JURY FINDS GONZALEZ NOT GUILTY OF CAPITAL MURDER; VERDICT BLOW TO D.A. LUIS V. SAENZ'S REELECTION BID

By Juan Montoya

After nearly three days of deliberations, a Cameron County jury has found Marco Antonio Gonzalez not guilty on a capital murcder charge in the shooting of fellow jailer Ivan Reyes last June 4, 2014.
The verdict was rendered by the six-man, six-women jury today in the 404th District Court presided by Judge Elia Cornejo-Lopez. Corneljo-Lopez had ordered the jury to stop deliberating on Tuesday and resume on Wednesday due to an illness of a juror's relative.
The not guilty verdict will likely have repercussions on the reelection bid of Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz. Asst. DA Peter Gilman was the lead prosecutor in the case.
This morning, the jury requested a copy of the jury charge made by Cornejo-Lopez last Friday.
Prosecutors said Gonzalez has shot Reyes as a result of a love triangle between corrections officers at the Rucker-Carrizales Detention Center that went bad.
Defense attorney Ernesto Gamez represented Gonzalez in the capital murder charge, but made a motion to the court that he willwithdraw after today;s verdict and will not represent his client on other pending charges. Gamez and his daughter Erin said the shooting was done nin self defense after Gonzalez entered the home of Monica Robles and found Reyes inside pointing  agun at him.
Gamez submitted his motion to withdraw Monday morning as the jury continued its deliberations.
Prosecutors say Gonzalez shot and killed Reyes at the home of Robles, his ex-girlfriend, on the 200 block of Orchid Path. During the standoff between Gonzalez and local authorities which lasted for hours, Gonzalez kept Robles captive at gunpoint while the body of Reyes was in the house.
Gonzalez was also arraigned on one count of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and 10 counts of aggravated assault on a public servant.
Gamez and attorney daughter Erin Gamez defended him over the last two weeks on the capital murder charge only. Still pending are the rest of the charges that included counts of kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon and assault on the police.
Last Friday, 404th District Court Judge Elia Cornejo-Lopez sent the jury home for the weekend after they asked for the transcripts of the testimony of Gonzalez and Monica Robles, the woman over who prosecutors say the defendant Gonzalez shot Reyes, a fellow corrections officer. Robles was a staff member at the jail's infirmary.

The shooting June 4, 2014 in Brownsville. touched off and eight-hour standoff with authorities.

Prosecutors say Gonzalez shot and killed Reyes at  Robles' home on the 200 block of Orchid Path. During the standoff between Gonzalez and local authorities which lasted for hours, Gonzalez kept Robles captive at gunpoint while the body of Reyes was in the house.

Gonzalez was first tried on a capital murder charge for Reyes’ death in June 2015, but that ended in a mistrial after the jury failed to reach a consensus in the verdict.

The lead counsel for the prosecution then was Gilman.

Gonzalez, who testified on his own behalf in his retrial, told the jury that on the morning of June 4, 2014, he had called Robles because he planned to drop off a .223 Bushmaster rifle she had given him as a Christmas present at her home.
The woman said she told Gonzalez not to go to her home and he insisted on going there.

In her testimony, Robles said Reyes was in the house at the time and was armed with a gun.
She said Gonzalez forced his way into the home pulling her by the hair after accusing her of having another man in the house, she testified.
During her testimony, she said “I was trying to hold the door closed, and I remember saying, ‘He has a gun,’ several times,” Robles said. “At (that) point, I (didn’t) care if anyone (heard)…I wanted anybody to hear.”
Reyes had his gun aimed at Gonzalez, telling him to put the rifle down, Robles testified.

Reyes was shot twice by Gonzalez and died instantly from a shot fired from the .223 Bushmaster rifle to the top of his head.

Police released recordings of the dispatchers’ radio communications in response to an open-records request from the local daily.At first, police were responding to a call from the home that someone being shot. Once there, the officers learned that a suspect inside the home was holding a woman hostage.“Suspect has the (caller’s) sister at gunpoint locked in a room” the recordings reveal.
As more officers were dispatched to the home, police were told that a “victim is male subject laying in the kitchen floor. He’s not moving.”
A few minutes later, one officer quickly shouted on the radio, “Shots fired headquarters. He’s got an AK 47… subject is shooting out of one of the bedrooms in the front. Units stay covered. He’s got an AK 47.”
The not guilty verdict came as a political blow to the reelection campaign of DA Luis Saenz, who opted to retry Gonzalez on the capital murder charge after the first trial ended in a hung jury instaed of lowering the charge .
Gonzalez will remain at the Rucker-Carrizalez corrections unit awaiting his trial on the other pending charges.