CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The trial of Ruben Trevino, the man accused of shooting another man near The Palace in the The Market Shopping Center parking lot on Everhart, was again postponed after attorneys for both sides met in court Friday.
Defense attorneys Gabi Canales and Stephen Carrigan argued missing evidence and recently received evidence had hindered their ability to be ready for Monday's scheduled trial date and asked 117th District Court Judge Susan Barclay for another continuance.
The continuance was granted, and the parties are scheduled to meet at 8:30 a.m. May 28 in order to discuss trial readiness and the likelihood of motions to dismiss the case, or specific jury instructions because of the evidence Canales said is missing.
"We would be ready to go if we had all the evidence, but we need all the evidence in order to proceed," she said. "Once we have it all, and/or know that we don't have it because of whatever reason -- it's been spoiled or lost -- then we would have to go to the court and get a spoilation (sic) instruction to the jury."
Nueces County Asst. DA Jonathan Crocker was unable to speak with 3NEWS after the hearing.
The defense told Barclay that it has asked for police body- and dash-camera recordings pertaining to the night of the shooting, but was told these recordings were destroyed according to Corpus Christi Police Department policy, bringing up accusations of "spoliation," a legal concept which, in this case, accuses the police of failing to preserve evidence.
Crocker argued that CCPD's department policy states that those recordings are destroyed after two years.
"In this case, we're missing some autopsy photos, telephone records, we have some issues of spoilation (sic) as well as just things -- body cams -- obviously this is an important case and we would like all the evidence prior to proceeding to trial," Canales said.
Carrigan also said the defense's motion for continuance also was based on the fact that the defense had only just received evidence from the DA's office relevant to the victim -- 48-year-old Carlos Vasquez -- including more than 700 recordings of phone calls Vasquez had previously made from jail.
It is unclear how the phone calls relate to the shooting, in which Corpus Christi Police Department officers said they found Vasquez shot dead at 1:26 a.m. August 4, 2021, in the 5800 block of Everhart Road.
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