The case of The State of Texas v. Rafael Govea Romero was set for trial docket on Dec. 2 but has recently been pushed back until at least February 2025.
Romero is accused of killing 16-year-old Edna teen Lizbeth Medina. The 24-year-old man was charged with murder in December 2023 in the death of Medina, who was found dead by her mother Jacqueline Medina in the bathtub inside the family鈥檚 apartment in Edna. Attorneys Ross Reifel and Chris Iles were appointed to represent Romero, according to court documents.
On Oct. 28, Romero鈥檚 defense counsel received discovery that amounts to nearly 400 gigabytes of information. The large amount of data will take a significant amount of time to review and analyze, according to court documents.
On Oct. 31, Romero鈥檚 defense counsel filed a motion for evaluation of insanity by a behavioral health professional. The evaluation will require additional time for a report to be completed, according to court documents.
The defense counsel for Romero has also made a motion to suppress statements. In the motion, the defense for Romero claims that police officers with the Edna Police Department searched and detained Romero without reasonable suspicion. The defense also claims a search of Romero鈥檚 bedroom was illegal because no one with authority gave officers consent to search the residence.
The motion states, 鈥淭he detention and search of the defendant was illegal as it violated his rights under the Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution.鈥 Further stated in the motion, 鈥渢here were no independent facts supporting the search of his person.鈥
The defense is also arguing that Romero鈥檚 post arrest statements were illegally extracted. The motion states, 鈥淚n the present case, the questioning of the defendant (Romero) while in custody was illegal since the officer failed to give the defendant the required Miranda warning codified in Article 38.22 3(a)(2) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, prior to questioning.
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