Brownsville The Herald (Newspaper) - June 17, 1995, Brownsville, Texas daily exchange rate for the peso (I Buying Dix Shipping to meet for Page 11A de cambio 1 dollar 1 6.0 de cambio 6.2 pesos 1 6.25 pesos 1 The Brownsville All rights on the 4th of July 1892 June 17,1995 releases man in jail for DANE SCHILLER Herald Staff U.S. District Judge Filemon on Friday ordered the state to release a Brownsville man sentenced to life in prison because his court-appointed attorney committed errors during a rape for five now 39, has said he was Accused of raping an 8-year-old boy in 1988, Lopez insisted he was already in prison at the appears this is said Felix federal public said about Vela's elated for This is a big must be set free unless the state elects to him within 60 according to Vela's said they a new trial as well as appealing the ruling came with a harsh evaluation of the performance of Brownsville lawyer Abel Limas before a Cameron County jury in 1990. facts in this case show a serious error by counsel that could have been avoided through minimal effort to Vela failure clearly falls below the level of performance required of he said Friday he did nothing and did all he could for believe I will be Limas honorable judge Vela and John Black do not have all the facts before said that performance denied Lopez of Filemon right to a fair trial and that Lopez might not be in prison if he had done a better didn't investigate the filed no and didn't meet with his client until the day the trial to a report by Magistrate which was forwarded to Vela for the a recent prison interview with The Brownsville Lopez was bitter toward Limas and the whole justice lawyer sold me Lopez have ruined my life and it's has an extensive criminal mostly for drunken offenses and has been in and out of jail since 1972. said his lawyer met with him for the first time while a jury was being selected and wouldn't listen to him during the a pure Limas said of the no way we could set up the defense if I hadn't talked to this review of trial transcripts showed Limas told jurors Rockets fans pack MICHAEL GRACZYK Associated Waving signs and through skyscraper windows and hanging from parking an Sam Cassell shares the NBA Championship with Houston Rocket fans jammed downtown Friday for a parade to celebrate their repeat NBA broad stripe of red and gold the Rocket colors was painted down the middle of the 22-block-long parade as Houston players and coaches rode aboard city fire than 500,000 Houston Rockets fans line the route of the victory parade of the streets renamed to reflect Rocket like Sam I Am named for Sam the Elie having a Elie said from atop one of the wearing a red T-shirt The Hard Rudy T turnout is blowing kisses to the a beautiful day for a Hopefully we can do it again next We're just having an exciting I'm going to savor this rest of my a three-ring teammate Kenny Smith amazing run through the playoffs was Page 10) was in prison at the time of the alleged He but failed to introduce or jail records backing up the attempted to introduce a card from the Cameron County Jail showing Lopez had been transferred to while a witness who had never seen the card before was on the The presiding judge shot Limas records show a was not received by prison officials who could have cleared Lopez until the day after the trial review of prison records at the penitentiary near Huntsville show Lopez was in prison on Dec. 17, 1988, the day the alleged rape serving a five year sentence for drunk got federal authorities Page 10) seeks drought ELIZABETH A. ALLEN Herald Staff County commissioners will ask for help for besieged cotton farmers who may lose 60 percent of their Texas agricultural extension told commissioners Friday that drought and among other threaten to take a chunk out of the estimated million Judge Gilberto has asked Gov. George Bush to help convince federal authorities that the situation is a natural and asked the director of the Federal Crop Insurance Corp. to allow farmers to clear out lost insurance regulations require farmers to leave their lost crops in the field until they can be that means ruined plants Page 10) Vol. 103, No. 349 Mostly Highs upper 80s at the coast to mid 90s Mostly cloudy tonight with lows near 70. explores underground water funds could allow the city to make use natural ANTHONY GRAY Herald Staff as a water crisis is threatening Rio Grande water the Public Utilities Board and the Brownsville Navigation have received state funding to determine the feasibility of underground water storage in last river stop on the Rio Brownsville could avoid water shortages if the underground storage system proves city would be able to store water in times of excess water flow to be used when Water reserves upriver are The Texas Water Board will provide in matching funds for the study of an Aquifer Storage and Recovery system that would pump drinking water from the Rio Grande into an a natural water storage formation below the large deposits of or water are contained in a variety of storage pockets 200 feet to 1,500 feet below the said PUB Director of Engineering and Planning John The brackish water would be pumped out and displaced by the fresh greatly increasing the city's water storage technology is used extensively in Florida think it would be a good match here in Bruciak we hope underground storage will allow PUB to maximize the water available from the Rio currently has a water supply of 34,000 allowing PUB to divert 11 billion gallons of Rio Grande water Since PUB has also taken excess river water under a recently acquired state water permit previously held by the permit allows free pumping during periods when the river's flow is above 25 cubic feet per second at the Brownsville water gauging of its limited storage PUB has only pumped and treated enough excess water to meet its current about 1,212 allowing any remaining excess water to flow unused into the Gulf of grant will provide half the cost of a surface and groundwater test drilling sites and ASR facility design and and permitting The PUB will meet the local matching funds requirement and has contracted Inc. of San Antonio as the project's consulting is an innovative we should explore Commissioner J.B. underground water storage has been explored about 20 miles west of Brownsville near Los water stored there would have to be piped the distance to a costly the 1950s, underground water wells which are now capped near the Rio Grande at Brownsville were used during a severe drought when the river was he was the only city considered for the Because of its location near the end of the Rio and the city's need to explore water alternatives was 1S 20 11 7 1 2 you imagine spending years of your life in prison for a crime you didn't Don Pedro even more frightening is watching a lawyer put up last-minute and then watch your freedom fade before your the city editor must have taken a lot of perseverence for Lopez to get people to answer hie Don Pedro a commitment to justice for Judge Black and Judge Vela to review the case and determine publicly there were errors
