On the heels of the resignation and confession of criminal conduct by former Cameron County Pct. 2 commissioner Ernie Hernandez, the Cameron County District Attorney's Office has received notice from the Texas Attorney General's Office that it will require more time to issue an opinion on whether waivers to the 72-hour waiting period between the granting of a marriage license and the ceremony issued by JP 2-2 Erin Hernandez-Garcia was illegal.
Hernandez Garcia is Ernie Hernandez's daughter. Both lost their reelection bid in this year's Democratic Party primary
The DA's office confirmed Friday that the AG had notified them that it would require more time than the statutory 180 days to fully address the issue."I guess that it will probably have an impact statewide so they want to make sure they do it right," said DA Luis V. Saenz.
In the commissioner's case, Sanez said that the agreement signed by Hernandez indicated that he did not want to risk going to court on the seven counts of official misconduct and pleaded on the eighth of coercing a public official.
"If he thought the seven other counts were bogus, then why did he decide not to go to trial," he said. "The state was ready."
Saenz defended the plea agreement where the state dropped the seven counts in return for Hernandez's resignation saying that even if the commissioner was convicted, he could have appealed and stayed in office until the end of is term in January.
"It could have gone on and on. We just wanted to get this over with and have him leave."
In the case of his daughter, Saenz requested an opinion from the AG once his office found out that she was charging an average of $40 for the waivers. The forms for the waivers were made in her office by her staff. No other justices of the peace use the forms.
Garcia-Hernandez has conceded that indeed a dispute exists on whether she can issue the waivers in a letter she provided county counsel as part of an agreement with attorneys for a couple who sued her in federal court over the waivers.
The need for answers to these questions arose from the questions surrounding the issuance of at least 13 (and perhaps as many as 17) by her office to couples for a fee.In a statement dated Nov. 5, 2013 Garcia-Hernandez signed a letter on her office stationery that states:
"At the time I issued the 72 hour waiting period waiver, I believed in good faith that I had the legal authority to do so. However, I now understand that the authority of a justice of the peace to issue waivers is now in dispute and that an Attorney General Opinion has been requested to clarify the issue..."
In his request for the AG's opinion, Saenz asked:
1) Is a justice of the peace authorized by law to issue the waivers?
20) Is a justice of the peace authorized to charge a fee for the waivers?
3) And if the fee is collected, who does it go to, to the justice of the peace or to the county?
These questions were drafted into the request for an opinion by Chief DA assistant Rene Gonzales and submitted the the AG's Office for an opinion.
The issuance of the waivers by Garcia-Hernandez differs markedly from the established process followed in Cameron County and in others throughout the state. The process to get legitimate waivers is to go through a district court, as the couple's attorneys did in this case.
There is a specific waiver form that must be completed at the district clerk's office, signed by a district judge, and filed away in a case file. In the case of the form generated in Garcia-Hernandez's office, there is no existing file for them. In fact, there are no such forms are left at the county clerk's office.
However, the ones that did survive bear the logo of the Justice of the Peace office of Erin Garcia-Hernandez and her signature below the body of text approving the waiver of the 72-hour waiting period. Once the waiver was issued, the marriage ceremony could be performed and the justice of the peace collected whatever fee that particular office charged (between $150 and $250).
33 comments:
He only would have stayed in office till November.
Not convincing.
This is bullshit. Take Ernie to trial, they have lied and stolen their way into office for years. Starting with Alice Wilson, the public deserves to see how high the shit floats in Brownsville.
We've tolerated ernie since 1999 a few more months to January would mean nothing SAENZ what are you hiding?
let him appeal let a jury and the media see the TRUTH
To Fee or not to Fee. !!! Who said that?
Mexicans have acquired the Republican side of justice. Be easy on the brethren and hard on the poor.
Juan, ya no pongas a la CHUPA CABRA!! hewwwwww....
No he wouldn't have, you 1:32pm numbnut. Newly elected officers always take over on January 1 of the next year.
Saenz, the voters tired of the Hernandez' crooked ways; they sent that message in the primaries. The citizens of Cameron didn't need you to remove Hernandez from office, they already did that. They needed you to do the job they elected you to do to officials like him, and that is prosecute. With your track record the first 16 months, no doubt they will tire of you, too.
Luis Saenz your no better than Villalobos and his corrupt tactics of letting the guilty go. SHAME ON YOU! Henry has RAPED this community for to many years. ITS YOUR JOB TO DEFEND IT FROM PEOPLE LIKE ERNIE HERNANDEZ and his corrupt offspring.
Read 13-85-439-CV 197th Judge Hester. On appeal 716 S.W. 2d 677 (1986) The Hernandez family has been around awhile.
This is "politics" not judicial. Luis Saenz has agreed to a plea by Ernie Hernandez, probably to keep Luis from being under pressure to go after Sheriff Omar Lucio for his cheating scandal. This was a "deal" by the DA to remove Ernie (and probably Erin too) from his agenda...especially from his public agenda....and give him more flexibility to sweep cheating by the sheriff's office under the "political rug". Luis Saenz has brought nothing new to the DA's office......he is protecting the culture of Demokratic corruption in Cameron County. Saenz remains "beholding" to Gilberto Hinojosa, Aurora de la Garza and other corrupt politicos in this county. As DA he makes lots of promises to the public, but he works harder to protect the corruption that brought him to office.
The citizens of Cameron County with brains and common sense cannot in good faith accept the explanation by CCDA Luis Saenz. This is some sort of cop out by the DA. If you were ready for trial then why not try the case? Find him guilty and he stays in office till November. Maybe, he would have stepped down on his own knowing that he was found guilty by a jury of his peers? Ernie Hernandez avoided a felony conviction and got away with the testing scandal where he sacrificed that idiot Raul Salazar. Mr. Saenz, your office is allowing too many defendants skate on criminal charges in order to get a conviction on others. And I am not just talking about corrupt politicians or high profile people and their connections. I'm talking about those who willfully participated in the commission of a crime and then got away for testifying. Is that fair justice for all?
Sure Luis will "defend" Ernie's plea agreement....because it's Luis who negotiated the plea...so it's Luis's agreement as much as Ernie's. Luis continues to play "soft ball" with those who corrupt Cameron County. Luis is playing to the corruptors and the culture of corruption in the local Democratic Party. And, now this gives Luis some flexibility to "work" with the Sheriff to push his "cheaters" under the carpet. We notice that the Sheriff has been away from the media and leaves his media relations to Gus Reyna....who probably initiated the cheating...saying "what's good for Ernie is good for the Sheriff's department". Corruption, corruption, corruption.
Come on everyone Aurora Dela Garza is Luis Saenz sister-in-law. If he goes after Erin he has to go after Aurora Dela Garza also. He just wanted to get rid of Ernie because Sofia Benavides has made a pack with Gilbert Hinojosa and his clan. Luis Saenz is just trying to get Gilbert back in charge of all the wheeling's and dealings of the Cameron County Court House. Keep it up fellows and you will sure join you buddies in their downfalls. SAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Write your name on the comments you are leaving Pat Ahumada. You are a coward and should not be throwing stones, you piece of shit. Stop trying to taint Luis Saenz just because he nailed your ass.
Luis Saenz put the word out in Cameron County Arnold Flores is his choice for County clerk . If you don't want trouble vote for Arnold .
A man who fell to his death from the 18th floor of a River Walk hotel has been identified. Michael Lopez, 46, of Brownsville, was identified as the man who, after an argument with his wife, is alleged to have jumped from the Hilton Palacio Del Rio. Lopez's body was found in a shallow section of the San Antonio River just before 2 a.m. Friday, police said. No charges have been filed in the man's death.
Yet another political exchange, Luis Saenz exchanging judicial decisions for political favors. NO DOUBt! Most of us wanted to see Ernie sweat before a jury....but Luis Saenz negotiated a plea that gets Ernie off the hot seat....but what does it give Luis? Not just a guilty plea....Ernie gave up something else and we may never know what it is until Luis decides to run for office again. Ernie and Luis deserve each other.....the public wants a trial and not some "political hanky panky" by two Dumbokrats.
If some of the Naco population think that the Democatic Party is pretty bad but just try the Republican- T-Party. They'd want us Nacos back on the Plantation singing , "Look Away, Look Away".....Da Mayor disguised as a Naco will present a resolution to the Commission changing the name of Brownsville to Nacoville,, Texas. Hear, Hear.
Three years after a tornado devastated the Little Rock suburb of Vilonia, its residents again huddled in storm cellars as the most powerful twister this year carved an 80-mile path of destruction through suburbs north of the state capital, killing at least 16 white people.
Emergency officials began to pick through the rubble to look for survivors as the sun rose Monday morning. The tornado that touched down around 7 p.m. Sunday about 10 miles west of Little Rock grew to be half a mile wide and remained on the ground for much of that route, authorities said.
It was among a rash of tornadoes and heavy storms that rumbled across the center and south of the country overnight. The National Weather Service warned that the destructive storms were expected to continue Monday in the South and Mississippi Valley.
Ay Juan, you scared me with that picture of Erin. Which reminds me of her ugly ass friend, Jessica Tetreau and their turd musketeer, Erasmo. Word around city hall is that Tetreau promised Erin the municipal judgeship in exchange for Erin and Erasmo's help in getting re elected. Los tres mas quemados. jajajaja!
This case proves the need for more federal investigations at the court house of Cameron County. Ernie Hernandez would have certainly faced jail time had he been brought to trial. No big surprise that Saenz failed to do his job prosecuting Hernandez. He is one of the good old boys. Public Integrity Unit my ass.
Guy Bailey, a former president of Texas Tech University and the University of Alabama, was named sole finalist Monday to lead the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. The vote by the nine-member UT System Board of Regents was unanimous. Under state law, the board must wait at least 21 days before firming up the appointment. Bailey is currently a professor of linguistics at Alabama. His charge at UT-Rio Grande Valley will be to build a new university by blending UT-Pan American in Edinburg, UT-Brownsville and a new medical school.
Um, No.
The AG DID release their opinion: even more lawbreaking from the Hernandez clan.
Is anyone surprised anymore?
https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/opinions/50abbott/op/2014/pdf/ga1053.pdf
Regardless of whether you call yourself Hispanic, Latino or something else, if you can trace your family to Latin America, there is an overwhelming chance that you “come from family clans that stretch back for thousands of years of Indigenous tradition.” This part of the conversation needs to have a larger part of the “Latino identity”question.
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YA DEJA LA PINCHE BOTELLA JUAN!!!! PONTE a JALAR PELADO FLOJO!!! WRITE SOMETHING PUTO!!!! PINCHE BOBBY YA NOS TIENE HASTA LA MADRE!!!!!.....UP YOUR CULO BLIMP!!!
MACLOVIO O'MALLEY
Norma's gift this Mother's day's: framed father-daughter mugshots
Very well said...
VIVAN Los Nacos de Nacoville ! Es major ser Naco que aún más Naco en Nacolandia.
El Mayor ( el alcalde ) es Naco y no lo sabe!
County commishioners and judge can't seem to be able to get this asshole under control. .....again blogging on county time.....you're a sick individual Valadez. ....get some help.You amuse no one and are boring as hell with your rants....Your family must be embarrassed by you.
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