AS SANCHEZ BLAMES HARLINGEN COPS, COUNTY PAYS FOR PERSONAL WATER CARRIER

By Juan Montoya

A jury sentenced a 34-year-old Rio Hondo man represented by Cameron County Pct. 4 Commissioner Dan Sanchez to 50 years in prison after he slammed his car into another and killed a Harlingen woman.

All through the trial, Sanchez had blamed the Harlingen Police Department officers who were involved in the high-speed chase of Eric Christopher Gonzalez who slammed into Maria Osorio and Javier Osornio on the intersection of Ed Carey and Highway 77 on March 24, 2011. Maria Osorio was pronounced dead at the hospital and her husband sustained major injuries.

Harlingen police attempted to stop Gonzalez for a traffic violation that morning authorities said. But he took police on a high-speed chase that ended when he ran a red light and hit the victim’s car, authorities said.

Gonzalez was also found guilty and sentenced to 20 years for aggravated assault, 20 years for evading arrest, and two years for possession of marijuana, all sentences to run concurrently.

The convicted man's wife will also be tried for murder. Gonzalez also has a  pending case for unlawful possession of a firearm.

District Attorney prosecutors say that Gonzalez never inquired about the victims' well-being, but instead repetitively asked officers for his wallet, which was left inside his vehicle.
“The jury made the right decision in rejecting defense attorney Dan Sanchez’s repeated claim that the victim’s death was the fault of the Harlingen Police Department,” District Attorney Luis V. Saenz said.

But the drama didn't end there. All  through the trial, Priscilla Guarjardo, who works in Judge David Sanchez's 444th District Court, was in the audience. The judge is the commissioner's brother. 

Court spectators say that during a break in the trial, the woman rose to give Sanchez a bottle of water and Saenz turned around and asked her why she wasn't working at her office instead of sitting in the courtroom as a water carrier for Dan Sanchez, her boss' brother.

"She glanced up at him and left the courtroom as fast as she could," said the spectator. "When the court reconvened, she never returned."

Sanchez, a practicing attorney, not only lost his case and had his client sentenced to 50 years, but also had to suffer the indignity of having to go for water himself and not have the county taxpayers for a personal water carrier.