By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
A man accused of killing a Del Rio woman by setting her on fire made his first court appearance here Thursday.
Oscar Enrique Gonzalez, 38, appeared in court following his arrest in Mexico and return to the United States and Val Verde County on Nov.1
Gonzalez is accused of murdering Sabrina Cervantes, a Del Rio nurse and the mother of three children, at a house at 100 Ridgewood Drive off North Bedell Avenue in late July 2018. Del Rio police believe Gonzalez set Cervantes on fire at the house.
A passing Del Rio Police Department officer saw the fire and stopped to investigate. Cervantes was rushed to the emergency room at the hospital here, and then flown to San Antonio, where she died hours later.
Gonzalez has been indicted for the offenses of capital murder, murder and arson.
Gonzalez was scheduled for arraignment today in state district court here.
The arraignment took place in the second-floor courtroom of the county judicial center downtown.
All of the participants in the hearing appeared via Zoom on a large video screen inside the courtroom.
State District Judge Sid Harle of San Antonio, presiding judge of the Fourth Administrative Judicial Region, presided over the hearing. Both local state district judges, 63rd Judicial District Judge Roland Andrade and 83rd Judicial District Judge Robert E. Cadena, have cited conflicts in the Gonzalez case because of previous involvements in the case or persons associated with the case.
Gonzalez, too, appeared via Zoom from the Val Verde County Detention Center. He was dressed in a short-sleeved orange scrub top. After sitting down on a metal stool, he stared fixedly up at the camera, which appeared to be mounted near the ceiling.
The lighting in the room at the jail was poor, leaving half of Gonzalez’s face in shadow. A guard’s boots could occasionally be seen moving in the background.
Also participating in the hearing were Daniel De La Garza of San Antonio, the attorney who has been appointed to represent Gonzalez; Heidi Baier, an attorney for capital cases with the Regional Public Defenders Office; and Ben Moorman, assistant district attorney, who appeared in place of Jessica Shawver-Savino, the assistant district attorney who will be in charge of prosecuting the case.
When Harle opened the hearing about 1:30 p.m., he asked if Gonzalez was present, and Gonzalez acknowledged him by replying, “Yes, your Honor.”
Harle noted it was his understanding “the state agreed to a waiver to seek the death penalty to secure Gonzalez’s extradition to the United States.”
“Yes, your Honor,” Moorman replied.
The judge also noted that since the death penalty had been removed from consideration, the Regional Public Defenders Office has filed a motion to withdraw from the case, and Baier acknowledged she had filed such a motion and would send it to the judge for his signature.
Harle also noted that De La Garza had been appointed to represent Gonzalez, and the judge told Gonzalez that De La Garza would soon be making a trip to Val Verde County to meet with him.
“I’ll be down to see you as soon as quickly as possible,” De La Garza told Gonzalez.
Harle then conferred with Ana Guia, the court coordinator, and a pre-trial hearing in the case was set for 1:30 p.m. on March 9, 2023.
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