Former Edinburg mayor acquitted of voter fraud in high-profile Texas case

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A Hidalgo County jury on Thursday acquitted former Edinburg Mayor Richard Molina of a number of voter fraud costs stemming from the 2017 election that introduced him to energy, in accordance with native experiences.

Local news outlets reported Molina was acquitted of 12 counts, together with one depend of partaking in organized voter fraud and 11 counts of unlawful voting. His high-profile arrest by the state’s election fraud unit in 2019 was introduced by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton as half of what Paxton described as “an organized illegal voting scheme” in the November 2017 municipal election.

The case was prosecuted by the Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office, which didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

According to a 2019 news launch from the legal professional common’s workplace, Molina was accused of directing voters to alter their addresses to locations the place they didn’t stay — together with an condo complicated owned by Molina — so they might vote for him. Molina gained the election by 1,240 votes, unseating then-incumbent Mayor Richard Garcia in the South Texas city.

By the time Molina was detained, 18 others had been arrested in reference to the scheme, in accordance with the legal professional common’s workplace, which didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark Thursday. Some of these instances are nonetheless ongoing.

The Monitor newspaper in McAllen reported that prosecutors described the case as one “about lying and cheating.” Among the state’s witnesses have been three voters who testified that Molina asked them to alter addresses on their voter registrations.

Molina has lengthy maintained his innocence, labeling the investigation as politically motivated. During the trial, Molina’s attorneys stated he had not meant to violate election legal guidelines. They offered a “mistake of law defense,” arguing the previous mayor relied on “reasonable authorities” when he instructed voters they might change the tackle to take part in Edinburg elections, in accordance with experiences by The Monitor.

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