Davila pleads guilty to murder

While details of the murder case against an alleged member of the Mexican Mafia are scarce, it is clear that Ricardo Davila entered a guilty plea in state district court on Monday.

Davila, who is accused of killing 33-year-old JoAnn Chavez in November 2003, appeared before 197th state District Judge Migdalia Lopez to enter a guilty plea, according to the court's docket. Davila is one of 10 men charged with murdering Chavez.

Lopez banned the general public, including The Brownsville Herald, Monday morning as a safety precaution. The Herald will request a transcript of the proceedings today.

Davila's attorney, Alberto Garcia, could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon.

Chief First Assistant District Attorney Chuck Mattingly confirmed Davila's guilty plea, but did not provide any other details of the proceedings Monday evening.

Davila's criminal docket indicates he is scheduled to appear before Lopez again Wednesday.

Joe Larsen, an attorney with the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, said of Lopez's ban, "If there really is a public safety issue involved, obviously it's not going to involve releasing the transcript."

He said judges can deal with public safety in different ways.

"There are other ways to deal with public safety," he said. "The whole idea is that you are going to close a hearing for something like this where there is a substantial governmental interest and then the order is narrowly tailored to meet that interest."

Larsen questions Lopez's decision to close the proceedings.

"At any rate, it does look a little suspicious, I have to say," he said. "More so if they don't give you the transcript."

Authorities found Chavez's remains on a Willacy County ranch in 2005.

Shortly after DNA testing confirmed the identity of the body, a Willacy County grand jury indicted Luis Carlos Mares, Wilfredo Padilla and Marcos Illian Solis on murder charges.

Also indicted on charges of murder and engaging in organized criminal activity were Manuel Alonzo Treviño, Ricardo Reyes-Velasquez, Bernardo Cortez Jr., Ricardo Davila, Ricardo de la Rosa, Esteban Salazar and Jesus Gonzalez Jr., according to Herald archives.

All are believed to have been active participants in Chavez's death.

In March 2007, Mares pleaded guilty to killing Chavez and Lopez sentenced him to 60 years in prison, Herald archives show.