June 20 -- Brownsville’s former fire chief, Carlos Elizondo, has appealed a ruling denying his claim that the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office has charged him twice for the same alleged crime to a higher court in Corpus Christi.
Authorities arrested Elizondo last October and accuse the former city official of stealing $8,000 from the Brownsville Firefighters Association Political Action Committee through unauthorized ATM withdrawals, according to a police report filed by the association’s president.
Elizondo has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
On June 11, 107th state District Judge Benjamin Euresti Jr. denied a writ of habeas corpus filed by Elizondo’s attorney, Eddie Lucio, which accuses the DA’s office of charging the former fire chief for the same crime twice. On Friday, Lucio appealed to the 13th Court of Criminal Appeals in Corpus Christi.
Elizondo was scheduled for announcements Tuesday morning and for jury trial June 25, but those proceedings are on hold until the appeals court makes a decision.
Cameron County Assistant District Attorney Art J. Teniente argued that Elizondo is not yet entitled to a double jeopardy argument.
“The Defendant claims to be seeking relief from exposure to double jeopardy. However, as the indictment is still pending and the trial not yet taken place, there is not even single jeopardy yet,” Teniente’s response to the writ states. “In order to even have double jeopardy, there must first be single jeopardy. The defendant’s writ conveniently ignores this fact.”
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