Former fire chief Carlos Elizondo has a scheduled trial date—again.
In early April, Elizondo and his defense attorney Eddie Lucio announced for a second time that they were ready to go to trial, but 107th State District Judge Benjamin Euresti Jr., postponed the trial at the request of the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office.
Elizondo, who was surrounded by family when he made a brief court appearance Monday morning, learned that he is scheduled for trial on Aug. 26.
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Elizondo is charged with 11 counts of computer security breach over allegations that he accessed the Brownsville Fire Department’s Emergency Reporting System 11 times while suspended by the city. He is charged in a separate indictment with theft and misapplication of fiduciary duty over allegations he stole from the firefighters association.
The former official has maintained his innocence and has entered not guilty pleas to the charges.
Euresti had postponed the trial to allow the District Attorney’s Office to review evidence seized during a search of Elizondo’s home. Investigators previously had not been able to see that evidence because 197th state District Judge Adolfo Cordova was reviewing the material to see whether any of it was protected by attorney-client privilege.
No new information about that evidence was revealed during the hearing.
Assistant District Attorney Art Teniente said during the hearing that the evidence had been dumped from Elizondo’s computers and would be provided to Lucio on a hard drive the defense attorney provided.
The theft and misapplication of fiduciary duty case has been on hold for more than a year now because Lucio appealed a ruling Euresti made last year denying a motion arguing that authorities are charging Elizondo for the same crime twice.
The 13th Court of Appeals still hasn’t ruled on that appeal, which was made on June 21, 2018, court records indicate.
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