Val Verde County, Texas Jury Returns Not Guilty Verdict on Second Degree Felony Offense of Robbery
(Press Release) Del Rio, Texas.
A Val Verde County, Texas jury composed of 10 women and two men returned a Not Guilty verdict on Thursday, May 23, 2024, late in the evening (9:30 p.m.) in a criminal case charging a Del Rio, Texas man with a Second Degree Felony of Robbery in the 83rd Judicial District Court before the Honorable Robert E. Cadena.
The complainant was a woman from Del Rio alleging that the defendant had committed robbery at a property owned by her, punched and shoved her, and had stolen two non-working television sets from a mobile home at her property.
A unanimous jury reached the decision as triers of the facts of the case that the State of Texas, represented by 63rd Judicial District Attorney Suzanne West and Assistant District Attorney Daniel Esquivel, had not proven beyond a reasonable doubt one or more of the elements of the robbery offense after deliberating for approximately seven hours.
Eagle Pass attorney, Ricardo E. Calderon of the Law Offices of Ricardo E. Calderon, PLLC, represented the defendant in the case during the three days trial before 83rd Judicial District Judge Robert E. Cadena.
“Defense counsel, Ricardo E. Calderon, diligently shredded the State’s witnesses’ testimony like a physician surgeon scalpel knife highlighting the lack of evidence and inconsistencies in the State’s presentation of the evidence,” said one of the observers at the trial.
During defense cross-examination of witnesses, Calderon was able to get the lead investigator of the case as well as the investigating patrol officer to stunningly admit that the standard investigative procedures were not followed by the two officers responding to the 911 emergency telephone call and failed to collect and document critical evidence necessary for the robbery investigation, torpedoing the State’s case in chief.
The jury foreperson read out loud in the courtroom the Jury’s Verdict of Not Guilty and presented it to Judge Cadena for filing in the record of the criminal docket at approximately 9:18 p.m.
Judge Cadena filed the Jury’s verdict and advised the defendant that he no longer was subject to the indictment of robbery and that he may seek to file a Motion for Expunction of Records in the case.
