By Juan Montoya
Rene Oliveira, the former Texas House District 37 Representative has been granted yet another delay n his trial on a charge of Driving While Intoxicated after his arrest April 28, 2018.
Cameron County Ass. District Attorney Rehaman Merchant said in court Oliveira allegedly had a high blood alcohol content and drugs in his system, according to The Brownsville Herald.
Attorneys for the district attorney’s office declined to provide details about what Merchant had said in the open hearing, claiming its ongoing prosecution of Oliveira, the same reason the Texas Attorney General's Office gave for allowing them to keep Oliveira’s blood test results a secret.
Oliveira was arrested following a sequence of events that began at 10:22 p.m. Friday (Sept. 27), according to police. At that time, officers responded to an accident in Brownsville and found a Cadillac leaving the area, with a Lexus parked behind it. A woman in the Lexus told an officer that "everything was fine and that there was no accident," police said.
But according to reports, the officer spotted a third car — a Chevrolet — that was parked on the side of the road. Its driver told police she had been hit from behind by the Cadillac while she was stopped at a traffic light, and the Cadillac's driver subsequently got out of his car, handed her his business card and "told her that he would take care of everything," police said. The card was that of Oliveira, a lawyer.
Officers then went to the lawmaker's home and there discovered both the Lexus and Cadillac, which had damage to its front and two flat tires. That is when Oliveira was arrested, police said.
Rene Oliveira, the former Texas House District 37 Representative has been granted yet another delay n his trial on a charge of Driving While Intoxicated after his arrest April 28, 2018.
According to court records, after numerous motions by his attorney Ed Stapleton to - among other things - suppress the "unlawful arrest" and the "fruits" of the after their "illegal" trespass of his house, and the suppression of the blood analysis, Oliveira's trial is scheduled to go forward then.
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The trial was scheduled to be held December 2 (today) in Cameron County Court-at-Law #1 before Judge Arturo McDonald. Now it has been moved to January 13, 2020.
McDonald on Sept. 4 denied Stapleton's motion to suppress the evidence gathered at the former lawmaker's home following a car accident at the intersection of Central and Boca Chica boulevards.
McDonald on Sept. 4 denied Stapleton's motion to suppress the evidence gathered at the former lawmaker's home following a car accident at the intersection of Central and Boca Chica boulevards.
McDonald on Sept. 16 also denied Stapleton's motion to suppress the sample of his blood analysis performed on Oliveira after he refused to perform a breath analysis at his arrest.
Cameron County Ass. District Attorney Rehaman Merchant said in court Oliveira allegedly had a high blood alcohol content and drugs in his system, according to The Brownsville Herald.
Attorneys for the district attorney’s office declined to provide details about what Merchant had said in the open hearing, claiming its ongoing prosecution of Oliveira, the same reason the Texas Attorney General's Office gave for allowing them to keep Oliveira’s blood test results a secret.
Oliveira was arrested following a sequence of events that began at 10:22 p.m. Friday (Sept. 27), according to police. At that time, officers responded to an accident in Brownsville and found a Cadillac leaving the area, with a Lexus parked behind it. A woman in the Lexus told an officer that "everything was fine and that there was no accident," police said.
But according to reports, the officer spotted a third car — a Chevrolet — that was parked on the side of the road. Its driver told police she had been hit from behind by the Cadillac while she was stopped at a traffic light, and the Cadillac's driver subsequently got out of his car, handed her his business card and "told her that he would take care of everything," police said. The card was that of Oliveira, a lawyer.
Officers then went to the lawmaker's home and there discovered both the Lexus and Cadillac, which had damage to its front and two flat tires. That is when Oliveira was arrested, police said.
Police charged Oliveira with a DWI, a class B misdemeanor.
When the court granted him a bond, there were restrictions imposed upon the defendant, including staying away from places where alcohol was consumed. The DA's Office petitioned the court to install a ignition lock device after reports indicated the former lawmaker was seen consuming alcohol at the same popular night spot where he was reportedly drinking the night of the accident and his subsequent arrest.
Oliveira, who was in a runoff for re-election with former Cameron County Pct. 2 Commissioner Alex Dominguez, was released on $2,500 bail the next day. Dominguez went on to win the runoff election.