On July 28, 2026, a Duval County jury found Luis Daniel Rodriguez Jr. guilty of murder. The jury sentenced him to 50 years in prison. Now a judge has thrown out that verdict.

On September 28, visiting Judge Jose Manuel Banales granted Rodriguez a new trial. The judge wrote that the proof did not back up the guilty verdict. He also found that the defense never got usable fingerprint records from the State.

The 229th Judicial District Attorney's office strongly disagrees. One day later, the office filed a notice of appeal.

"The 229th Judicial District Attorney's office and the victim's family strongly disagree with the visiting Judge's logic, ruling and granting of a retrial," the District Attorney Gocha A. Ramirez said in a written statement. "Today our office has filed a Notice of Appeal and are confident that the jury's original verdict of guilt will be upheld. Justice will be done."

The DA's office also pointed out that 12 Duval County citizens found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The case goes back to April 9, 2021. Denise Godsey Decoteau was found dead in the street in Freer. She lay on a corner in front of a church. It was her birthday, her daughter-in-law told the jury.

The judge's 12-page order sums up the trial testimony. It says she was a grandmother. It also says she delivered cocaine for a man named Ezequiel Leal. Leal owned the black SUV she drove, a witness said. Some witnesses called it a Tahoe. Others called it a Yukon. The order says Leal told a Texas Ranger that he lived with her. The order does not say Leal was ever charged with a crime.

The order lays out how the drug drops worked. Rodriguez would leave cash in an envelope at a window of his house. She would pick up the cash and leave the cocaine. That morning, she found no cash in the envelope. She drove off. Then Rodriguez called her and said the money was there. She agreed to go back.

She was killed after she went back, the order says.

The order sums up what Freer's police chief, Jose Hector Doria, found. She was stabbed many times. The wounds were on her chest, face, arms and legs. She was thrown from the SUV. Then someone drove over her at least two times. The DA's office says she was stabbed 9 times.

The medical examiner found broken ribs. The order says they were apparently broken when the SUV ran over her. The examiner also said cocaine was in her body.

Rodriguez left Texas for Nebraska. The order says he came back to Texas in 2022 planning to turn himself in. Freer police had a warrant out for his arrest. Jourdanton police put out an alert. A tipster said he was seen riding a bicycle on Highway 16 toward Freer. On June 14, 2022, Bee County deputies stopped him and took him to the Bee County Jail. He was 44 then.

The first trial began in April 2026 before Judge Baldemar Garza. However, Judge Garza was unable to preside over the case due to health issues - he has since recovered. Banales was sent in to take over. The defense asked for a mistrial, and Banales granted it.

A new jury heard the case starting July 15. On July 28, the jurors found Rodriguez guilty. The next day, they set his sentence at 50 years and a $10,000 fine.

Rodriguez never confessed, the order says. He talked to Texas Rangers two times. In the first talk, he admitted to drug use. He said he would leave money on his window and she would bring the cocaine. In the second talk, he said two other men were in the SUV. He said they were big and "tatted" up. He said he did not know them.

But a Ranger testified that only Rodriguez and the victim were in the SUV. The order also says his second story did not fully match his first one.

A 2024 state crime lab report ruled out his DNA on the knife handle, the order says. The swab showed one unknown person had touched or handled it. A Ranger told the jury that the missing DNA did not clear Rodriguez.

The order does not tell one story about the steering wheel. In one spot, it says a lab expert could not rule Rodriguez out from DNA on the wheel. In other spots, it says his DNA was not found there. One part says he did not admit touching the wheel. Another part says he did admit it. Either way, the judge wrote, the steering wheel was not the murder weapon.

No fingerprints matched Rodriguez either. A Ranger said he expected to find them. He did not.

The prosecutors argued that a missing DNA match does not prove a person never touched an item. They said the lab report did not rule out that he touched the knife. They also said there was plenty of other proof of guilt. The judge did not buy it. "If that were so, then why bother taking evidence and testing it for DNA?" he wrote.

The State pointed to a 2013 case from Texas' highest criminal court. The State used it to argue that all the proof added up together can be enough. The judge noted that in that case, the court threw out a murder conviction and ordered an acquittal. That court said strong suspicion is not enough to prove guilt. "The Court finds and concludes that the verdict of the jury of guilty is not supported by the evidence," Banales wrote.

The defense had asked for the fingerprint records. The State sent them by computer. Hilda Gonzalez Garza, one of his trial lawyers, testified that she could not open the files. She said she told the State. A staff member walked her through it, but it still did not work.

The State said it did send the records and did not have to open the files for her. The judge asked why the State did not just print the report on paper. "In short, the State indicated that that was not the State's problem," the order says.

Near the end of trial, a Ranger brought the paper fingerprint records to court. He left them on the State's side of the table. He did not leave a copy on the defense side, the judge found. Those records showed his prints were not found on the knife or the SUV.

The State said the defense did not ask again. "One request is enough," the judge wrote. He found Rodriguez was "deprived of a fair trial."

During trial, the defense had asked the judge to find Rodriguez not guilty. The judge never ruled on that request. He said the defense gave up that complaint by not objecting at the time.

The State had also asked the judge to sanction the defense. The judge threw that out. He said the State never pushed it at the hearing.

The judge kept Rodriguez's bail at $1 million. Texas law lets prosecutors appeal an order that grants a new trial. Now a higher court will decide if the jury's verdict comes back or if Rodriguez gets a third trial. "Judge Banales heard the entire case. As an experienced judge, he was also able to weigh the evidence and to apply the law in an even-handed, dispassionate way. He did not let emotions play any part in his rulling. We hope the appellate court respects the judge's order," said Jose Maria Gara - one of Rodriguez's trial attorney

Rodriguez is represented on appeal by attorney Abner Burnett.

El Tejano will bring you any other developments.