Citing a number of high-profile cases where victims who were killed, seriously injured or where their relatives feel the justice system has failed them, a score of protesters called for the indictment of Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz for his failure to give them justice.
"What do we want?" chanted a protester into a bullhorn.
"Justice!," answered the others.
The protest was held in front of the new FBI building at 2305 Hudson Blvd.
There was a van with a picture of a demolished car with the names of Samantha and Amy, two victims killed by a speeder. Their relatives tell the whole sordid story of their untimely death, and their shoddy treatment at the hands of the Harlingen Police Dept., the Cameron County DA's Office, and the family of the speeder Cesar Martinez.
According to the victims' website (http://www.samanthaandamy.com/samantha-amy), "On October 2, 2009 Martinez was a high school athlete driving home with his girlfriend, Shelby. They were speeding down the highway, in his full sized pick up truck that had been lifted high off of the ground, celebrating and not paying attention, when they t-boned Samantha's Mazda Protege.
His truck drove through and over their car, flipped and skidded on it's side leaving deep ruts in the road from his spinning wheels. Samantha and Amy were crushed and died instantly.
"Harder yet is what followed; and continues to follow every single day. While the police were snapping papparazi cell phone photos of Samantha and Amy, Cesar's father freely walked around the crime scene talking to the police witnesses. The police declined to interview the two witnesses in the SUV directly behind Samantha and Amy, the only witnesses that saw exactly what happened literally right in front of them. Cesar and Shelby had a few scratches but walked away from the wreck. Just a day after he killed Samantha and Amy, Cesar's parents acquired another truck for him, and Cesar and Shelby attended their homecoming school dance the next day. Samantha and Amy still lay in morgue, their families unable to comprehend their losses. Still, this is not the worst of what is to come.
"If the Harlingen Police Department and Cameron County District Attorney's office would have done their jobs, we wouldn't have to. This site outlines all of the evidence we have had to collect because the HPD, insurance companies and AG's office refuse to do so. The Martinez's also must have been worried for their son's freedom since this wasn't his first high speed incident. Mr. Martinez had us served with a lawsuit the very day we buried our daughters. The Martinez's were seeking damages for Cesar's scratches and the loss of his truck, or more likely they knew what was to come and wanted the legal procedures to stay in their county. So their pull in the community would easily sway the outcome."
The relatives of Samantha and Amy was just one of many told by the protesters in front of the FBI building.
Then there's the case of Mary Tipton, whose husband Ralph was at the protest.
His wife Mary was run over and left for dead on a country road. Later, after it was discovered that the driver was the mother of a Cameron County Sheriff's Dept. deputy. Ralph Tipton charged that Sheriff Omar Lucio has refused to take any action against him for "running cover" for his mother and failed to immediately call the police upon learning his mother hit someone (Mary Tipton).
Also involved int eh case was Brownsville Police Dept. Chief Orlando Rodriguez has so far refused to take action against the police officer who initially responded and refused to search the area for a body. Reports indicate that he "has refused to take action against Detective Clipper who had control over the video of the accident and improper search by the sheriff deputy which was altered. Chief Rodriguez, the original officer and Detective Clipper all need to be removed from law enforcement."
Then, according to the same report, "DA Saenz intentionally used a defective Indictment which could have been dismissed after the jury was sworn, thereby allowing for double jeopardy and Marisa Hernandez (the deputy's mother) to walk on a defective indictment. A slip of the tongue by (defense attorney Ernesto) Gamez and a warning from Judge Rene De Cosss forced Saenz to amend the indictment. The new indictment has the wrong name of the victim which will create a valid appellate issue. Saenz knows this and refuses to name Mary Tipton as the victim. Saenz needs to be indicted along with all FBI agents protecting him over the blackmail related to (judicial corruption informant and attorney) Oscar de la Fuente."
There were numerous other victims' relatives including Mary Rey who claims her son Randolph Bolivar – a military combat veteran – was unjustly prosecuted over a man who he shot in a tragic case of mistaken identity.
Also there was former Indian Lakes Police Chief, who claims he was railroaded by Saenz's office over fabricated cases of tampering with government documents and is appealing his conviction. As a result of those cases and Chambers' subsequent convictions, the GOP chair removed him from the ballot and placed the DA's former chief of its Public Integrity Unit (Victor Cortez) in the Republican runoff instead.