ERIN NOT OUT OF THE WOODS WITH JUDICIAL COMMISSION

By Juan Montoya
The Cameron County District Attorney's Office may not be acting to address the issue of the sale of waivers to the state's 72-hour waiting period before couples can get married, but the State Commission on Judicial Conduct has put Justice of the Peace Precinct 2, Place 2 Erin Garcia Hernandez on notice that she is not out of the woods yet.
In a confidential letter mailed July 8, a CJC attorney notified a complainant that the entity was actively investigating the allegations that she might have violated the law when she manufactured and sold at least 13 such waivers. The waivers – which were sold to couples – allowed them to marry before the 72-hour mandated waiting period was over.
A Texas Attorney General's opinion stated that justices of the peace  in the State of Texas were not authorized to issue the waivers. The opinion did not address their sale.
"We are continuing our investigation into the complaint you filed with us on October 21, 2013...," the letter written by E. Anthony Martinez, CJC counsel wrote.
"We will be presenting this matter to the Commission as soon as we have completed our investigation, and we will notify you of its decision...Also, please understand that the Commission's jurisdiction is limited to the review of allegations of judicial misconduct and does not preclude other remedies that may be available to you."
The waivers issued and sold by Garcia-Hernandez became an issue after investigators found that Cameron County Clerk employees were not filing them because there was no place where they belonged.
The accepted manner of getting waivers to the 72-hour waiting period involve getting one issued by a district judge and filing it with the Cameron County District Clerk for a fee. In her case, Garcia Hernandez would take the fee for the waiver, then marry the couple on the spot and charge them between $150 to $250 for performing the ceremony.
The justice of the peace said she was unaware that she could not issue or sell the waivers and said she was acting "in good will." That led to Cameron County District Attorney to request the opinion from the Texas AG which said JPs were not authorized to issue them.
Garcia Hernandez lost her bid for reelection during the March Democratic Party primaries and will be vacating her office at the end of the year. Her father, former Brownsville city commissioner and Cameron County Pct. 2 commissioner, Ernie Hernandez also lost in the primary and then had to resign his office as part of an agreement in exchange for the DA dropping seven official misconduct cases against him in a case involving the illegal hiring of his brother-in-law.