Killer keeps the estate?
Lawyers, step right up and make some money. Has Judge JoAnne got a deal for you in her Hidalgo County Probate Court. Ka-ching goes the ring.
On her website, Hidalgo County Probate Judge JoAnne Garcia, billed as simply “Judge JoAnne” in her homey-like bio, writes about how much she cares about people and their respective grieving process: “Unfortunately, we will all suffer through the loss of a loved one. Initial grief is often replaced with the stress and worry associated with paying for final expenses and distributing a decedent’s estate while adhering to the probate process. The Probate Court requires the service of a compassionate Judge, someone who upholds the law in a manner sensitive to the distress suffered by families. I am ready to serve and will bring empathy, integrity, and knowledge to the bench if elected as Probate Judge.”
Talking the talk is one thing; walking the walk, quite another.
That said, it’s interesting to see that Judge JoAnne is willing to continue to let legal costs mount up as an ad litem attorney manages the estate of murder victim “Marty” Knell eight years after his killing (January 2015) at the hands of convicted local murderer Monica Melissa Patterson and her accomplice, Angel Mario Garza. The attorney fees alone have already eaten up approximately a quarter of the estate. Say, $250,000. Approximately. Give or take. Patterson, now age 55 and incarcerated for life in an upstate women’s prison, was convicted of capital murder and three felony charges related to stolen and/or mismanaged money in early November 2017. Her appeals keep getting shot down, even though now at the local level, state District Judge Noe “Judge Noe” Gonzalez has recently asked for another delay while he attempts again to evaluate another of her seeming never-ending appeals (amendments, writs of habeas corpus, etc.).
The Thirteenth Court initially ruled against her appeal, taking up 58 pages to explain how and why the evidence had convicted her; the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused to rule on it, but when an amendment of sorts got to the court too late, they shot it back to “Judge Noe’s” trial court for further rulings, which always seem to require further delays.
The Endless Road
The murder victim’s only son, Mark Knell, and his lead attorney, Daniel Gurwitz, have been going to county probate court back before Melissa Patterson was even convicted of murder.
You see, the problem is, before she killed 96-year-old WWII vet Marty Knell at his home, Patterson, who has far-reaching political connections, manipulated him into signing over to her his entire estate, naming her as its sole beneficiary. A woman whom he had barely known for three months (approximately). Just give her the million-plus he and his deceased wife had saved all their lives. What’s odd about that?
It was when he found out what a con she really was, that’s when he wanted her to take her name off of his will. We all know how that ended up. Marty Knell dead, slumped over his kitchen table after being smothered to death by Patterson and her accomplice.
With regard to the murder victim’s family reclaiming what was rightfully theirs, it was always a case of, wait until she’s convicted of the murder (Nov. 2017); and then it was, wait until her appeal is decided.
Problem with that was, from 2018 to approximately 2021, the appeals process continued to be delayed while the old probate judge did nothing, looking forward to retirement. In 2018, Garcia replaced him and then won re-election last year.
The victim’s family was getting ram-rodded from both ends – the criminal side and the probate side. Only ones making out were the attorneys.
So now, “Judge JoAnne” has this convoluted probate case before her, which is really relatively simple for even a child to discern.
The facts are clear, as laid out in a motion for summary judgment filed last month, Dec. 6, by Mark Knell’s attorney, Danny Gurwitz, hoping the judge would rule in Knell’s favor given the circumstances – she was convicted of killing Knell, Sr., so why should she still be listed as his beneficiary? Hello?
Among the common laity, those with a functioning brain, the answer would be obvious: no person who murders another, who has already been convicted of the crime going on five-plus years now, should have any right to his/her victim’s assets.
That’s apparently not how it works in Hidalgo County.
Nope. After five-plus years following her murder conviction, Monica Melissa Patterson, still has that will locked up in escrow, and the murder victim’s heir isn’t getting his hands on it.
Apparently, Judge JoAnne agrees, or maybe put another way, if the son does have a right to his dead dad’s estate, maybe he should be made to wait a little longer, spend some more money, before gaining access to it, currently locked up tight in an escrow account.
Where the killer continues to get money to pay for probate attorneys, who knows. That’s not counting the handful of attorneys still working her criminal appeal angle. They aren’t working for free.
The Slayer Rule
If this murder had occurred in other states, the Slayer Rule might have already kicked Patterson’s name off of the will. In some states, the Slayer Rule says that a convicted killer cannot gain financially from their victim, whether it’s from a life insurance policy or from a will.
In Texas, as it’s written, the Slayer Rule only covers life insurance policies and contracts. It’s written on some state legal web pages that in Texas, Slayer Rule Common Law dictates that a murderer may also not benefit from estate proceeds. Why that Common Law isn’t codified, who knows, and why doesn’t Judge JoAnne know about it?
Give me a second on GOOGLE, and I’ll look it up.
Here you go: “The slayer rule, in the U. S. law of inheritance, stops a person inheriting property from a person they murdered (so that, for example, a murderer cannot inherit from parents or a spouse they killed).”
It only makes sense, right? If you go and murder someone, for whatever reason, you should not gain financially from their death, whether that’s from a life insurance policy or from a will that bears your name as the beneficiary.
To anyone who could think rationally, logically, legally (apparently), with a hefty dose of common sense, they would see that only makes sense.
The killer has already stolen a life. Why let him/ her steal the victim’s estate as well?
In Judge JoAnne’s Hidalgo County Probate Court, though, that’s not the way things quite work.
If you just call up the probate case online at the District Clerk’s Office, the case filings spread out over eight years now almost look like an embarrassment to our local judicial system. Filing after filing, before and after Patterson’s murder conviction.
Like legal, judicial pigs at the trough picking over dead bones.
On Dec. 6, Attorney Gurwitz filed a motion for summary judgment, asking Judge JoAnne to render a ruling: Patterson has no right to her murder victim’s will.
Almost a month later, Jan. 11, after her Christmas break, the judge picked up her pen and signed the paper that read: “…motion should be denied.”
Justice. Not. Here’s some good advice, if you make out a will, see if you can get it filed in another county. You know, just in case you get murdered and the killer lays claim to your estate.
If that happens in Hidalgo County, your heirs may remain forever screwed.