By Juan Montoya
"Sometimes you win a few. lose a few..."
With that cavalier brush aside, Cameron County District Attorney LuisV. Saenz characterized the year-long legal ordeal he put Tax Collector-Assessor Tony Yzaguirre and his family and five other tax office employees.
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Yzaguirre was acquitted of 15 charges after the first eight were also dropped by the court. And so the ordeal that began on January 2016 finally came to a close when the nine-women. three-man jury found him not guilty.
The other five employees – Pedro Garza, Omar Sanchez Paz, Chief Lt. Joe Mireles, and office workers Marisol Sifuentes and Claudia Elsa Sanchez – still could face prosecution individually, according to Saenz.
The high-profile case garnered massive media attention and Yzaguirre's lawyers requested a change of venue to Nueces County. Political observers say that the arrests coming just a few months before the runoff between Carlos Masso and Saenz pushed the incumbent over the top.
"Se dio un levanton en Harlingen," recalled a former county commissioner who was supporting Saenz. "That carried him over the top."
This loss, coming after other high-profile case against Marco Antonio Gonzalez who was acquitted of murdering Ivan Reyes, gives Saenz a poor win-loss record in high-profile cases. Just recently, a Border Patrol agent charged with capital murder and homicide, was acquitted of the charges.
During his election speeches, Saenz would tell his listeners that he was born to prosecute. In fact, it's hard to remember when the last time was that he personally has tried any case. In the end, unlike the Amit Livingston case, this time Saenz could not pull a win out of the hat.
"Sometimes you win a few. lose a few..."
With that cavalier brush aside, Cameron County District Attorney LuisV. Saenz characterized the year-long legal ordeal he put Tax Collector-Assessor Tony Yzaguirre and his family and five other tax office employees.
Yzaguirre was acquitted of 15 charges after the first eight were also dropped by the court. And so the ordeal that began on January 2016 finally came to a close when the nine-women. three-man jury found him not guilty.The other five employees – Pedro Garza, Omar Sanchez Paz, Chief Lt. Joe Mireles, and office workers Marisol Sifuentes and Claudia Elsa Sanchez – still could face prosecution individually, according to Saenz.
The high-profile case garnered massive media attention and Yzaguirre's lawyers requested a change of venue to Nueces County. Political observers say that the arrests coming just a few months before the runoff between Carlos Masso and Saenz pushed the incumbent over the top.
"Se dio un levanton en Harlingen," recalled a former county commissioner who was supporting Saenz. "That carried him over the top."
This loss, coming after other high-profile case against Marco Antonio Gonzalez who was acquitted of murdering Ivan Reyes, gives Saenz a poor win-loss record in high-profile cases. Just recently, a Border Patrol agent charged with capital murder and homicide, was acquitted of the charges.
During his election speeches, Saenz would tell his listeners that he was born to prosecute. In fact, it's hard to remember when the last time was that he personally has tried any case. In the end, unlike the Amit Livingston case, this time Saenz could not pull a win out of the hat.