El Paso County District Attorney Yvonne Rosales listens to District Judge Sam Medrano at a July 1 hearing on the Walmart shooting case., our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.
In a dramatic moment, former Assistant District Attorney Curtis Cox, who also had been ordered by Medrano to attend the hearing, walked into the courtroom three hours after it started. He was formerly the lead prosecutor assigned to the Walmart case before resigning this month. Hoffmann’s son, Thomas Hoffmann, testified Wednesday about how he, his brother and his mother became involved with Rodriguez, a man he said they believed was working on behalf of Rosales and the District Attorney’s Office.
Hoffmann testified that Rodriguez and his wife used his mother’s cellphone on Aug. 4 to send an email — that the Rodriguezes drafted — to local media outlets criticizing Medrano and a former prosecutor assigned to the case. That allegation was firstThomas Hoffmann and his mother, Rosa Valdez, are sworn in to provide testimony during Wednesday's hearing.
The FBI has received audio recordings Thomas Hoffmann took of some of his family’s interactions with Rodriguez, according to Wednesday’s testimony. Underwood also filed a complaint with the State Bar of Texas accusing Cox of multiple criminal offenses relating to his involvement with Rodriguez and the family, Cox testified.