Joe Rubio, Jr. - Triple-ax Murder Case of 1991

Triple-ax Murder Case of 1991

Rubio's activities regarding a triple-axe murder case early in 1991 have continued to be questioned though the matter did not affect his re-election prospects. James D. "Jim" Smiley (1958–1991), a Missouri native, Laredo businessman, and a Baptist deacon, Ruben Martinez, then twenty-one, and Daniel Duenez Capetillo, then fourteen, were murdered in Smiley's home by two teenagers wielding an axe. The killers were Miguel Angel Martinez, then seventeen, and Miguel Venegas, then sixteen. Martinez was given the death penalty and for a time was the youngest person on Texas death row. His punishment was commuted to life imprisonment. Venegas was imprisoned but not tried as an adult.

The axe and knives used in the crime were provided to the killers by Milo Flores, a son of then State District Judge Manuel R. "Meme" Flores. Milo Flores was also the alleged getaway driver. Rubio was accused of having failed to procure an indictment against Milo Flores because of the political connection between the DA and the judge When then Laredo City Councilman Alfonso "Poncho" Casso sought to bring federal obstruction of justice charges against Rubio in the matter, the DA had Casso jailed on a technical violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act. Casso ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 1998 and thereafter left Laredo, with no formal charges brought against him. Meanwhile, Lisa Zintsmaster, the former wife of a Laredo attorney, testified under oath that an illegal meeting was held between Rubio and Judge Flores after the triple-ax murders to shield Milo Flores from prosecution. Flores survived the scrutiny over his son until 2006, when he was unseated in the Democratic primary by attorney Joe Lopez, Jr.