WIGHTMAN, TRYING TO BE COY, POSTS LIBELOUS CHARGES

By Juan Montoya
In his attempt  at editorial cuteness, the ever-malicious local blogger Robert Wightman has instead become an accomplice in an attempt to paint OP 1-33's Mike Hernandez as a drug-snorting fiend by publishing comments in his blog even though he admits he doesn't have any evidence of their veracity.

He did this by  posting that former mayoral and city commission candidate Robert Sanchez – in the throes of a messy divorce – "for $25,000" offered him a picture of Mike Hernandez doing drugs. Them, he posted that Sanchez had called him to tell him about a "$17,000 drug deal" that had been done to "support Mike's habit."
"Sanchez also claims Cris Valadez as part of Carlos Cascos political machine getting ready for another run at County Judge is feeding him information on Mike every day."

Wightman would have it both ways. He claims innocence and no ill motives toward the defamed and – in his typical amateurish and awkward manner – justifies his repetition of the defamatory statements.

"But the story here is not that any of this is true, because I have yet to receive an ounce of evidence any of it is true, so I assume it is all false, but it is reflective of the war behind the scenes to rid Brownsville of Mike Hernandez. I report the good the bad and the ugly. My hope is this story will stop the war of defamation by those who seek to take control not for the people but for themselves."

Sorry Wightman. You cannot have it both ways. Media – the blogs included – are liable for repeating statements they know to be false.  And if – as he claims – he has no proof that this is true – how does that justify posting the allegations?

Wigthman, a self-taught "journalist," does not tell the reader that he has in fact sued Sanchez in the past for what he claimed were defamatory statements. That ended in a stalemate and three insurance company paid him "hush money" to make him go away. This was after two years of paying attorneys to answer Wightmans scurrilous accusations, answering motions and amended motions, and answering his appeals to the courts after they ruled against him. After he lost in the Texas Supreme Court and was preparing to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, the insurance companies, against the wishes of the insured, paid him his passel of lentils to cut their losses and he went away happy.

Wightman, disbarred lawyer, doesn't care about collateral damage. He is currently involved in litigation where he thinks he will get money from Hernandez. When Hernandez sued Jerry McHale for calling him a con man and fraud, Wightman gleefully repeated the charges and got sued, the only way he can step into a courtroom.

We have warned the Cameron County bar and legal community against Wightman in the past. But they have allowed this misanthrope to continue pushing his odious wares in our community and this is the result.