By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
A Del Rio woman who was arrested in 2024 while distributing anti-abortion pamphlets outside Del Rio High School was found not guilty of criminal trespass following her trial in Val Verde County Court-At-Law on July 6.
A jury of three women and three men deliberated for one hour and 15 minutes before returning to the courtroom and finding Clara McDonald not guilty of criminal trespass, a Class B misdemeanor.
McDonald’s trial in Val Verde County Court-At-Law began with jury selection shortly after 9 a.m. on July 6. About 35 people responded to the jury summons, and attorneys spent about an hour and a half selecting the six jurors and one alternate.
Assistant County Attorney Omar Fuentes and First Assistant County Attorney John Klemmer represented the state. Attorneys Harold Danford, Jonathan O’Hara and Thomas Hurt, with the Danford Law Firm, PLLC, of Kerrville, represented McDonald.
Val Verde County Court-At-Law Judge Sergio Gonzalez presided over the trial.
After the jury was seated, Gonzalez recognized Fuentes for the state’s opening statement.
Fuentes spoke about the elements of the offense he would have to prove and told jurors, “You will hear a lot of misdirection. You will hear about her First Amendment rights. This is not at issue here. Criminal trespass regulates conduct, not speech.
“(Ms. McDonald) had many, many, many chances to leave the property, and (school police) arrested her after all other options were exhausted,” Fuentes said.
O’Hara, who gave the opening statement for the defense, told the jury, “Was Clara actually on school property? Was Clara actually notified? The answer is always going to be no.”
He added there were no photographs or video showing McDonald interacting with school district police officers or proving she was actually on school grounds. He reminded jurors McDonald “was not there for a bad reason” and told them if they were not shown proof beyond a reasonable doubt, they had no choice but to find her not guilty.
Fuentes called several witnesses, including San Felipe Del Rio Consolidated Independent School District Police Department School Resource Officer Anna Barrera, Del Rio High School Principal Cynthia Salas and SFDRCISDPD Sgt. Guadalupe “Lupe” Costilla.
Fuentes lost one of his witnesses, County Engineer Carlos Velarde, when McDonald’s defense team objected, arguing Fuentes had not notified them in sufficient time that Velarde would testify, preventing them from investigating his testimony and preparing a response. Gonzalez agreed and sustained the objection, and Velarde did not testify.
Barrera, Salas and Costilla all testified about encountering McDonald outside Del Rio High School on two occasions in April 2024.
Barrera testified about encountering McDonald outside Del Rio High School on the afternoon of April 11, 2024, and described a “very chaotic” scene, with Salas and another school resource officer ordering McDonald to leave the premises. Barrera testified Salas directed her to issue McDonald a criminal trespass warning, which McDonald refused to sign.
Under questioning from Fuentes, Barrera told the jury she spoke to McDonald, who claimed to be representing a pro-life organization.
Fuentes asked Barrera if she was aware of the content of the pamphlets McDonald was handing out.
“I was not,” Barrera replied.
“Would you care?” Fuentes asked.
“No, I care about the students and the staff,” Barrera responded.
Under cross-examination by O’Hara, Barrera testified McDonald was on the sidewalk along Memorial Drive in front of the high school.
“And you only saw her on the sidewalk?” O’Hara asked.
“Yes,” Barrera replied.
Fuentes also called Costilla and Salas, who told similar stories in response to his questions. Both were also cross-examined by members of McDonald’s defense team.
Fuentes rested the state’s case about 3 p.m., and members of the defense team told the judge they would not be calling any witnesses, and McDonald would not take the stand.
Gonzalez and the attorneys then conferred on the instructions to the jury. After those instructions were finalized, Gonzalez read the multi-page document aloud to the jury.
Following closing statements by Fuentes and O’Hara, the jurors began deliberating about 5 p.m. and notified the court bailiff about 6:15 p.m. they had reached a verdict.
Gonzalez then asked McDonald and her attorneys to stand and read the verdict aloud:
“We find the defendant not guilty of criminal trespass.”
McDonald, who said she is a missionary currently working in Del Rio, spoke to The 830 Times as she and her defense team left the courthouse.
Asked if she could go back and do something differently, she said with a smile she would have hired the Danford legal team much sooner.
“They are really terrific attorneys,” McDonald said.
Asked to comment on the case, O’Hara said, “We’re very happy. We’re happy for Clara. This was the culmination of a lot of hard work, and Clara is just one of those folks that has vigorously maintained her innocence from the very beginning. We knew we’d end up here, on this day, and fortunately, I think the jurors saw what we wanted to communicate to them, which was that she was just exercising her First Amendment rights in a public place, and fortunately that’s what they found.”
O’Hara also said he would not have been able to achieve the result he sought without the help of his co-counsel, Thomas Hurt and Harold Danford.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
