STATE JUDGE MANUEL BARRAZA GUILTY ON THREE CHARGES

EL PASO -- Stoic and seemingly more concerned about his family than
himself, state judge Manuel Barraza politely sat and listened Thursday
as jurors found him guilty of devising a scheme to receive sex and
money for a judicial ruling.

The only words Barraza spoke were "yes, sir," and they were in
response to a series of orders and lectures from U.S. District Court
Judge Frank Montalvo.

"Be prepared to go to prison on April 28," Montalvo told
Barraza.

"My intention was to remand you to the custody of the U.S. Marshals
today," he said. "Your lawyers recommended that I not remand you
because of the complexity of the case and because of appeals."

Montalvo paused, then continued with a lecture.

"You will not discuss this case with anyone, not your family, not the
press, not anyone. If you do, I will revoke your bond."

Barraza, 54, has been free on bond since FBI agents arrested him in
April 2009. A grand jury indicted him on two counts of wire fraud, one
count of mail fraud and one count of making a false statement to a
federal agent.

The jury of six women and six men convicted Barraza of both counts of
wire fraud and lying to a federal officer. They acquitted him of mail
fraud. Their deliberations lasted a bit more than five hours over two
days.

Barraza faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of
the fraud convictions, and up to three years in prison and a $250,000
fine for the false statement charge. Montalvo left no doubt that he
would sentence Barraza to prison.

During a break that came moments after the verdict was read, Barraza
did what he could to comfort his shaken family. Upon adjournment, he
left the courthouse by himself. He did not speak to anyone outside.

John Barraza, his brother, said the judge was most concerned about his
family.

"He told us not to worry, that everything would be OK, that this was
just part of the process," John Barraza said.

His father, Manuel Barraza Sr., would only say that everything was all
right. The rest of the Barraza family left the courthouse without
talking to outsiders.

Barraza's lawyers did not want to talk about the specifics of the
trial.

"Obviously we are disappointed with the verdict," said Ken Del Valle,
one of Barraza's lawyers. "That's all I can say."

Mervyn Mosbacker, Barraza's lead attorney, would not say if they would
appeal.

"It was a fair process. We can't complain about the process in any
way," Mosbacker said.

Barraza's trial took almost three weeks. Prosecutors called 13
witnesses and played 15 audio and video recordings to prove that
Barraza tried to influence a drug defendant's case by moving it into
his courtroom.

The audio and video recordings shown to the jurors were perhaps the
strongest part of the prosecution's case. Two videos showed Barraza
accepting more than $5,000 in cash from a woman who visited him in his
judicial office early last year.

She was Sarai Valencia, 24, whose sister was in jail on a cocaine
charge. Barraza years earlier had represented the sister, Diana Rivas
Valencia, in a different drug case. He succeeded then in getting the
charges against her dismissed.

Accused of possession of two kilos of cocaine, Rivas Valencia wanted
his help again. This time, though, Barraza was a sitting judge who
could not legally represent defendants in criminal cases. Rivas
Valencia testified that Barraza said he would help her if she paid him
and found women willing to have sex with him.

In one of the videos, Sarai Valencia delivered the money to Barraza as
though it came from her and her family. The cash payments, for $3,800
and $1,300, actually were provided by the FBI.

Jurors were never told that Sarai Valencia had a prostitution
conviction. Montalvo ruled that her past was irrelevant to the case
against Barraza.

In his defense, Barraza's attorneys characterized him as an efficient
and hard-working judge who had just taken office in January 2009 when
the FBI set out to derail his career.