Murder trial draws closer
The following story was first published in The Advance Feb. 28, 2024. At the time, the January 2022 murder being discussed was already two years old and counting. The headline for the Feb. 28 story was the same as this one — Murder trial draws closer.
A year later, it’s still drawing closer in Judge Fernando Mancias’s 93rd state District Court. The jury trial set for last year, February 2024, was a misfire, cancelled, and from there, the case docket looks like a trail full of missed calendar dates.
The jury selection set for May 16, 2024 was cancelled.
The final pre-trial hearing set for July 10, the same, cancelled.
Into the fall months the case moved, with another jury trial set for Sept. 3, 2024, cancelled.
Enter the holiday season, Dec. 4, 2024, another pre-trial hearing cancelled.
This new year, 2025, isn’t looking much better in terms of the spinning wheels of justice — guilty, not guilty.
The status hearing set for this March 10th was a bust.
The court-appointed defense attorney, Carlos A. Garcia, who represents both brothers in this criminal case, told Judge Mancias that he needed more time for DNA evidence to be processed, which includes a pickup truck and a pair of brass knuckles.
No new trial date has yet been set, but the brothers in this story, along with a companion, are scheduled to appear again in the 93rd April 7 for yet another “Status Hearing."
For a reminder of this story of alleged vigilantism, here is the published story from a year ago for those who missed it the first goaround:
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The murder two years ago (2022) of 42-year-old Gabriel Quintanilla was particularly brutal — brass knuckles, repeated blows to the face and head, not a pretty sight – but so was the allegation being made against him by his 9-year-old daughter — repeated sexual molestation, abuse.
When her two half-brothers heard the news in late January 2022, they allegedly brandished out their own form of vigilante justice with the help of two friends — death; with Quintanilla’s body dumped unceremoniously in a field near the area of McColl and Whalen Rd. on the south side of Pharr.
At least those are the felony charges set to go to trial later this spring, early summer (2024). One never knows the timing in a murder trial, especially when one of the brothers and an acquaintance are facing capital murder, which will hand them a sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole if convicted.
A simple murder conviction in Texas, if one can call any murder simple, not capital, carries a sentence of five to 99 years.
This case has been knocking around the 93rd state District Court (Judge Fernando Mancias) for the past two years, but based on recent court appearances, the case looks like its dragging ever closer to an actual trial.
The case is long and complex, involves multiple crime scenes, four defendants, not to mention the fact that Gabriel Quintanilla had another sexual molestation allegation facing him (different minor female) at the time of his murder, which dated back to 2019. So, it takes more time to unpack this case than a simple story for this week’s issue.
This is one of those cases, though, that has drawn interest from multiple media outlets, both local and state, mainly because any time you throw the word “vigilante” into the mix, it’s bound to gain traction.
The way it looks now, the trial for the two brothers, stepsons to Quintanilla, Christian (capital murder) and Alejandro Treviño (murder), is set for this May (2024). Unable to make bail after pleading not guilty, they’ve been held in county jail since their arrest in January 2022. (They’re still there.)
A friend of the brothers, 20-yearold Juan Melendez, also charged with capital murder in this case, was released from county jail in August 2022. He, too, has entered a plea of not guilty.
Vigilante Justice
In the U.S. the word “vigilante” has always had a negative connotation — taking the law into your own hands — despite the box-office success of movies over the years like “Death Wish” and “Taxi Driver.”
The idea of meting out brutal retribution without due process scares most law-abiding people, save the vigilante seeking revenge, justice, call it what you will.
But why do some people do it? Carry out justice on their own, which is the allegation facing the two Treviño brothers and Juan Melendez, along with an unnamed juvenile in the murder of Gabriel Quintanilla.
The defendants have entered a plea of not guilty, sure, but according to the indictment, they believed that Gabe Quintanilla sexually molested the half-sister of the brothers, and in a fit of rage went after him with vengeance and at least one set of brass knuckles. And they didn’t beat him just once (allegedly), but at least two other times, at two different locations.
There was a book published in 2018: “Shadow Vigilantes: How Distrust in the Justice System Breeds a New Kind of Lawlessness,” written by Paul and Sarah Robinson.
Paul Robinson is a law professor and former federal prosecutor, and he has written extensively about vigilantism and the criminal justice system.
The book discusses a phenomenon the authors call “shadow vigilantism,” a vicious cycle where ordinary people and criminal justice officials, frustrated with perceived failures of the system, distort and subvert the system to force it to deliver justice.
The authors argue that this lack of trust in the justice system is pervasive and destructive, leading to citizens refusing to report crimes or assist investigators, jurors refusing to indict or convict, and officials manipulating a system perceived as unreliable.
The book is available for sale at Amazon and Barnes.
Amazon link to book: https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Vigilantes-Distrust-Justice-Lawlessness/dp....
Barnes & Noble link to book: https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Vigilantes-Distrust-Justice-Lawlessness/dp....
Based on at least one book review:
“The morality, or lack thereof, underpinning most vigilante action is complicated. People perceive the actions of some vigilantes to be morally justified, but not others. On the other hand, some morally justified vigilante actions, the authors assert, lose the moral high ground over time, or are replaced. (Source: A case study of vigilantes by Carson Guy.)
How will the jury perceive this murder if defense attorneys can tie it to allegations of child molestation (father/daughter)? That’s the million-dollar question.