Verdict arrives in BP officer's sexual abuse case: 'Not guilty'

A.D. Ibarra

-MC Court House

The tension was high as both Assistant District Attorney Albert Rodriguez and Defense Counsel Greg Torres addressed the seven woman, five man jury early Friday morning before The Honorable Cynthia Muñiz' 293rd District Court in the sexual abuse case of Bryan Phipps.

Judge Muñiz advised all in attendance that due to the sensitive nature of this case she was not going to put up with any outbursts of emotion or any other interruptions in this case.  Her bailiffs had been instructed beforehand to escort anyone who disobeyed this order out of her courtroom.

She also warned the jury of the consequences and ramifications of any jury misconduct  before reading the charge: Bryan Edward Phipps is accused of continuous sexual abuse and a written copy of the accusation was provided to the jury during their deliberation period later.

"An indictment is not evidence of guilt and cannot be considered in any way," added Judge Muñiz, "You are to render a fair and impartial verdict."

She then  began citing the time frame in which the alleged abuse occurred, sometime between January 18th of 2010 through July 30th of 2011 stating the definitions of key terms in the accusation as well as the graphic nature of the elements also read therein.

Assistant DA Albert Rodriguez who was accompanied by Assistant DA Robert Little very concisely and eloquently began to state his case in his closing remarks to the jury which included one alternate as he graphically laid out the evidence stopping to make sure they understood the gravity of the accusations against the defendant.

"Why are we here?," Rodriguez queried the members of the jury, "We are here because the defendant took advantage of his seven year-old stepdaughter.  Is it OK to allow this to happen?  What kind of human being would do such a thing?  I will leave it up to you and there is only one word that can describe what has transpired in this case...'Guilty'."

Then it was Defense Counsel Greg Torres' turn to address the jury and in doing so, he re-established himself as the top criminal attorney in Eagle Pass when, in a lengthy discourse he attempted to highlight character flaws of key witnesses brought forth by the prosecution, "My job is going to end right now ladies and gentlemen, but yours is just about to begin.  Now my client is not saying these things are OK, he's just saying he didn't do it."

In what has to be a statement that had to have impacted the jury, Torres questioned the fact that one of the State's witnesses may have not been telling the truth, "The truth doesn't have to be remembered... you NEVER forget it."

"Several BP officers testified.  When someone is accused of something like this, they avoid you, they don't come up and testify.  My job is to try to SHOW you the truth.  My goal is not to abuse her (Mr. Phipp's Ex- wife), but to make her tell the truth and she was not able to do that.  How many times do you have to tell a lie until it becomes the truth?"

Judge Muñiz commended both attorneys in this case and stated that they both handled themselves with the utmost professionalism before allowing the jury back into the courtroom.

At 2:43 P.M. after two hours of deliberation the verdict was read by Judge Muñiz who found the defendant, Bryan Edward Phipps 'Not Guilty' as family members of the victim, many of whom came all the way from Utah, directed verbal remarks at the defendant on the way out of the courtroom.