DEALER, DEFENDER TESTIFY IN WEBB CORRUPTION TRIAL

LAREDO -- A convicted drug trafficker and the disgraced ex-judge
who defended him took the stand Monday as the federal corruption trial
against five local men wore into Day 13.

Ruben Garcia, a former state district judge, testified Monday that he
represented Elton Kilgore after a 1992 drug arrest.

Garcia has pleaded guilty to playing a separate role in corrupting the
local district attorney's office. But he said he was surprised to see his
client already on probation for drug possession get just a slap on the
wrist for his wrongdoing.

"He got deferred adjudication and no fine. I wasn't even asking for
(that)," Garcia said. "It wasn't typical."

Deferred adjudication is the lightest negotiated result in a criminal
charge, short of dismissal.

Kilgore testified that he gave local bail bondsman Gabriel Castillo $25,000
Rubio Sr., the district attorney's father, in exchange for dismissing the
charges against Kilgore.

The government witnesses testified in the trial against five men with close
ties to the Webb County district attorney's office.

U.S. attorneys accuse two staffers from the local prosecutor's office, bail
bondsman Jesse Castaneda, and the brother and father of sitting District
Attorney Joe Rubio of soliciting $200,000 in bribes in more than 40
criminal cases from 1992 to 1998.

Garcia was a state district judge from 1978 to 1986. He also served in the
past as an assistant district attorney, the Webb County attorney and as a
public defender.

Now 66 and suffering from glaucoma, he awaits sentencing on his guilty plea
of sharing $10,000 in bribes with former Assistant District Attorney Ramon
Villafranca to drop or reduce charges for drug crimes.

Villafranca was convicted and sentenced to five years for his role last year.

Castillo, Garcia and Kilgore took up most of Monday's testimony, answering
questions about Kilgore's October 1992 arrest in Laredo for driving a van
carrying 56 pounds of marijuana.

The Atlanta-area native said he paid an $8,000 bond to Castillo, who said
he could get Kilgore probation.

"I said I'd take it, but I'd prefer a dismissal. I was already on probation
in Georgia for possession."

"He said he'd check on it."

Later, Kilgore testified, Castillo told him that for $12,000, he could get
off with probation.

"I asked him to check on getting it dropped. He told me for $25,000 I could
get away with it."

Kilgore said he drove with Castillo to the parking lot of Julep's
restaurant and gave his bail bondsman the cash, wrapped in a black T-shirt.

Castillo earlier testified that he gave $20,000 of that money to the elder
Rubio and kept $5,000 for himself.

But the deal did not go off as planned. While Kilgore said he never saw his
money or his black T-shirt again, in May 1994 he was arrested in Georgia
for failing to appear on the trafficking charges in Texas.

"I was surprised. I thought I had already taken care of that," he said.

He threatened Castillo that he would go to FBI with information about the
deal they had made.

Kilgore also called his lawyer. Garcia said his client never mentioned the
alleged case-fixing payments, but "was real mad."

Garcia said he checked with Assistant District Attorney Ernesto Cavazos on
the status of the case, and the prosecutor offered a plea agreement that is
usually available only to first offenders.

"It was out of the ordinary," Garcia testified. Wearing a white,
long-sleeved guayabera and toying with a magnifying glass, Garcia said he
would have expected a harsher sentence.

Kilgore has since pleaded guilty to another charge of possession with
intent to distribute, and he is serving six years in a federal penitentiary.

Cavazos, who is also charged in the corruption case, will stand trial later
this year.