The Collegian  ONLINE
         March 24, 2008

Joe Lee Rubio

107th District Court Judge Benjamin Euresti today denied Joe Lee Rubio’s request for an injunction that would have allowed him to be placed on the ballot of the May 10 Texas Southmost College board of trustees election.

The decision came shortly after testimony from Rubio, when he detailed his 1995 conviction of transportation of marijuana in Mexico.

David Pearson, vice president for Partnership Affairs, said the election will take place without Rubio’s name on the ballot.

“The judge’s ruling today suggests that we will proceed with the election as we have scripted it here before,” Pearson said. “The ballots will be printed and in the absence of some higher judgment, we’ll proceed as we had planned to do with the election. At present, Mr. Rubio’s name is not on the ballot and Judge Euresti agreed today that his name should not appear on the ballot. We believe that that is the appropriate judgment and we’ll proceed accordingly.”

Rubio was represented by attorneys Ben Neece and Ed Stapleton, both litigating on behalf of the National Lawyers Guild, an organization of civil rights attorneys.

Rubio said he may appeal Euresti’s decision.

“On the advice of counsel, I’ll do what I have to do in order to maintain my eligibility to not only run but to hold office in the state of Texas,” he said.

After the ruling, Neece maintained that, pending formal judgment on Rubio’s eligibility, Rubio is eligible to run.

“Our position is that … until the judgment of the court’s final, he’s not ineligible,” Neece said. “He ruled that [Rubio]’s ineligible and that the disqualifications stand, but until his judgment’s final, he’s not ineligible.”

Neece added that an appeal would delay final judgment.

“If we appeal it, it won’t be final until the appeal’s heard,” he said.

Trey Martinez, who along with Daniel Rentfro represented TSC at the hearing, said they will try to bring a judgment on the upcoming elections.

“We’re going to be submitting a proposed judgment for the court and let the court make a ruling on that issue,” Martinez said.

Rubio testified that he was arrested at a federal checkpoint in Las Norias, Tamaulipas, Mexico, for roughly 20 kilograms of marijuana found in the car he was in. Louis Stephens, who was driving the vehicle, was also arrested. Rubio claims that he knew nothing about the drugs in the car and that Stephens eventually admitted to this in legal testimony in Mexico.

Rubio was on vacation in the city of Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, Mexico, with Stephens and a group of friends who live there. He maintains his innocence and asserts that he was wrongly imprisoned for six years.

“The reason I stayed in jail so long is that I never admitted being responsible for the crime contra la salud,” he said. “My only last appeal was to the supreme court of Mexico.”

A delito contra la salud, meaning a “crime against [public] health,” was described in court by expert witness and Matamoros Attorney Agapito González Benavides as a serious offense in Mexico. Mexico does not categorize crimes as misdemeanors or felonies the way they are in common law jurisdictions such as the United States.

Rubio’s appeal to be released to the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation was denied. He claims he was told the appeal was denied because it was filed too late and with the wrong judge. He eventually transferred his sentence to the United States, as Mexico and the United States have a prisoner transfer treaty in place.

Neece and Stapleton argued that, since there is no classification of “felony” in Mexico, TSC cannot assume that Rubio is a convicted felon and thus ineligible to run for office.

Ignacio Torteya III, a Brownsville attorney, testified that a major provision of the treaty is that dual criminality exists, meaning that the crime in one country is recognized as a crime in the other country. He also said that upon transfer from Mexico, the laws of the U.S. apply to an offender, effectively making the sentence a U.S. sentence.

Under the treaty, the side receiving the prisoner transfer cannot challenge the ruling of the originating side. In addition, the decision to transfer must be made voluntarily by the prisoner.

TSC board of trustees Chairman Chester Gonzalez testified that while he believes Rubio is ineligible to serve, it is nothing personal.

“Joe Lee, I don’t know him, I know of him,” Gonzalez said. “He appears to be a nice person; however, he committed some acts that incarceration alone does not qualify him to redeem himself. I think that the nature of the transportation of illegal drugs itself is just bad for higher education and for the community and bad for any elected official.”