TEXAS
The Monitor
LORENZO ZAZUETA-CASTRO | STAFF WRITER
EDINBURG — The trial of a former priest accused of killing a former beauty queen and McAllen school teacher will be delayed at least a month after attorneys met in court Monday.
John Bernard Feit was all smiles moments before a scheduled hearing Monday inside the 92nd state District Court.
The 83-year-old former priest is accused in the April 1960 death of Irene Garza, a schoolteacher and beauty queen who was last seen going to confession at McAllen’s Sacred Heart Church. Her body was found five days later after it was dumped in a canal.
During the brief status hearing, Feit’s attorneys, O. Rene Flores and Ricardo Flores, and the state’s attorneys Michael Garza and Krsytine Ramon, after speaking to church officials in San Juan, said they are closer to a walk-through date to inspect one of the alleged crime scenes.
“We have scheduled a meeting to inspect the physical evidence but due to counsel’s schedule and my schedule we have been unable to coordinate that; we’ll get that done with McAllen (police),” Garza said. “An issue arose this morning concerning the order that was entered regarding the inspection of the basilica, the order was brought but it needed to be, and we were able to narrow that order down to a specific location. Counsel for the basilica is writing a letter of protocol, which will give us a specified time, date, which people will be present, and where exactly we will be directing them.”
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