BISD GENERAL COUNSEL SALAZAR FAILED TO EXPUNGE RECORD

By Juan Montoya
It was April 1, 2013 – appropriately April Fools' Day – when current Brownsville Independent School District legal counsel was making his pitch to be hired by the district from among six firms that had made the cut.


When Baltazar Salazar came to the podium to make his presentation, he stressed the fact that he was a straight shooter who would "stab you in the front" in contrast to others who would stab you in the back.
He looked at trustee Minerva Peña and said pointedly: "I've known some of you since I was a kid," and said his goal was "not to make money."

He promised he would "tone down your legal expenses" and bring "stability, because you have chaos, and when there's chaos, lawyers make money."

The school district, he told them, had "become a cash cow" because the district did not follow procedure and said he was there "to serve the board as a whole."
In answer to a query by trustee Lucy Longoria, Salazar said that all board members had the right to speak out and that he believed in open arguments.
"You do have the right to speak out," he replied to her question. "I believe you have to have high moral values and high moral standards."

He also reminded them that he had represented the BISD in the past and that he was a product of Brownsville schools.
The next day, April 2, 2013, a majority of the board – Enrique Escobedo, Otis Powers, Minerva Peña, Jose and Chirinos – voted to hire Salazar over the other firms. Only trustees Longoria and Presas-Garcia objected to the speed with which the selection was made and to the fact that Salazar's firm had less experience in defending school district than at least five others. Apparently, Presas-Garcia said at the time, a majority of the board had already made a decision before the matter came to the full board.

And despite his stated openness before the board members, Salazar neglected to tell the board members that at the same time that he was speaking to them, the Texas Department of Public Safety was contesting the expungement of his criminal record that showed that he had been arrested on three felony charges, the last time one involving theft by check for $5,700.

Under the Texas Penal Code, Title 7: Offenses Against Property, Chapter 31: Theft, Section 31.03 and 31.06, they are considered state jail felonies if the value of the property stolen is $1,500 or more but less than $20,000 or the value of the property stolen is less than $1,500.

According to the record, Salazar issued a check without funds to Coburn Optical, an out-of-state firm, for payment of lenses for his Salazar Optical and Medical Company in Brownsville knowing that there were insufficient funds in his company's account.
Interestingly, judges sitting on the three felony charges in Cameron County granted Salazar probation on all three and he continued on his merry way doing business as usual.

Less than four months after his presentation where he said he had the highest of moral values, on August 15, the 13th Court of Appeals issued a memorandum opinion (13-12-00771-CV) reversing the expungement order signed in the 107th District Court. Salazar's three felony arrests remained on his record and the DPS's objection to them was upheld.

DPS had argued that Salazar had been given county jail time and probation and therefore did not qualify for expungement.
"We reverse the trial court's order and render judgement denying the petition for expunction as to all three offenses," said the appellate court's opinion and memorandum written by Justice Doris Contreras Garza.

It is interesting to note that former BISD Superintendent Carl Montoya was a licensed law enforcement officer and that trustee Peña doesn't fail to remind anyone within earshot that she is a former DPS officer. How then, did Salazar's checkered past get through these law enforcement hotshots and why did they bend over backwards to hire a firm that was obviously lacking in educational legal experience in comparison with the others?

They then voted to pay him $20,000 a month – limited their meetings to once a month – and then, on December 10, 2013, the same board  majority voted to extend Salazar’s contract for another three years. Just recently he had to settle for 288,000 salary when the trustees were reluctant to hike him tom the $300,000 he had requested originally.

When one applies to the BISD for any employment there is an item on the application that asks if you have ever been convicted of a felony or for a crime involving moral turpitude. Was Salazar truthful in the presentation of his bona fides with the board? And if a felony conviction keeps out a janitor from gaining employment withe the district, shouldn't three felony arrests on his record?

Represented by his attorney Noe Garza, Salazar swore and signed under oath that he had never been convicted because the statute of limitations had expired and that he had been "released," that the charge had not resulted in a final conviction, and that there was no court-ordered community supervision (probation).
Based on that presentation, 107th District Judge Ben Euresti signed the Order of Expunction June 26, 2012.
"The court finds that the petitioner has been released, that the charge (s) have not resulted in a final conviction and is no longer pending, and that there was no court-ordered community supervision...The court further finds that the prosecution for the offense for which the defendant was arrested is no longer possible because the limitations period has expired."


The appeals court begged to differ and ruled that the expungement could not stand and that the documents placed away from public scrutiny be returned to the district clerk's files.

We are still looking for the civil case file where he filed for expunction (2012-DCL-3092A) because apparently it is lost somewhere and no one can seem to find it. Are the missing records yet another wrinkle in this man's bag of tricks?