THE PILLAR OF JUSTICE HAS SOME SHAKY FOUNDATIONS

By Juan Montoya
It warmed the cockles of our cold, cold, hearts to see Cameron County District Attorney bestow the much-coveted "Pillar of Justice" award to his former Pubic Information Officer Melissa Landin.
This lead us to wonder why the choice. Saenz said in his warm remarks at the award that Landin, who left for greener pastures in Harlingen last November, that her "hard work and dedication" merited the recognition.
Now, as far as we can remember, Landin's job at the DA's Office was to get her boss Saenz reelected, and left before that came about.
Saenz could have well awarded it to Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio for a lifetime as a law enforcement officer, but that wouldn't do because Mellie is helping his Republican challenger (and Saenz's former Public Integrity Unite boss) Victor Cortez to try to unseat Lucio in November.
We're still waiting to see what October Surprise Cortez and Landin will pull off to try to unseat Lucio. A scandal involving the Reyna brothers, perhaps? We'll see.
We were a bit hurt that El Rrun-Rrun, Robert Wightman's Brownsville Voice, Jerry McHale, or even Jim Barton, of the Brownsville Observer, weren't even considered for the honor. After all, it was through Landin that Wightman was played like a fiddle to buttress Saenz's reputation. It even got to the point where Landin was receiving PR suggestions from Wightman in return for exclusive access to the DA's criminal files.
And we though we was friends!
Even those members of the DA's staff who have stood by him through thick and thin were tossed aside like so much chewed bagasse. Rene comes to mind as does Janie and Ismael, the rest of the ADAs and investigators, the tireless workers the Crime Victims Unit, and those current and former politicians who assisted Saenz in the past.
Instead of remembering folks who have spent their lives in law enforcement, or friends in political position who have made his ascent to the DA's office possible, Saenz chose to honor Landin, a figure who has skirted the law – and came near to being charged for obstructing justice for political purposes – all too recently.
We will mention only one instance.
On December 2011, when Landin (then Zamora) was working for State Rep. Oliveira's reelection campaign, one of Rene's girlfriends was driving (or was it really him?) an uninsured car registered under his name and hit a couple from behind.
Accident and arrest reports filed on by arresting officer Everardo Longoria (city commissioner Rick Longoria's brother) indicate that at about 9:48 p.m. in the evening police were called to a serious accident involving two cars on the frontage road next to Charlie Clarks' Nissan.

The reports indicate that a 1999 Ford Windstar van with two passengers was struck from behind at a high rate of speed by a 2009 Chrysler PT cruiser operated by one Guadalupe Molina, identified as an employee at the college media department.

When officers arrived at the accident scene, they found the van with heavy damage to the rear parked in the grassy area between the expressway far right lane and the frontage road in front of the Nissan dealership. A woman passenger complained that she was hurting as a result of the impact, but did not require ambulance transport. After ascertaining that the passengers in the van were not seriously hurt, officers walked over to the Chrysler and found an the driver was uncooperative and refusing to emerge from the car merely stating that she "knew her rights."

After getting her license information, officers bodily removed her from the wrecked car which had traveled over the curb, knocked down a fence at the dealership and almost struck a demonstration car on a ramp inside the car dealer's.

A check of the vehicle's VIN indicated that the car belonged to State rep. Rene Oliveira, who was not in the vehicle. Additionally, on the box corresponding to "proof of financial responsibility" (auto insurance) the "no" box is crossed out. Apparently, it was not insured at the time of the accident.

We understand that Molina was later seen tooling around town in a new car – a Caddy at that – that she was lent for her personal transportation. Quien pompo and in return for what, her silence?

As the officers investigated the crime scene and attempted to elicit information from the obviously intoxicated driver, a woman identifying herself as a "city commissioner" showed up on the scene.

Longoria wrote in his report that: "As I was documenting my report I heard officer (Alfonso) Garcia yell to someone outside my patrol unit. I then heard a female voice yell out 'I'm a city commissioner.' I then observed that there was a female dressed in gray sweat pants standing next to my police unit by the back door where Ms. Molina was. I heard officer Garcia tell her that the female was in custody and that she could not talk to her. The female walked away onto the grass of the Nisssan dealership," Longoria's report reads.

Despite the verbal warning that she was not to speak with Molina and being informed that the woman was being very uncooperative and highly intoxicated, Zamora merely answered that "I know," and went back to her car to speak with someone on her cell phone. However, that was not the end of her involvement in the Molina arrest.

Longoria writes that: "I informed her (Zamora) that the minimum confinement was four hours because it was an intoxication charge and she told me she was already arranging (to take care of) that. She then walked away and got back on her phone...I walked down the road to the van and heard yelling coming from the area of my patrol unit. I then observed the same female standing by the back door of my patrol car unit yelling at Ms. Molina through the closed door. Officer Garcia then stepped towards her once again but I was not able to hear what was said."
Later, the victims who were struck from behind told relatives that they were never paid for their medical care or for the damages to their vehicle and that Molina (and Oliveira) never took responsibility for the wreck.
A pillar of justice, indeed.