Jose Luis Falcon stood up in a Rio Grande City courtroom on Tuesday. He said he is not guilty of murder. He is 68. He has been in the Starr County jail since June.

This is an update to a story El Tejano first reported on June 16.

Falcon is charged with killing his neighbor, Edio Estrada Jr., 32. The Texas Rangers account is what El Tejano reported in June. It says the two men argued on the morning of June 13. Falcon walked back into his house and came out with a black Taurus .40 caliber pistol. He shot Estrada about three times. Then he called the Rio Grande City police himself and told them what he had done.

Estrada was on a vacant lot he owned. He was sitting in his black Chevrolet Silverado when the argument started. He was pronounced dead at Starr County Memorial Hospital at 11:30 that morning. Officers found Falcon at the corner of San Benito and Avasolo streets and arrested him there.

The case sits on the 381st District Court list as cause number 26-CR-187. Tuesday was set for his arraignment. That is where a man hears the charge read out loud and answers it. In Texas, that step comes after a grand jury acts on the case. The list also set the case for entry of a discovery control order. That order sets how the state and the defense trade evidence.

Falcon has two lawyers, and the court appointed both. Hilda Gonzalez is the lead. Chema Garza is the second. The list marks both appointments as made before the grand jury acted.

His bond is still $2 million. It is a surety bond. That means a bail bond company would have to put it up. Nobody has. The list marks him in custody.

Judge Orlando Rodriguez of the Starr County Court at Law set that bail on June 15. That was two days after the shooting. His trial is set for November 16, 2026.

The charge falls under Texas Penal Code 19.02(b)(1). It is a first-degree felony, the most serious kind. If a jury finds him guilty, he faces 5 to 99 years or life in prison.

You can read our first story on this case here: https://www.eltejanorgv.com/rio-grande-city-man-jailed-on-murder-charge-after-shooting-neighbor-dead/

Saying not guilty at this stage is a normal step. It is not a claim that nothing happened. It puts the job of proving the case on the state. It also keeps every door open for the defense.

Falcon called the police on himself. He also sat down and talked to a Texas Ranger. What a jury gets to hear about those two things may decide this case.

November 16 is the trial date on paper. Dates in that court move. Two cases on the same list go back to 2022 and are still waiting on a trial.

Everyone is presumed innocent until proved otherwise.