Judge Denies Convicted Capital Murderer Delacruz Mistrial and Continuance Motions

SAN ANGELO, TX -- District Judge Ben Woodward listened to two hours of testimony Monday morning before denying Isidro Delacruz’s defense motions for a mistrial and for a continuance to review new evidence that came to light last week.  

Jurors were not in the courthouse this morning as District Attorney Allison Palmer called two witnesses to the stand to discuss 527 pages of new evidence from the San Angelo Independent School District about Delacruz’s ‘mild’ special education learning disability.  

Defense attorney Robert Cowie had filed the motion for a mistrial saying they would have changed their defense strategy had they known about Delacruz being accommodated in class for a writing disability.  Cowie tried to argue that Delacruz’s frustration about his mild disability caused his disciplinary issues in school.

Palmer argued that the new information wasn’t surprising and that defense attorneys had access to Delacruz’s education history.  

Judge Woodward agreed with Palmer and denied the motion for a mistrial and the motion for a continuance.  

The jury will report to the Tom Green County Courthouse at 1 p.m. to continue hearing evidence in the punishment phase of Delacruz’s capital murder trial.  The jury found him guilty of capital murder last week. He is facing either life in prison without the possibility of parole or death by lethal injection.