Rarely, if ever, do prosecutors take the witness stand to defend their trial tactics in order to prevent a mistrial, but that’s how things played out Thursday in the retrial of Gabriel Moreno, accused of murder in the 2014 killing of José Luis Menchaca.
Defense attorney Albert Gutierrez Jr. had accused Bexar County prosecutors of witness tampering and asked state District Judge Ron Rangel to declare a mistrial with prejudice, meaning that his client could not be retried for the same crime. After hearing testimony outside the jury’s presence, Rangel denied it.