Eight-time DWI offender released from jail after serving 36 days

BROWNSVILLE — A repeat drunken driving offender whose seven-year prison sentence was suspended got out of jail after serving just 36 days, records show.

Hector de la Torre, 34, was released Dec. 6, the same day state District Judge Ben Euresti Jr. reconsidered the seven-year prison sentence he gave De la Torre for violating probation from a 2004 drunken driving arrest, court records show. Euresti suspended the sentence and reinstated probation.

The revised sentence included a condition that De la Torre spend 60 days in jail, minus time already served, the court records show. He was released the same day his sentence was relaxed, after spending 36 days in the jail.

Euresti had ordered the original seven-year prison sentence on Nov. 1, after De la Torre was charged with violating the terms of his probation from the 2004 drunken driving conviction by tampering with a breath-testing device installed in his car.

The judge ordered De la Torre jailed on Nov. 1 and released him on Dec. 6, according to jail records.

Court documents show that De la Torre has eight convictions for driving while intoxicated, including four felony DWI convictions, on April 9, 1994; Aug. 6, 1995; Dec. 25, 1995; and Dec. 26, 2004.

Chief Cameron County Sheriff’s Deputy Gus Reyna provided a copy of a Dec. 6 order signed by Isaac Cantu, a bailiff in Euresti’s court, ordering De la Torre’s release that same day “if nothing else (sic) pending.”

Reyna said it is standard procedure for a prisoner to be released immediately if a judge orders credit for time served.

But De la Torre’s attorney, Ernesto Gamez of Brownsville, said the sheriff — not the judge — released his client from jail early.

“That would be the sheriff’s department,” Gamez said of the decision to release De la Torre.

In court on Dec. 6, Gamez argued that his client is a valuable worker in the medical field and that he should continue making a contribution to society by returning to work as an X-ray technician.

There were solid reasons to release De la Torre from jail and allow him to go back to work, Gamez said.

“It was a doctor (Dr. Juan Rocha) who gave a letter that was most compelling,” he said. “And it was a guy from the imaging (center) who asked for (De la Torre) to let him run his business. …

“Don’t just make it seem like the judge did this on his own. There was good, strong evidence why to let him go after 60 days.”

The sheriff made the decision to release De la Torre after only 36 days even though the judge ordered 60 days, Gamez said.

“That’s the sheriff’s deal,” he said. “The judge orders 60 days, 60 days is what he gets. After that, it’s the sheriff who does what he does.”

Reyna denied that Sheriff Omar Lucio or anyone in his department had anything to do with De la Torre’s early release from jail.

“Maybe he got two-for-two,” Reyna said of Euresti giving De la Torre credit for serving 60 days in jail after serving 36 days. There is nothing unusual about a prisoner being released early on “credit for time served,” Reyna said.

Other conditions of De la Torre’s latest probation ordered by Euresti include that De la Torre attend drug and alcohol counseling, complete community service, submit to random drug testing and comply with intensive supervision and electronic monitoring by the Cameron County Probation Department.

Court records show that De la Torre has 17 misdemeanor arrests, of which several charges were later dismissed.

The status of his driving privileges was not available.