THE CYBER-PUBLICIZED DEPOSITION OF MARY REY BY ZAYAS GENERATES SKEPTICISM

By Juan Montoya

Local attorneys are still scratching their heads over the cyber-publicized deposition of local resident Mary Rey by former Brownsville Independent School District trustee Rick Zayas.
Zayas, along with his sidekick and business partner Ruben Cortez, petitioned County Court at Law Judge Arturo McDonald to go on a fishing expedition and depose Rey, listed as president of the now defunct defeatzayascortezpowers PAC that sent both their candidacies packing in the last round of district elections.

The petition makes clear that they had no specific subject in mind, just that they would be looking for anything that they could pin on the PAc or its supporters, including Argelia Miller, Rey, Carlos Quintanilla, Pat Lehman, Art Rendon, et al

After the rambling depo given by Rey, it becomes obvious even to those of us uninitiated in the finer points of the law that there was nothing adversarial at all about the proceedings. Rey was there willingly and makes one wonder whether it was her that initiated the media event. A local blogger was instantly claiming that Rey's allegations (and they are just that, allegations) indicated that Quintanilla committed perjury during his own depo in the defamation lawsuit (and countersuit) against Zayas adn Cortez when he said Rey had offered him her residence for a mailing address when he was here helping the PAC.

When Quintanilla asked for an audience with Cameron County Judge and county personnel from the auditor's and sheriff's department, Rey was included in the discussion that didn't just cover the commissary contract awarded to Zayas and Cortez, but she also pressed the officials on the health care given inmates, specifically her son. In the picture above taken during happier times, she is seen standing by Quintanilla as he is being interviewed after the meeting.

Now, if we remember, Zayas, Cortez and Quintanilla were parties in a the defamation litigation and chose to non-suit each other, so anything associated with that becomes moot, or so we would think. But hey, we're not lawyers, so take it with an grain of salt.

It is interesting, however, to note that the case was filed with the district's court office at 4:33 last Wednesday and Rey filed her waiver of citation (meaning she didn't have to be served) 20 minutes later at 4:53 the same afternoon. For all practical purposes, it could be that she was in the building with Zayas when the paperwork was being field.

McDonald signed the order the next day to all for the deposition.

There is obviously some bad blood here despite the fact that Zayas and Quintanilla had apparently buried the hatchet on their defamation lawsuit. Now, if Rey and the PAC did something wrong, or illegal (as the blogger claims), then isn't she kind of placing the noose around her own neck since she was listed as president?

Quintanilla and some of the persons associated with the PAC during the BISD election claim that it has become obvious that Rey's participation in the PAC as an officer was really just a way to leverage their help with legal fees for the defense of her two sons. They have said in the past that she was asking for $50,000 in defense fees and that local eagle eagle Ernesto Gamez be brought on as their counsel.

That apparently fell through and Rey took some umbrage about the question, expecting, they said that in return for lending her name for the PAC, she would get a quid pro quo in legal defense for her kids.

Some legal observers say that the game being played out in McDonald's court is a dangerous one.

"It's dangerous to allow the use of your court to get back at someone politically," said an attorney who saw a copy of the order. "You open yourself to all kinds of criticisms and questions of propriety. It's obvious that Rick and Ruben are still smarting from their loss last year. Getting a court to grant you a fishing expedition – even if your fishing partner is willing to take the bait – doesn't smell right."

No one knows if Zayas and Cortez will find a smoking gun that would incur some sort of prosecution. But if they do file a lawsuit against the PAC or its supporters, Rey's testimony will be highly suspect coming as it did, over the Internet for all to see.