The Monitor from McAllen, Texas • A19

Guerra defended his work by saying he allows accessibility to the office, thoroughly trains his 45 assistant district attorneys and works within the budget. reason I have opponents sometimes is I prosecute the wrong people that want to be above the he said. In the race for County Courtat-law No. 1, challenger and defense attorney Jesse Contreras was asked if he would pledge to not seek campaign contributions from lawyers with cases pending in his court. proper response is it is unethical.

not right to do Contreras said. Gonzalez disagreed, responding that the established system gives attorneys the right to contribute to the judicial candidate they wish and said he accepts the contributions attorneys offer. He told the crowd he offered maturity and independence and implied he had an opponent because his decision had some people In the race for the new County Court at law No. 6, former Visiting Judge Fidencio Guerra was asked to respond to a recent article in the Texas Observer magazine naming him one of the top five worse judges in Texas. am not familiar with that he said.

know if it was the Hidalgo County District Office that was polled. I know where they got that He then compared the magazine to a supermarket tabloid and said he only cared what the people of Hidalgo County thought of him. His opponent Albert Garcia responded, have also been a judge for 10 years and I made that A fairly docile exchange occurred between the candi- dates for the 92nd state District Court, attorneys Ricardo Rodriguez and Eric Cardenas Jarvis. Both promised to treat those in their courtroom fairly and equally, and said they would not appoint attorneys based on friendships. The debate between District Clerk candidates Laura Hinojosa and Robert Mendoza was also a fairly smooth one.

Incumbent District Clerk Omar Guerrero did not attend the debate. Also absent was County Clerk candidate Balde Morales. But the other candidates in the County clerk race Andrew Perez, Joseph Campos and Arturo Guajardo Jr. faced off, focusing on modernizing the office and switching to a completely paperless system. The night ended with lively exchange between the county judge candidates, incumbent Ramon Garcia and his challenger, former District Clerk J.D.

Salinas. Garcia attacked Salinas for taking large financial contributions from the other county commissioners and local banks. bedroom, her husband was on the floor lying on his stomach as the men tied him up, she said. Zarazua demonstrated for the jury how the men held her and her husband at gunpoint. The men escorted Ramirez out at gunpoint and Zarazua said she saw them leave in a red car.

About an hour after they left, Ramirez began calling her on the telephone and told his wife he was OK. He called several times that day, but the calls stopped around 7 p.m., she said. The next morning, Zarazua called police. Lopez told police that Juan Lerma of the La Mana drug Cartel from Tamaulipas, Mexico, ordered Lopez to pick up Ramirez and collect the $40,000 that Ramirez owed the cartel, according to a written statement he gave law enforcement agents. The cartel had fronted Ramirez marijuana and cocaine that Ramirez never repaid, Lopez told police.

Lopez conducted at house the day before he and a man named kidnapped Ramirez, Lopez said. family turned over three trucks, money and drugs for ransom at a local Home Depot. They took the trucks to the drug cartel in Mexico, but Lopez and Rick kept the money and drugs for themselves. Meanwhile, they kept Ramirez tied up in a shed at home. Lopez said he was going to let Ramirez go after his family paid his debt, but Lerma ordered that he kill Ramirez.

thought to myself, if I kill Lupe, Juan and his people would kill Lopez stated. Dr. Fulgencio Salinas conducted the autopsy on Ramirez and testified that Ramirez died of three wounds to the head, the largest measuring three inches long across left eye. The wounds radiated inside skull and caused injuries to his brain. Salinas said he did not know what instrument was used to inflict wounds, but said a machete or a pickax could have caused them.

Staff writer Andres R. Martinez contributed to this report. Brittney Booth covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor can reach her at (956) 683-4437. Friday, February 17, 2006 Texas 5B TRIAL continued from page 1B FORUM continued from page 1B See DEBATE page 8B.