Court of appeals blocks motion to disqualify attorney in Hidalgo County campaign fraud case

EDINBURG, Texas ( ValleyCentral ) — The Court of Appeals ordered the trial court to vacate a motion that disqualified an attorney in an ongoing Hidalgo County campaign fraud case.

In May, Justice of the Peace Sonia Trevino was re-elected during the Democratic Primary Election, defeating her opponent Ramon Segovia by 31 votes. Segovia filed an election contest challenging the results, alleging that votes were illegally cast by individuals who were falsely registered, and by voters who were assisted at the ballot.

A trial in the case began on July 15, and after three days, Segovia testified.

Trevino’s lead counsel, Ricardo L. Salinas, began cross-examining Segovia, who testified that he had met with some of his supports at a construction trailer he owned. Segovia admitted to giving money to some of his supporters, but denied that he told them to assist people to vote for him.

Salinas then began questioning Segovia about the financing for the race, and said the following:

Segovia’s counsel then claimed that, by that interaction, Salinas identified himself as a witness in the case, and asked that he be disqualified from the case. Salinas opposed the disqualification, stating he heard Segovia make public speeches while trying to solicit contributions.

Salinas further argued that he only heard Segovia making open public statements to people. His argument was rejected by the trial court, which ruled that Salinas had injected himself into the case as a witness and was disqualified.

Trevino then submitted an emergency motion for stay of the court proceedings, which was granted. Trevino claimed that the trial court abused its discretion by disqualifying Salinas as her lead counsel during the middle of the trial.

She argued that “Segovia failed to show that Salinas’s role as attorney and possible witness would cause him actual prejudice.”

The Court of Appeals sided with Trevino, stating that Segovia failed to offer arguments or evidence that Salinas’ dual role in the case would cause him “actual prejudice.”

In conclusion, the appeals court stated that Trevino met her burden to obtain relief, and directed the trial court to vacate the order granting the disqualification and instead “enter an appropriate order denying such motion.”

“Our writ will issue only if the trial court fails to promptly comply,” the document concludes.

The court is out on recess on Friday and is scheduled to return Monday.

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