Corpus Christi federal jury finds Attorney Eduardo “Eddie” Lucio Not Guilty of racketeering charges
By: Jose G. Landa
Copyright 2013
A Corpus Christi, Texas federal jury found Brownsville, Texas attorney Eduardo “Eddie” Lucio not guilty on five counts of racketeering, conspiracy, and aiding extortion of a federal indictment from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Brownsville Division, resulting from a United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigation regarding former 404th State District Court Judge Abel C. Limas and former Cameron County District Attorney Armando R. Villalobos, acquitting Lucio of all the federal charges against him on Tuesday, August 13, 2013.
Lucio requested and received a transfer of venue of his federal jury trial from Brownsville, Texas to Corpus Christi, Texas after his former law partner and former Cameron County District Attorney Armando R. Villalobos was found guilty by a Brownsville jury of racketeering in May 2013.
The Corpus Christi federal jury took only two and a half hours of deliberation in reaching its verdict acquitting Lucio of all five counts against him. Lucio is the first defendant to be acquitted of the federal racketeering charges while eleven (11) other defendants have been found guilty in separate cases or trials and/or have plead guilty, including former 404th Judicial District Judge Abel C. Limas, former Cameron County District Attorney Armando R. Villalobos, former State Representative Jim Solis, and other attorneys.
According to the federal indictment, Lucio and his co-defendants were charged with using the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office as a racketeering organization to make money for themselves and others through bribery, extortion, favoritism, personal self-enrichment, self-dealing, and conflicts of interest.
Lucio was represented by attorneys Luis M. Avila and Rigoberto Flores. The United States government was represented by Assistant United States Attorneys Michael J. Wynne and Gregory J. Surovic.
The FBI investigation of corruption and bribery in the Texas legal and judiciary systems in Cameron County shocked and dismayed the entire legal and judiciary professions in Texas.
