Ex-District Judge Sentenced to 6 Years in Prison

Ex-District Judge Sentenced to 6 Years in Prison.

BROWNSVILLE – A judge sentenced former district judge Abel Limas to six years in prison for one count of racketeering. Limas was also ordered to forfeit $257,000 in property he owns and pay more than $6 million in restitution.

Limas was the focus of a corruption case at the Cameron County courthouse. He pleaded guilty more than two years ago and has testified in four trials related to the case.

The ex-judge confessed to accepting bribes for favorable court rulings. He also admitted to taking more than $250,000 from four attorneys.

In court today, his defense attorney said Limas was rehabilitated and did everything asked of him. Limas apologized for embarrassing the judiciary system and his family.

He left the courthouse without any comment about his sentence.

Former Cameron County district attorney Yolando De Leon called the outcome “a good recognition of the damage done to many, many people, many institutions.” Click here to read more>>>

More to this story

Lawyer Ray Marchan, 56 been sentenced to more than three years in prison for his role in bribing ex-state District Judge Abel Limas, who has pleaded guilty to racketeering and awaits sentencing. Marchan’s body was discovered Feb. 28 2013 after he jumped from the Queen Isabella Memorial Causeway in an apparent suicide. A judge has overturned the convictions of a South Texas lawyer whose body was found the day he was to report to prison in a judicial bribery scandal.