public admonition<\/a> by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct for engaging in several improper \u201cex parte\u201d communications in the murder trial of Moises Galvan, who was charged in the 2017 shooting death of Rogelio \u201cRJ\u201d Franco at an East El Paso bar. The trial was declared a mistrial by Lizarraga, who was removed from the retrial of the case in 2022 after the misconduct allegations. Galvan was sentenced to 55 years in 2023.<\/p>\n\u201cI don\u2019t want to give a defense because that\u2019s not how I view it,\u201d Lizarraga said when asked about the admonition, adding that a disclosure on his ballot application states he\u00a0 acknowledged holding these ex parte communications. He was last reelected judge in 2022, when he ran unopposed.<\/p>\n
Lizarraga said he is unable to answer questions on his philosophy on balancing defendants\u2019 rights with accountability, his approach to handling cases where judges are given more discretion, or his views on topics like rehabilitation because of the state\u2019s judicial code of ethics.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not supposed to say things that would give any party an indication of how we could rule in a particular case, or in any kind of manner, so I can\u2019t easily answer questions about my philosophy,\u201d Lizarraga said.<\/p>\n
Though judges are generally allowed to share their personal thoughts and beliefs, they must avoid sharing information about specific cases or doing anything that could cast doubt on their ability to act impartially, according to the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of my actions are going to speak for themselves,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Lizarraga collected nearly $14,900 in political contributions, including $2,500 each from the Law Firm of Daniela Labinoti and James Scherr, $1,500 from the Walter Boyaki Law Firm and $1,000 each from Marjorie Jobe and the Wyatt & Underwood Law Firm, according to his latest campaign finance reports.<\/p>\n
He reported spending a total of $118,396 on the campaign, including $14,200 from his political contributions, $22,600 charged to a credit card and nearly $81,600 from his personal funds. His personal expenditures include a $60,000 payment to his wife and campaign treasurer, former city Rep. Cecilia Lizarraga, to repay a loan, and $15,560 to Chase Bank for his credit card expenditures.<\/p>\n
Some of his purchases include consulting services, campaign management, flyers, door hangers, meals and other advertising expenses, according to both reports.<\/p>\n
Eunice Reyes<\/p>\n
Reyes, 38, said she decided to run after seeing several judges\u2019 plans to retire, feeling she had the right skills, compassion and love for the law to do the job.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it has to be someone who\u2019s actually been in it. Someone who has the experience and someone who has the love for the law to go ahead and be on these benches,\u201d Reyes told El Paso Matters.<\/p>\n
Reyes earned her attorney\u2019s license in 2013 and has practiced at her own firm, Eunice Reyes Attorney at Law, since then. Her main focus has been family, juvenile and criminal law, and she has worked cases in juvenile drug court for 12 years.<\/p>\n
She has also served as the municipal court judge in Anthony, Texas, and as a part-time jail magistrate judge for about five years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe technicality of the level that I know the law is more than just a general lawyer,\u201d Reyes said. \u201cWe don\u2019t know what crime is going to come before us, so we have to be very knowledgeable about the elements of a crime.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reyes said she believes the court needs to be fair and provide equal justice for everybody, which she says takes balance.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a balancing system of figuring out whether the defendants\u2019 rights are protected. Are the victims being heard, and is there justice for them?\u201d Reyes said.<\/p>\n
Reyes said she supports rehabilitation and diversion programs, especially after working in juvenile drug court.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I have criminal defendants, I have advocated and have decided with my client that DWI drug court is the best option for them to be rehabilitated. So we need those opportunities for the defendants because the goal is right in a perfect world, would be that if you\u2019ve committed a crime in our society, there\u2019s a punishment, but we don\u2019t want you to return,\u201d Reyes said.<\/p>\n
Her first two campaign finance reports show Reyes loaned herself $28,700 and paid over $7,600 for signs, flyers, banners, t-shirts and a magazine advertisement.<\/p>\n
Jeffory \u201cJeff\u201d Rago<\/p>\n
Rago, 61, said he has been considering running as a judge for 15 years and felt it was finally time to throw his hat in the ring.<\/p>\n
He earned his license in 1993 and has run his own practice, the Rago Law Office, for over 32 years, focusing on misdemeanor cases, family violence and bond forfeitures.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince I\u2019m pretty well versed in handling these types of cases, I\u2019d be a service to El Paso and to the people of El Paso. I\u2019ve got a lot of support from other lawyers, so I think the timing was right,\u201d Rago told El Paso Matters.<\/p>\n
Rago said many of the decisions a judge makes are a balancing act between safety, accountability and a defendant\u2019s rights, and are based on the facts of the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou balance out whether this person is going to be a risk to society, and balance that with his right to a bond, because he has an absolute right to a bond, whether the bond is reasonable or not, is something different,\u201d Rago said. \u201cWe can be very creative on how we can do different things to safeguard everybody\u2019s protections and rights. So it just depends on what we have coming in, and that would dictate how we deal with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rago said rehabilitation is a good option for defendants if they are willing to do it.<\/p>\n
Records from the El Paso Tax Office show Rago, and his wife, Christina Rago, owe over $98,600 in property taxes dating back to 2015 for his law firm offices in Central El Paso. This includes over $40,700 in fees and interest.<\/p>\n
Court records show the Ragos are in the midst of a decade-long legal battle with the city, challenging those fees and interest charges after a judge in 2022 found they were improperly notified of an increase in property valuations in 2015.<\/p>\n
Rago said he paid an $87,000 bond toward his property taxes, which will be returned to him if he wins the case, but did not provide records when asked by El Paso Matters.<\/p>\n
City officials declined El Paso Matters\u2019 request for comment on Rago\u2019s property taxes due to ongoing litigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a contested dispute that went through litigation for over 10 years,\u201d Rago said. \u201cWe have it up on appeal now, because they are trying to go back and charge me for something that the judge specifically said they couldn\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Owing property taxes doesn\u2019t disqualify judicial candidates from taking office.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rago\u2019s last two campaign finance reports show he collected over $17,000 in political contributions, including $2,500 each from Tim Wegletiner, Todd Flaherty and Altaf Adam, $2,000 each from Jose Lozano and Gabriel Lazar and $1,000 from Ric Barubeault.<\/p>\n
He has spent over $2,500 on a cell phone ping advertising service, $2,200 on a voter list, $2,200 on food for a campaign fundraiser and over $2,400 for campaign signs, flyers, cards and pens with custom logos.<\/p>\n
Related<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two El Paso County Courts at Law races are on the March 3 Democratic primary ballot, with three…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,139,39794],"class_list":["post-160225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news","tag-election-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ELEX2026_ccl_2.png\")
From left, Sergio Saldivar, Frances Maldonado and Christina Montes<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ELEX2026_ccl_4.png\")
From left, Marcos Lizarraga, Eunice Reyes and Jeff Rago<\/p>\n