AT THE VILLALOBOS TRIAL, SMALL DRAMAS ON THE FRINGES

By Juan Montoya

With the Trial of the Century of indicted former Cameron County District Attorney garnering attention nation- if not worldwide, the jockeying has started to eke out a niche from where to profit by using the courtroom proceedings as a firewall from where to pick up the pieces and attempt to call the shots of other elected officials.

We say this because it appears that some local commentators have seen the political fallout as former and current employees with the DA's office climb onto the witness stand to testify in the trial against their former boss.

Rebecca Rubane, Jose Lopez, David Gonzalez, Maria de Ford and Rene Gonzalez all find themselves playing supportive roles in the high drama. Whether they realized it at the time or not, they formed part of the mosaic that was carefully and fastidiously constructed by the former DA and his associates, and some, like attorney Oscar De la Fuente, have now cut deals with the government to assist in their prosecution of the his friend.
Rene Gonzalez, who has been an important cog in the justice wheel, proved his value when he made a hard copy of critical documentation in the DA's office that somehow disappeared from the scanned records. Rene has always been very fastidious about his work harking back to when he was the counsel for the County Commissioners Court. Villalobos probably now rues the day he made Rene the custodian of the records.  

The consumers of social media like blogs and mainstream media like newspapers and broadcasters, have been served a smorgasbord of tidbits by these diverse media. And it's curious to observe how some of these media providers themselves have become part of the story.

The Brownsville Herald (Valley Morning Star?) ace reporter Emma Perez-Treviño was herself ensnared somewhat because it was revealed that she was on the government recordings when the controversy over Limas granting the defense motion to give convicted murderer Amit Livingston a 60-day reprieve from his 23-year prison sentence. In the end, the government and the defense relented and she was able to provide her growing following with the kind of reporting that gives the trial context so that the issues are easily
understood by the casual newspaper or Tweeter reader. 

Local blogger Bobby Wightman on Brownsville Voice commits the first mistake of a budding journalist. He cant's see the story because of the facts. In fact, his fact overkill destroys any sense of continuity as he darts from one scene to another and thrown is some choice legalistic jargon just for good measure and to sow further confusion on his blog readers.

Bobby is a queer fish. He started out as first calling newly-elected DA a "scumbag" and  as worthless as a "tit on a boar's hog," among some of his mildest sobriquets. Then he became his good buddy after he was allowed free access to the information store managed by the DA's PIO and former city commissioner Melissa Zamora.

Wightman has moved on to bigger things. After trying to ingratiate himself to his Good Buddy Luis Saenz and moving his shop to the federal courthouse to cover – as it were – the Villalobos trial, he now fancies himself a counselor to the DA, going as far as pressuring Saenz to indict De la Fuente for his admitted acts in the Villalobos racketeering debacle.
Wightman, who seems to have come to terms with his disbarment many years ago, sees no incongruency in a disbarred attorney advising the sitting DA to indict (only a grand jury can do that, last time we looked) a federal witness who has been granted immunity to testify. Of course he would have a few grudges against his former colleagues on the  state bar seeing how they turned on him and couldn't appreciate his rapier-like legal mind. Ah, pearls before swine.
Since Zamora has been at the helm of the DA's information storehouse, that office has been leaking like a sieve to selected media. That is to be expected from all administrations, starting from the White House all the way down to little ole Cameron County. It's just the way things are done. You select media friendly to your boss to present his spin to the world.
But it also carries its risks. In most cases, public information officers have to deal on a quid pro quo basis with their media counterparts. We know from experience that Zamora drove a hard bargain while she was city commissioners. If you crossed her at any time or fell from her grace and another commissioner needed a vote, she would expect your head to be delivered to her on a silver platter in return. It was known in city commission circles as "the kiss of death." Call her the Jezebel Zamora of Brownsville. City purchasing agent Robert Luna narrowly escaped her wrath only through the intervention of his allies in the city administration.
Meanwhile, Legal Eagle Wightman – aside from directing Saenz to indict De la Fuente or risk losing "all credibility" with him – also instructs the DA to have someone present in the courtroom and take notes or it "will be sad if he does not."
One would think that a worldly DA like Saenz would have thought about that early in the game and doesn't need the peanut gallery to school him.
Not long ago, when Wightman was good buddies with former Brownsville Independent School District trustee Rick Zayas, Rick was the greatest thing since sliced bread until he didn't kowtow to the blogger's every whim. When that happened, he quickly turned on him and accused him of countless shortcomings and peccadilloes.
Funny how people on the fringes – Erasmo Castro and Cheezhem come to mind – form ephemeral alliances that quickly dissipate when things don't go their way. In the case of the Cheezmeh bunch that painted themselves as community reformers, but that play role quickly deteriorated when they sold their souls for a passel of lentils and struck a bargain with the likes of Ernie and Erin Hernandez and the Family, John Villarreal, Jessica Tetreau and now, Debbie Portillo.
It'll be interesting to see how long this honeymoon lasts if there is no grand jury indictment sought of De la Fuente by Saenz. And you thought telenovelas were quirky? Stay tuned.