PECOS, Texas —
The legal team for Hector Flores Jr., the man who went missing with his daughter in Big Bend National Park, has filed a motion to have his case dismissed after his legal team says critical information was withheld until the last minute.
Flores and his daughter were found near the national park, in the Mexican state of Coahuila, over two weeks after they went missing on Jan. 28.
In March, Flores was indicted on federal child endangerment charges, which he pleaded not guilty to.
The motion cites two main reasons for dismissal. The first reason claims that the government waited until five days before the beginning of the trial to release over 24 gigabytes of discovery. The second reason claims that the government has not produced any evidence that Flores’ daughter was in imminent danger of bodily injury.
In fact, the document goes even further to say there was video released that shows a Mexican police officer who interviewed the daughter stating she was not injured in any way.
For more information on this update to the case, the full motion can be read below.
United States Attorneys representing the government released their own response to the motion, saying in part:
Defendant has not shown that he is entitled to dismissal of the indictment. The United States has complied with its discovery obligations, producing all discoverable materials to the defense ahead of trial. Dismissal is also not appropriate based on what Defendant claims is a lack of evidence—this will be for the jury to decide. For all these reasons, the United States prays that the Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss be in all things denied.
Flores is scheduled to have his final pretrial hearing Tuesday. Stay with NewsWest 9 for the latest as this case moves through the court.
