NO MATTER HOW YOU WEASEL-WORD IT, FELONY CONVICTIONS STAND

 Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Up until December 2023, if you were a convicted felon, you could not run for city office or to be appointed to a board or commission in the City of Brownsville.

This was based on the city's Policy on Board and Commission Member Appointment and Eligibility
approved by the city commissioners August 21, 2018. 

It stated that:

(c) Criminal Check. No individual may serve on any city board or committee who has a felony conviction or who has, within the past ten years, been convicted of any crime of moral turpitude

All that changed at the second reading of a new (and improved?) policy during the commission's December 12, 2023 meeting that – upon the recommendation of City Manager Helen Ramirez and City Attorney Will Treviño – the commission unanimously approved a change to that section which stated that:

(f) Criminal Check. No individual may serve on any City Board who has a felony conviction from which the individual has not been pardoned or otherwise released from the resulting disabilities or who has, within the past ten years, been convicted of any crime of moral turpitude.

Three weeks later – on January 2, 2024 – Gayle C. King, a local Realtor and close friend of Ramirez and a female relation of Mayor John Cowen, submitted her application to be considered as a member of the Brownsville-South Padre Island Airport's Advisory Board. City commissioner Bryan Martinez nominated her to the board seconded by Roy De los Santos during the January 16, 2024 meeting.

In response to what qualified her for the airport advisory board, she replied that: "My family was

always on airplanes since we lived on an island (Puerto Rico). We always flew on Pan American Airways, and I loved flying. The history of Pan Am as a historical hub in Brownsville and the famous pilots that flew here is enthralling to me."

In her application, King's answer to the question of whether she had ever been convicted of violating any federal, state, or municipal law, regulation, or ordinance, she answered "yes."  

In answering "yes." King is then asked to give details of those convictions and replied that in 1990 she was "convinced" to join a group "that later I found out was a promotional scheme" and had received 2 years probation, which she claimed were expunged from her record with the Texas Real Estate Commission after 10 years.

She also gave consent to the city to conduct a search of her criminal history records to ascertain the details of her conviction and attested that all the information for the appointment was "true and correct."

If city administration officials and attorneys had done their due diligence as required by the application process, they could have found out that (notice how "convicted" becomes "convinced."):

1. The first lie was that King was "convinced" to join a group to promote a "promotional scheme," in 1990 (34 years ago), but not the truth that she was "convicted" for being the principal mover and shaker in a pyramid scheme which bilked several participants starting in 2000 (10 years later than her assertion that it happened oh so long ago in 1990) in McAllen (CR-1698-02-D) when she  "convinced" others to join at $5,000 a crack which was exposed when she failed to deliver on her promise they would receive $20,000 if they recruited more people to join to achieve the return on their $5,000. 

2. The second lie by omission is that that record indicates that a jury in the 206th District Court convicted King of two counts of promoting a pyramid promotional scheme and one count of theft by deception, all felonies, in 2002.

The jury found her guilty and the court sentenced King to three concurrent sentences of two years in a State Jail facility, probated for five years, imposed a fine, and ordered restitution. https://pa.co.hidalgo.tx.us/CaseDetail.aspx?CaseID=1384502 (when you click on to the link, click on criminal, enter enter CR-1698-02-D to go to the case docket for the case record)

In her application, King blandly states that she received a two-year probation but never mentions that she was convicted of three felonies. 

3. The case stemmed from King's promotion in late 2000, of a program referred to as Women Helping Women ("WHW"), Original Dinner Party ("ODP"), or "birthday club" which became popular as a "gifting club." Women who wished to join WHW would pay $5,000 for a "plate," designated as a "gift," with the expectation that their $5,000 gift would be increased to $20,000 as they convinced other women to join the club and paid their $5,000 "gift." 

4. No court record exists that supports her misleading claims that the convictions were ever expunged from her criminal record, and in fact, her 2003 appeal was decided in August 2005 by the Texas 13th Court of Appeals which upheld her convictions and can be accessed online. 

Aside from challenging the constitutionality of the law against pyramid schemes, double jeopardy, and vagueness, she also asserted that the conviction must be reversed on grounds that she was singled out for prosecution based on her race and was denied equal protection on grounds of invidious discrimination. (https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/tx-court-of-appeals/1392860.html)

Her claim that the Texas Real Estate Commission ordered the her criminal convictions "expunged," after 10 years is a red herring since only the trial court, not the TREC, can sign an order of expunction of her criminal record. Further, the court is prevented from issuing an expunction order if the defendant served probation, or if the Texas Department of Public Safety objects to the request.

The TREC can – after a hearing to determine whether the individual proves that he or she can be trusted to handle real estate transactions honestly in the State of Texas – allow her to reinstate a license to operate in the state.

Then, after failing to overturn her convictions – and before her five-year probation period was over – she petitioned the trial court on March 2009 for early termination of community supervision and requested judicial clemency. This was granted by Judge Fred Hinojosa on March 16, 2009.  

Hinojosa did not "pardon" King, since only the state governor can issue a pardon. Judicial clemency differs in that it allows a defendant to claim that the convictions have been "dismissed" or "set aside" and claim that she was not convicted.

Clemency is defined as leniency granted for a crime. It does not mean that the crime gets overlooked or forgotten. In short, it is a legal subterfuge to deny that she had three felony convictions and claim that the court has "dismissed" them.

King may have been allowed to recover her license to practice in real-estate by the TREC, but that has nothing to do with "expunging" her criminal record. It remains on the books.

No matter how you try to sugar coat it, the bottom line is that we have a thrice convicted felon on the airport advisory board and that she lied about when it happened (the year 2000, not oh so long ago in 1990), and fudged that the criminal record was expunged by the courts.

Must be nice to have friends in the right places.