AG yet to decide on DA's request

RAYMONDVILLE - The Texas Attor-ney General's Office has not decided whether to grant Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra's request to prosecute the case of a man charged in the August 2007 killing of his brother-in-law, a state spokesman said Friday.

Guerra requested on April 9 that the Attorney General's Office prosecute the case of Pablo Hernandez, 32, charged in the killing of Efrain Coronado, 32, said Tom Kelley, an agency spokesman in Austin.

Hernandez has become one of the county's few prisoners to be jailed for nine months without being indicted, said Sheriff Larry Spence, who's run the jail since 1985.

Law requires that prosecutors present cases for indictment before the grand jury that was impaneled at the time of the defendant's charge or during the term of the next grand jury, Guerra said.

The current grand jury's term expires June 30, District Clerk Gilbert Lozano said.

Guerra said he will ask state District Judge Migdalia Lopez to extend the grand jury's term to seek an indictment against Hernandez.

Hernandez's attorney, Mario Rodri-guez, has argued that his client killed Coronado in self-defense.

Hernandez has been deprived of a speedy trial by a clogged county court system, Spence said.

"It's highly unusual not to have any-body indicted, especially considering the nature of the charges," Spence said. "That's probably one of the longest ones I've ever seen. When things are going as they should be, inmates go through the system pretty fast."

Hernandez was accused of stabbing Coronado to death after an argument broke out at a barbecue at Hernandez's home here.

About 1 a.m., Hernandez head-butted Coronado after Coronado slapped Hernandez's son, witnesses testified in a September hearing.

Then Coronado pulled a knife and ran toward Hernandez, witnesses testified.

When Irma Hernandez-Coronado, who's Hernandez's wife and Coronado's sister, stood between her brother and her husband, Coronado sliced her blouse, she testified.

Then Coronado stabbed Hernandez's left forearm as Hernandez tried to pro-tect himself, Rodriguez said at the hear-ing.

Evidence showed Hernandez then stabbed Coronado, Guerra said.