Court of appeals blocks motion to disqualify attorney in Hidalgo County campaign fraud case

EDINBURG, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The Court of Appeals ordered the trial court to vacate a motion that disqualified an attorney in an ongoing Hidalgo County campaign fraud case.

In May, Justice of the Peace Sonia Trevino was re-elected during the Democratic Primary Election, defeating her opponent Ramon Segovia by 31 votes. Segovia filed an election contest challenging the results, alleging that votes were illegally cast by individuals who were falsely registered, and by voters who were assisted at the ballot.

A trial in the case began on July 15, and after three days, Segovia testified.

Trevino's lead counsel, Ricardo L. Salinas, began cross-examining Segovia, who testified that he had met with some of his supports at a construction trailer he owned. Segovia admitted to giving money to some of his supporters, but denied that he told them to assist people to vote for him.

Salinas then began questioning Segovia about the financing for the race, and said the following:

Segovia'...