Irene Garza Cold Case Can Wait a Few Months

The Monitor
March 13, 2014

http://www.themonitor.com/opinion/editorial-irene-garza-cold-case-can-wait-a-few-months/article_21d6da7e-aa3d-11e3-a7dd-0017a43b2370.html

joel.jpg joel martinez|jmartinez@themonitor.com

There’s an old axiom to keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

Perhaps that is why Hidalgo County District Attorney Rene Guerra offered his opponent and successor, District Attorney-elect Ricardo Rodriguez, an appointment to act as a special prosecutor on the 54-year-old Irene Garza murder case before he is forced to vacate the office that he has held for 32 years.

We don’t believe this was a wise course of action by Guerra and in some ways trivializes, by making political, the Garza case. So we applaud the decision by Rodriguez this week to decline the offer.

Whatever the motivation, it’s more than curious that Guerra would try and turn over this specific case to Rodriguez just days after a bitter election loss — especially since Rodriguez’ supporters touted the long-cold Garza murder case during the campaign against Guerra.

Some are calling it sour grapes. And that sounds like a likely conclusion, especially since we’ve heard from several people within the community of Guerra’s open disappointment and anger about losing his coveted position.

Guerra told The Monitor’s Jacob Fischler that he offered to appoint Rodriguez because he believed his loss — by 64 to 36 percent of votes — showed the community wanted this case to be prosecuted.

Indeed, Guerra was put on the hot seat about his 2004 handling of the reopened case after CBS ran an hourlong 48 Hours episode profiling the Garza case just two days before Election Day. In May, CNN also ran an episode about the McAllen beauty queen who was slain in 1960.

“Because of the 48 Hours piece and CNN, the way that they showed me as an uncaring individual, I think that from the resounding defeat that I received, I think the public wants the trial to go to court,” Guerra told Fischler.

Initially Guerra appeared to put Rodriguez in a no-win situation: Rodriguez could either accede to this stunt or could have appeared to break a campaign promise just days after the election by declining the appointment. Instead, his response was nuanced and sophisticated. And in a three-paragraph letter to Guerra on Monday, Rodriguez, a former 92nd state District Court judge, said legally Guerra cannot alone appoint a special prosecutor without a judge’s approval.

And while many in the legal community say that is a technicality — that most district attorneys will get the ball rolling and then request a judge sign-off on an appointment — it does bring to question which judge would have supported this.

In the letter, Rodriguez was kind and humble to thank Guerra for his “years of public service.” But he also was blunt in stating that Guerra’s “showmanship lacks the sincerity of purpose.”

We agree and we encourage Guerra in his remaining months to lead his office with the dignity he has been known for and to leave his legacy in tact.