Teen to stand trial as adult

A 16-year-old former Pace High School student will be tried as an adult for allegedly killing his ex-girlfriend.

Hector Angel Herrasti Jr. is accused in the Feb. 9 slaying of Brenda Lee Nuñez, 17, and was certified Wednesday to stand trial as an adult.

A reduction hearing on his $500,000 bond is scheduled for April 10 before Judge Janet Leal of the 103rd state District Court.

Nuñez, a senior at Pace High School, was found dead with multiple stab wounds at her family home on 400 block of Gilson Road.

Police detectives said Herrasti, also a senior at Pace, was obsessed with Nuñez, although she had recently broken off their relationship. He withdrew from the school on Feb. 12, said Drue Brown, spokeswoman for the school district.

The Nuñez's family could not be reached for comment Thursday on the latest developments of the case.

Nuñez was going to graduate in May and planned on enrolling at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College with the hope of one day becoming a radiologist.

The seriousness of the alleged crime was enough to get Herrasti certified to stand trial as an adult, the Cameron County District Attorney's Office reported in a prepared statement issued Wednesday afternoon.

Herrasti's attorney, Rick Canales, said the district attorney's office is relying on statements given by his client to police without legal representation.

"I really want the community to know that it's a sad case for both families," he said. "One of them has a child dead, the other has a child behind bars."

Canales said his client is a polite and well-mannered teenager.

"All I can tell you, based on my 14 years of practicing law, no matter how you look at this case, it's a sad case," he said. "We now have (a) juvenile at the mercy of others at Carrizalez."

Herrasti remained Thursday afternoon in custody at the Carrizalez-Rucker Detention Center in Olmito in lieu of bond.