Prosecutor in Lawyer Impersonation Trial Coins “Chihuahua Defense”

If you haven’t been following the Corpus Christi Caller-Times’ daily coverage of Texan Mauricio Celis’ criminal trial on 23 counts of impersonating a lawyer, you are missing a real courtroom treat – and a few good laughs. During closing arguments today, Prosecutor Eric Nichols dubbed Mr. Celis’ defense that he can practice law in Mexico “The Chihuahua Defense”. Father and son defense attorneys, Tony and Hector Canales, divided their closing remarks. Tony Canales disclosed that he shares tacos with District Attorney Carlos Valdez but said the only reason the trial occurred is because “Mr. Valdez here and these fancy lawyers want to be cutesy with the way they read the law.”

District Attorney Valdes concluded the closing arguments by pointing out that Mr. Celis’ ability to practice law in Mexico is irrelevant, because the law requires him to be a lawyer in good standing with the State Bar of Texas. Now the jury is considering the evidence and deciding whether to mark each count “guilty” or “not guilty”. (This is a bit off topic, but the news story says the jurors got lunch from Whataburger. What?)

See Corpus-Christi Caller-Times.