A juvenile judge rules evidence was not processed in a timely fashion and it cannot be used.
SAN ANTONIO — Wednesday morning in the 289th District Court, Ana Maria Carpio did what she’s been doing faithfully for the past five years.
The grieving mother sat at attention, pen in hand, intently focused on taking careful notes on every aspect of a hearing for one of the men accused of being involved in the killing of her 17-year-old son Sebastian.
The teen disappeared from his far west-side home in September of 2020 and his burned body was later found in the trunk of a stolen car, miles from home.
Carpio said her research has led her to believe 10 people may have had some role in her son’s death. She said so far, four people have been adjudicated.
“It’s very heartbreaking that for the past five years I’ve dedicated my entire life to working on this, getting each and every single individual accountable and it’s taken so much emotionally, mentally and physically,” Carpio said.
As for the hearing, Carpio said, “Unfortunately we did not get the outcome that I was expecting.”
At issue was if one of the accused, who was a juvenile at the time, would be certified to stand trial as an adult. Carpio said because so much time has elapsed, the young man is an adult now and he is in prison, serving a 10-year sentence on a completely unrelated charge.
After listening to hours of testimony over several court appearances, Judge Rose Sosa ruled that she had no choice but to deny the state’s motion to transfer the case to adult court, effectively closing the case.
“It’s very upsetting and frustrating that we could not proceed with the certification and transfer hearing,” Carpio said, citing a years-long delay in processing and trying to admit crucial DNA test results into evidence.
In explaining her ruling, Sosa said, “I didn’t think the state met their burden concerning due diligence.”
Sosa said detectives, who had physical evidence from crime scene from day one, put off having crucial tests done before the accused aged out of the juvenile system.
Identifying one San Antonio police detective by name, Sosa said, “He testified multiple times on December 11, stating that he told the family or whoever would call and say that he would get to this case basically when he got to it, when he was not busy with other cases.”
Sosa said the extended delay was a factor that cannot be explained away.
“That DNA was there the whole time, and I don’t find that due diligence was had by SAPD and under the case law, law enforcement and the state are together to be held as having to do due diligence” Sosa said. “I think the state did their due diligence. Unfortunately, I think the SAPD did not do their due diligence in that time.”
Prosecutors argued that when comprehensive testing was done on a bandana found at the crime scene, they did find DNA that matched the accused, and they tried to convince the judge the new finding was enough to move forward.
Summarizing her decision, Sosa said, “Based on the testimony I have heard, while that is new evidence, it cannot be directly related to [the accused] at this time, so based on all of that, the court’s finding is that there was no due diligence in this case, and his case will not be certified and transferred at this time.”
It was a bitter disappointment for the mother whose dedication to justice has been unwavering.
Speaking of the defendant, Carpio said of the convicted felon, “He has mocked me, he has laughed at me, he has made gestures, and I’ve had to intake all of that and not lose my straightforwardness, but he’s going to get one day, divine justice is going to catch up to him.”
Carpio said she is confident the repeat offender will not be able to avoid trouble and just may be headed for a lifetime of confinement.
“He is not a first time offender. He has a tendency to get in trouble. I have faith in God that there will be a divine justice. If the judge and those individuals that make those decisions cannot provide justice for Sebastian, we’ll get our divine justice, and that would be greater than what man can provide,” Carpio said.
Carpio said her fondest hope is that her son would be proud of her steadfast commitment to justice.
“I could tell you that I’ve put up a fight and I hope that my Sebastian is happy of everything that I’ve done. Sebastian will always be remembered and always be loved and his memory will always live on,” Carpio said.
Carpio said there is a small amount of comfort in the fact that the accused will head straight back to prison to continue serving the unrelated sentence.
Meanwhile, KENS 5 did reach out to SAPD for a reaction to the judge’s ruling and they said they are working on a response. When we receive their remarks we will share them.