siblings were drunk.

The victim, Gilbert Perez, suffered horrible injuries according to Montoya:

"Perez spent weeks in the Intensive Care Unit at Valley Regional Medical Center in
Brownsville with broken legs, a ruptured liver, swollen brain and injured spinal cord.
After six weeks, he was still hospitalized and doctors had to implant three rods to allow him use of his crushed legs.

The victim was on life support systems and had to use machines to help him breathe."

Despite the serious charges, the DWI's, the failure to call an ambulance, the attempt to hinder the investigation, District Attorney Saenz's office bent over backwards to show extreme leniency in the case of Saenz' niece and nephew.

Victor and Kacie Garcia(Brownsville Herald photo)

Here again, Juan's report:

"D.A. Luis Saenz appointed Edmund K. Cyganewicz as a special prosecutor in the case.
Ed. Stapleton defended Victor while Noe Garza and Angela Nix defended Kacie.

The cases never went to a jury because their defense attorneys worked out a deal with the DA's Office. 

Originally, the case was to be heard by 103rd District Judge Janet Leal, but she recused herself and visiting Judge Romeo Flores heard the case. Leal was Saenz's partner in their law firm along with Chester Gonzalez.

In Kacie's case, the DWI and the Intoxicaion Assault With a Motor Vehicle were dismissed as paret of the plea bargain agreement. She pleaded guilty to the felony charge of Accident Involving Injury or Death.

The DA's office (Special Prosecutor Cyganewicz) agreed to the dismissal of the two charges and to have Flores sentence her to five years probation and to apply deferred adjudication after that so that the offense would not show up on her record.

In her brother Victor's case, the crackerjack defense also garnered him a dismissal (also with Special Prosecutor Cyganewicz's agreement) on the Accident Involving Injury or Death felony charge and his nolo contendre guilty plea on the Failure to Report Felony Where Severe Bodily Injury or Death Results resulted in Flores going along the agreement between the DA's Office and Stapleton and assessed him 12 months probation and 24 hours of community service. 

The court also went along with placing Victor with deferred adjudication so that after he served his probation, the record of the offense would be erased.

So, largely due to Saenz' maneuverings, his niece and nephew are not in jail and Victor is still out on Cameron County roads driving drunk.  Yesterday, according the Brownsville Police Department website, Victor Garcia was arrested once again for DWI.