Jury selected for trial of coach accused of cocaine possession
Jury selection is complete for the trial of a former high school baseball coach, arrested in a drug sting three years ago.
Michael Beltran was arrested in December of 2012 and is accused of possession of cocaine. He resigned as coach at Cathedral High School shortly after his arrest.
The 65-year-old Beltran, who also coached at Del Valle, Horizon and Parkland, played baseball at UTEP and reached Triple-A as a pitcher in the minor leagues, before being inducted into the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame back in 2007.
Jury selection for Beltran’s trial began Friday morning at the El Paso County Courthouse in Judge Diana Navarette’s courtroom and concluded by early afternoon.
The Ysleta grad allegedly bought the cocaine at a dealer’s house that was the target of a Sheriff’s sting operation.
His attorney, Daniel Mena, mentioned during jury selection that at least five others were arrested in the same sting, several of them coaches or educators in El Paso.
ABC-7 has the names of two of them: 62-year-old Raul Gomez, a coach at Del Valle at the time, and 46-year-old Joe Paul Solis, who was a counselor at Frank Macias Elementary when arrested.
Six men and six women were selected to serve on Beltran’s jury. The trial is scheduled to begin on Tuesday morning, after the Martin Luther King Day holiday on Monday.
“There was an attempt to get a sting and bring down six coaches,” Mena said. “I don’t know how many people are left. I don’t know how many have pled out. It’s been very difficult for my client, on that day, this is three years ago. So his life has been placed on hold for a long, long time. We’ll see what happens, how the evidence will pan out, and I think we’ll be giving enough information so we can make this jury make a real tough decision.”
It’s unclear at this point what range of punishment Beltran could face if convicted. Mena told ABC-7 he will seek probation.
ABC-7 also learned about some of the potential witnesses for Beltran, and many are names that El Pasoans may recognize.
Mena told jurors former Socorro ISD Athletic Director Ron Leiman, El Paso High football coach Robert Morales, former Ysleta ISD associate superintendent Manny Soto and former City Tax Assessor Collector Juan Sandoval could be called to testify on behalf of Beltran.
“These are individuals who have worked with Mike over the years, have known Mike over the years,” Mena said. “He’s coached a lot of their kids, he’s coached with a lot of these kids. He’s been a solid educator and coach for 36 years, almost 37 years. So its been hard on him, it’s been hard on his family and obviously it creates a lot of difficulties for him.”
