SAN ANTONIO — Attorneys representing the man suspected of being behind the wheel of a semitruck left abandoned in San Antonio with dozens of dead and dying migrants inside want the case against him dismissed or charges reduced, citing "outrageous government conduct."
Homero Zamorano Jr., of Brownsville, filed a motion to dismiss the case against him for his alleged role in the deaths of 53 migrants found in the big rig along Quintana Road in June 2022. His lawyers argue the government "possessed the information it needed to have prevented this tragedy from occurring" as much as two months before what was the deadliest human-smuggling event in U.S. history.
The motion states that on April 29, 2022, Border Patrol stopped a tractor-trailer that contained 98 people in the country illegally at the same checkpoint north of Laredo that Zamorano would pass through two months later. The driver reportedly cooperated immediately and gave investigators two numbers from his phone, saying he was hired by an individual called "Gordo."
A law enforcement database linked one of the numbers to a man named Christian Martrinez. The next morning, the driver identified Martinez on a photo lineup given to him by authorities, but no arrest was made.
When Zamorano was arrested, several messages from Martinez were found using the same number found two months prior. The messages allegedly showed Martinez asking for Zamorano's whereabouts, indicating he was another one of his drivers.
The motion claims even though authorities knew that Martinez was hiring drivers to haul migrants in tractor-trailers, they did nothing to arrest him.
Zamorano's attorneys also argue the same address that the Quintana Road semitruck was registered to was connected to various other human-smuggling incidents, saying it appeared "left the ring to continue operating" despite making arrests.
"For the agents’ outrageous due process violation, Zamorano asks the Court to dismiss his charges with prejudice or to suppress all evidence against him. Or at least, he asks the Court to dismiss all 'resulting in the death of any person' penalty elements, also with prejudice," the motion states.