ACCUSED MURDER SUSPECT RELEASED IN TENNESSEE TURNS SELF IN TO SHERIFF LUCIO

"If a tree fell in the forest and no one heard it, would it make a sound?" Question that could be asked about the Brownsville Herald's apparent lack of interest in reporting the accidental release of murder suspect Randall Bolivar who who was back in the city after he left Tennessee.

By Juan Montoya
When Randall Bolivar was released last Wednesday in Dickson County, Tenn., he walked out the front door of the courthouse.
Apparently, no one there though anything of letting him loose after a judge dismissed two charges related to his arrest there in 20o9 on two charges related to marijuana possession.
And it somehow escaped them that he was serving a 15-year sentence for smuggling a load of marijuana past the Sarita checkpoint at the Texas Department of Corrections McConnell Unit in Kleberg County. In fact, Bolivar started serving the sentence in February of 2011 after his probation was revoked for leaving the state for Tennessee where he was caught with the marijuana.
What the Dickson County authorities apparently didn't realize either was that aside from having 13 years to serve on the marijuana possession charge, Bolivar also faced a bench warrant for murder from Cameron County.
Bolivar is charged with the murder of 30-year-old Aaron Castillo, who was killed in a drive by shooting in Brownsville four years ago. Bolivar and two other men, including his brother, were charged with shooting and killing him over a dispute stemming over $500 Castillo owed them.
"He's back in Carrizales," said Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio. "His lawyers called us from Corpus Christi and his mother (Mary Rey) also called to tell us he wanted to turn himself in."
Cameron County officials were made aware of the accidental release Friday.
Lucio said Bolivar showed up at at the Carrizales-Rucker Detention Center Saturday with his mother and attorney by his side.
“He did the right thing by turning himself into the sheriff’s department,” said Lucio. “He knew he wasn’t supposed to be released.”
Lucio said that apparently the judge in Tennessee knew that Bolivar was going to serve the 15-year-sentence and decided there was no point in prosecuting him for the offenses in his state. However, after those charges were dismissed, the mix-up occurred in Dickson County that he was allowed to walk out the door a free man.
Since Wednesday, Bolivar made his way from Tennessee to Brownsville. How he got here or who helped him make the trip is unknown. Lucio said he is just glad that the fugitive turned himself in.
"He did the right thing," he said. "Cameron County had nothing to do with the mix-up that occurred when the TDC turned over the prisoner for extradition to Dickson County for prosecution. I understand that he spoke with his attorneys and his mother and decided to turn himself in. I can also understand the worry that Mrs. Ray must have endured. She's a mother, after all, and that is her son."
Bolivar appeared before Magistrate Judge Luis Saenz Sunday morning for a parole violation. It is expected that officers from the TDC will come to Olmito to pick him up.
His attorney Lisa Greenberg said Bolivar was never a flight risk.
“He returned home to Brownsville and turned himself into parole, and tried to check in and they had the opportunity there to detain him," she told a local television station. She said he came back to the Valley, not knowing he was released by mistake. Once in Brownsville his mother convinced him to turn himself in.
"We're glad this episode is over," Lucio said. "Bolivar knows he has to answer to the charges and his mother apparently convinced him to do the right thing. I have come to know Mrs. Rey over time and I know that as a mother this must have been hard for her. We'll just have to let justice take its course."