THE PICTURE NO ONE BELIEVED WOULD HAPPEN 4 YEARS AGO

Corpus Christi Caller-Times

It was February 3, 2017 and sitting in a Corpus Christi courtroom, Cameron County Tax Assessor-Collector Tony Yzaguirre was unsure when the jury came back from deliberations and brought back the verdict.

Should he feel hopeful?

The moment Senior State District Judge Manuel Bañales uttered the words, “Not guilty,” on the first charge, the atmosphere in the Nueces County Courthouse tensed.

As Judge Manuel Banales kept reading the verdict, two men burst out, excited, and the bailiff was forced to remove them from the courtroom. His wife started crying, and when she was able, hugged her husband. His sister’s arm could not stop shaking when she called others to relay the news.

"I think (it’s) common when (people) see someone get arrested, they assume that person is guilty automatically without hearing what happens," lead defense attorney Eddie Lucio said. "But that’s why we have juries to show the other side of the story.”

Yzaguirre was found not guilty on 15 counts of bribery, abuse of official capacity, and official oppression. His trial was moved from Cameron County because of publicity surrounding the case and concerns an unprejudiced jury could not be selected in Cameron County.

During the trial, Lucio and his co-counsel Myles Garza were able to successfully able to show the Texas Department of Safety's investigation was flawed because agents were unaware of a key distinction up until a few weeks before the trial.

Yzaguirre was accused of accepting cash from DPS informant Mel Sosa so that Sosa would not have to wait in line to have his vehicle title transfers and vehicle registrations processed. Yzaguirre also is accused of processing motor vehicle title transfers and registration of transferred vehicles without verifying the photo identification of the person to whom the vehicles were to be transferred and registered.

However, dealers are not required to show photo ID or proof of insurance for their buyer to register vehicles or do title transfers.

Sosa was not a dealer at the time of the investigation, but he did have a history as a dealer. He also bought and sold cars for a living.

Sosa visited the tax office 21 times during the course of the investigation, but was only able to meet with Yzaguirre on five occasions.

Prosecutors alleged that Sosa would slip $100 into an envelope for each vehicle that was illegally processed. Each meeting was recorded.

In one instance, the recorder remained on after agents thought they turned it off, catching one admitting her doubts as to whether Yzaguirre was “taking the money.”

“By midday of the first day, we felt their case was already suffering and having problems,” Lucio said. “(Seven) charges were thrown out because they had errors … And once we saw that, we felt confident.”

The defense built their case around the state’s witnesses, because they already had the key pieces they needed, Lucio said.

After seeing the state’s evidence, Lucio is unsure why the case got as far as it did. He also did not dismiss the possibility of a countersuit.

“We’re a little saddened that we had to be here to begin with," Lucio said.

After Yzaguirre's acquittal others arrested in the investigation, including county tax investigator Pedro Garza, dealer/notary supervisor Omar Sanchez-Paz, Chief Lt. Jose Mireles, and tax office employees Marisol Sifuentes and Claudia Elisa Sanchez were not tried.

Voters in the county had elected Yzaguirre to another term three months before this trial in November 2016 and while he was under indictment. In the photo above, he is sworn in on January 1, 2021 to serve another four-year term.