Gus Garcia ... once-brilliant career ends Part: 1 of 2

                                
GUS GARCIA
. . . once-brilliant career ends
Gustavo (Gus) Garcia,
whaSe life ended suddenly
in the Old Farmer's Market
Big Hero
Once the
razor sharp attorney, glib, <
versatile, full of astound- {
ing tricks, he was toasted }
by Latin-Americans across 3
all Texas.
Murder Case ,
In 1954 Garcia, Cadena and
Sanchez went up td Washington
and won an even gaudier vie- 1
tory in the U.S. Supreme Court
This time they represented Pete c
Hernandez, who had.been con- I
victed of murder by an all-Anglo r
jiffy in Edna, Texas.
"i argued la front of the Jus- 1
tices for 40 minutes ami Gas 1
summed up," Cadeaa said. "I'll i
■ever forget it He used every 1
device in the lawyer's bag of
tricks, from easy facility of <
spedi ami legal sharpness to j
«figer;_ sarcasm, the salt voice,
dramatic* pause and deft touch J
of humor." {
The murder conviction *
against Hernandez was thrown }
out Ami ever since that his- .
tone decision, Mexican-Ameri-  
cans have had no trouble sitting
on Texas juries. *
In those days, Gus Garcia was
cheered to the rooftops wher-
ever a crowd of Mexican-Amer-
icans got together. He used to
say, "I'd rather soak in the ap-
plause than make a fat legal
fee." But he gathered a bump-
er crop of both.
He became a member of the
San Aatoaio Independent District
school board hi IMS, he toad-
ied big aad important court
cases, aad his name was a
household word hi these parts.
Thai came trouble.
Maybe Gus loved the bright
lights too much, or maybe he
drew so many honors in early
life that they began to palL
Whatever the cause, he lived It
up at night, took it easier
days and spent the lastyears ol
his life in a state of declining
fortune.
"Gus always thought that
standard conventions didn't ap-
ply to him," said Cadena. "He
took the attitude that if the
Mexican people wanted bis
leadership, they would have to
put up with what he called fate
idiosyncracies."
So hare was a man with a
legal brain of the very first or-
der, an excellent sense of his-
tory aad the ability to express
himself hi both Spaaish aad Eng-
lish. He could have bad it a&~
but be settled for less.
"With all his faults and all
of the things he did, or vps ac-
cused of doing, Gus Garcia was
a pretty good guy and he did <
some pretty great things for -
the Mexican people," Cadena
«id jj
Let that be his obituary.