Jones, Sanchez Lose Appeal For New Judge

EL PASO – A federal judge presiding over El Paso’s public corruption cases can still preside in the case against Luther Jones and Gilbert Sanchez.

In a ruling published last week, the Fifth Court of Appeals denied the request by Jones and Sanchez to disqualify Judge Frank Montalvo.

Jones, a former county judge and state representative, and Sanchez, the current district clerk, are accused of conspiring to commit fraud.

They alleged Judge Montalvo was biased in favor of the prosecutors because he’s been abreast of their investigation for the past five years.

The appeals court ruling didn’t offer any details, but ABC-7 found some interesting information about the public corruption case in documents filed by the prosecution.

They revealed three phone lines were wiretapped for eleven months and that more than 700 people were intercepted.

Hundreds – but not all of them – received notices that their conversations were tapped.

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