WEBB VERDICTS LEAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT DA OFFICE

LAREDO -- The pageant finally over, reality slowly is beginning
to sink in. A federal jury here Thursday put a dramatic and, for many,
surprising end to what some observers are calling "the trial of the
century."

Yes, jurors said, a case-fixing-for-cash scheme did operate here
throughout the 1990s, with the aid of five people close to Webb County
District Attorney Joe Rubio's office.

The panel late Thursday delivered a handful of convictions against the
the prosecutor's brother. Also convicted were Jesse Castaneda,
once the leading bail bondsman in town, and district attorney
investigators Agustin Mendoza and Juan Alfonso Rodriguez.

U.S. District Judge George Kazen likely will sentence the five within
the next three months. Punishment for each could include a $250,000
fine and as much as 20 years behind bars.

The full legal repercussions, however, are yet to be seen.

The question that hovered over the district attorney's office before
the trial looms even greater now: Will the U.S. government pursue
further indictments against other staffers, or even District Attorney
Joe Rubio himself?

And, some wonder, will Rubio make a forceful statement about rooting
out misdeeds in his office?

The questions come even from longtime residents who are looking past
their mistrust of a prosecution they saw as heavy-handed and
suspicions of federal agents who were rumored to have used ethnic
slurs against the accused.

The judgment handed down by a jury of local citizens, all with
Hispanic surnames, has prompted many in this border community of
200,000 to concede that justice was for sale here.

"People who had been very supportive (of the defendants), hoping for
the benefit of the doubt and that these old boys would find their way
clear of the system, are now saying, 'Pues (Well), if you can't do the
time, don't do the crime,'" said one longtime Laredo resident who
asked not to be identified.

Ana Laura Cavazos Ramirez, the woman who challenged Rubio for the
district attorney's job last spring, underscored the changing attitude.

"I'm real proud of the jury," Ramirez said. "It took a lot of
guts to take on the most powerful office in law enforcement in town
and come back with a verdict that says, 'Yeah, you're corrupt.'

"They've done a big service to our community."

A panel of seven men and five women listened to 20 days of testimony
from more than 120 witnesses; they reviewed 200 exhibits.

Ramirez called the convictions a "wonderful start, but just a start.
Sooner or later, the entire truth will come to light."

The perceptible shift in public consciousness comes barely five months
after Rubio was re-elected to a fourth term as local prosecutor.

Rubio had maintained since the indictments came down more than a year
ago that he was aware of no criminal misconduct in his office and that
the accused men were innocent.

Now he says he respects the jury's verdict, but has stopped well short
of making a strong pronouncement against corruption in his office. The
two district attorney staffers still awaiting their own corruption
trial remain at work at the Webb County Justice Center, although they
have been assigned to limited duties.

After the verdict Thursday, Rubio said he soon will announce changes
in the bonding procedures that the jury found Rubio Sr. and
CastaC3B1eda had abused.

But "it's premature to say if we are going to investigate internally.
Other (related federal) cases are still going through the legal pipeline."

Stepping down is "absolutely not" a consideration, Rubio
said.

"The community has shown faith in me. I'm going to continue to work
hard for the next four years," he said.

The five-week trial featured a varied cast of characters.

There was a low-key but intensely focused federal prosecutor. Five
defense attorneys who sometimes solicited testimony that put their
clients at odds with each other.

The elderly father of the district attorney, leaning on a cane for
support.

And a raft of witnesses that included a disgraced former judge, an
ardent political rival, a seedy government informant, convicted and
suspected drug traffickers and a Mata Hari. A number of witnesses
- -- including a Rubio cousin -- made the trek to Laredo from
federal penitentiaries where they are doing time on drug charges.

Shepherding the motley crew of U.S. government witnesses through the
courtroom was federal prosecutor Don DeGabrielle.

A reserved man with 15 years of prosecuting experience, DeGabrielle
saw a jury reject his case-fixing charges against a Laredo police
officer in a related trial in June.

But he was unwavering when attorneys for the accused attacked the
credibility of the government's witnesses. DeGabrielle said it is only
logical that victims of these crimes would have criminal records.

"What a perfect defense for a case fixer: these witnesses are worse
than we are!" DeGabrielle said in his closing argument.

"Corruption is not a crime you commit on a crowded street corner," he
said. "It starts slowly.

"You want to do a favor for your boss' father or your compadre. Then
you start realizing you can make a lot of money doing this."

The U.S. Attorney's office strongly has objected to suggestions that
this case was punishment aimed at District Attorney Rubio, or part of
a political scheme to break Mexican-American political power along the
border.

Some say Rubio in 1997 set a dangerous precedent when he stopped
footing the bill for the minor drug-smuggling cases that federal law
enforcement dropped in his court.

U.S. Attorney Mervyn Mosbacker, in Laredo on Friday to congratulate
his staff on its big win, said the investigation pre-dates Rubio's
decision to refuse federal drug cases. He emphatically denied that
ethnic prejudice played a role in the investigation.

"The majority of the people involved with this effort live, work and
play in this county," Mosbacker said.

Ramirez, too, scoffed at the suggestion that the trial unfairly
targeted Mexican-Americans.

"Many of us who worked with the system were complaining," she
said.

"These men were the absolute last word. They answered to no one,"
Ramirez said. "If the federal government hadn't stepped in,
they'd still be answering to no one."