"UNDERDOG" ROBLES FORGETS CHAPTER OF STORIED CAREER

By Juan Montoya
It has been said that either patriotism or religion is often chosen as a last refuge of a scoundrel.
And if you hear Daniel Robles, who quit as judge County-Court-at-Law #3 in 2009 to join former Texas State Rep. Jim Solis and Austin Attorney Marc Rosenthal – both convicted and serving prison sentences for bribery and racketeering – he comes across as the Horatio Alger underdog who has found God.
"My life is an open book," Robles told the Brownsville Police Officers Association. "I am the underdog in this race."
Robles is right when he says in the hustings that he is an underdog. The latest polls – including Dann Rivera's Victory Data survey poll with a sample of more than 500 voters – indicate Robles lags behind  incumbent McDonald by more than 20 percentage points.
Robles, in a surprise move after he quit the position, announced for Cameron County Court-at-Law #1 held by McDonald.
In a primary and general elections that most observers and pollsters say are turning to be referendum on corruption in public offices, Robles' role in the scandals that have stained the image of the Cameron County courts and bar has come under public scrutiny.
And although Robles recites his humble beginnings, his work ethic, and his religious fervor, he repeatedly skips over a couple of chapters of his career as county court at law judge.
He fails to mention, for example, that on the very first day that McDonald took over as County Court-at-Law #1, Robles sauntered over from County Court-at-Law #3 and told the greenhorn to transfer a case to his court.
That manipulation of the lawsuit Diana Alcala et al vs. Cardinal Health, Inc. et al occurred even after former County Court-in-Law Judge Janet Leal had left the office to take over a district court in January 2007.
 Leal had issued a summary judgement binding the Rosenthal law firm to a $1.5 million settlement for the death of child who was given the wrong medicine even though the Austin attorney had wanted to continue litigation against Cardinal Health-related entities and had entered a motion in the court to for a new trial that was denied by the Leal before she left office in December 2006.
E-mails acquired by government prosecutors and testimony from witnesses during the during the Rosenthal trial indicate that even after Leal had issued a summary judgement, Robles, who was the presiding judge of the courts, transferred the case to his own court and signed a docket entry to that effect. The case should have fallen to McDonald. However, Robles then vacated Leal's order without explanation.
When the defense attorneys learned of the maneuver, they filed a motion to recuse Robles from the case and Judge Manuel Bañales granted the motion. The order Robles had issued for a new trial, however, still remained in effect and the case went as far as the Texas Supreme Court and was settled before the court reached a decision.
Just 14 days after Robles signed the docket sheet transferring the case to his court, he had McDonald make another entry indicating that the case had been transferred at his request. When the FBI came knocking, McDonald denied this and told them that as a new judge, he through the entry was pro forma. Besides, he thought that since Robles was a presiding judge of the courts, he could do it without question.
This is where the ties that bind between Solis, Robles and Rosenthal become plainly evident. In fact, when he was judge of #3, Robles appointed Solis to 173 ad litem cases, an unheard of amount for any attorney from just one court.
During the course of their investigations, the FBI talked with McDonald about the docket entry and then were surprised to learn from Robles' secretary that Solis had used a word processor in Robles' office on January 2007 to type up an affidavit purportedly written by McDonald explaining the events in the case and authorizing the transfer from McDonald to Robles.
In the course of the investigation, the secretary produced a copy of the affidavit – unsigned – that Solis had typed.
The investigation also yielded E-mails between Solis, Robles and Rosenthal that indicated that the three were working in unison to keep the case alive.
Yet, Robles still insisted that McDonald had asked him to transfer the case to his court in the privacy of the court's chambers.  He told the Valley Morning Star's Emma Perez-Treviño that he had transferred the case because he felt it was "in the best interests of justice."
Solis was sentenced to 47 months in federal prison and three years of probation. He was also ordered to pay approximately $119,000 in restitution for his part in the Abel Limas scandal. He pleaded guilty in 2011 to racketeering charges. He previously testified he gave Judge Limas $250,000 in exchange for favorable rulings.
 Rosenthal was sentenced early December by United States District Judge Andrew Hanen to 20 years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered him to pay $13,288,984 restitution for his role in the South Texas bribery scheme.
It's funny that now Robles cites chapter and verse of his rags to riches story but fails to say that he and his partners once graced the front cover of the Yellow Pages directory distributed all over the Rio Grande Valley.
(That's the Yellow Pages 2010 edition ad for the Solis and Robles, Rosenthal firm on top.)
In a letter to his fellow members of the bar sent on September 23, 2013, Robles says that if elected he intends to "work diligently to help restore the public's trust in the judicial system of Cameron County.
"I am convinced that an improvement must be made in serving all who visit this court...," his letter continues.
This from a man who quit after 10 years in office in 2010 and then joined forces with Solis and Rosenthal to form a law firm and work the local courts. During the course of the Rosenthal and Solis trials, Robles' name came up often and served as a backdrop to some of the racketeering and bribery schemes hatched by the two attorneys who were his partners after he quit his position to go into private practice with them.