Hearing July 6 to determine if defendent in Texas state institution "fight club" scandal should receive immunity

From KRIS-TV:

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - A hearing is set for July 6 to decide whether one of the defendants in the state school scandal should receive immunity.

Stephanie Garza (pictured) faces the least serious charges in the case and the district attorney wants her testimony against the other five defendants.

Garza and the district attorney's office agreed to a deal last week that grants her immunity from prosecution in exchange for her testimony.

However, Judge Jose Longoria didn't approve the deal and his approval is required for this type of agreement.

However, the district attorney's office isn't giving up just yet. It's asking an appeals court to overrule Judge Longoria and making that deal is so critical for the prosecution's case.

District Attorney Carlos Valdez said that granting Garza immunity is not about letting anyone off. It's about making sure the state school victims receive justice for the crimes committed against them.

"We're trying to do everything we can to protect the rights of the victims in this case. The way we do that is by assuring a strong prosecution of the most culpable individuals. We do that in every case," District Attorney Carlos Valdez said.

The challenge in this case is that most of the victims suffer from some sort of mental disability and a jury is much more likely to doubt their testimony than the testimony of someone like Garza, who is perfectly competent.

Unfortunately, the fight-club style videos by themselves just aren't enough.

"You can't just introduce a video and say, 'We rest'. There's got to be some testimony to connect the person on the video as being the same person in the courtroom. That's where her testimony is very important," Valdez said.

Also, along with testifying in the trials of the other five former employees at the state school charged with injury to a disabled person, Garza would also be required to inform investigators of any other employees involved, who haven't been identified on the videos yet.

"I have never seen anything like this happen before. In the past, it's been relatively simple. But in this case, we had to resort to this level, and I haven't seen it before, and I hope we never have to do this again," Valdez said.

Garza's trial was scheduled for July 6, but everything is on hold until a hearing Monday when the district attorney's office will have another chance to convince Judge Longoria that Garza should granted immunity.

If Longoria still won't approve the deal, the case will go to the 13th Court of Appeals and the appellate court would hand down a decision by July 7.