SAN ANTONIO \u2013 A four-day-old baby was taken from his mother and kept at the Bexar County Courthouse last month, before Child Protective Services or the district attorney\u2019s office were involved in the case, records obtained by KSAT Investigates show. <\/p>\n
The incident occurred Oct. 7 in 288th District Court during a paternity hearing before Judge Mary Lou Alvarez, prompting the DA\u2019s office to request an administrative review of what took place, records show. <\/p>\n
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Alvarez confirmed the father\u2019s paternity and then ruled both parents were unfit, writing on a docket sheet that the baby faced a \u201csignificant risk of imminent harm\u201d if left in their care, according to a copy of the handwritten notes obtained by KSAT Investigates.<\/p>\n
Emails that day show Alvarez then ordered that the baby, who was born Oct. 3, be kept in the Children\u2019s Court Protective Room inside the courthouse until a CPS investigator could arrive.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have found that neither parent has demonstrated any capacity to protect the child or have the child in a safe home,\u201d wrote Alvarez the afternoon of Oct. 7, in an email sent to court staff and the DA\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
Days later, Bexar County District Attorney\u2019s Office Civil Division Chief Larry Roberson sent a letter to CPS regarding Alvarez\u2019s \u201cextraordinary actions\u201d and asking that an administrative review take place.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe court, in the absence of any petition filed by this Office, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, or any other governmental entity, unilaterally determined that the biological parents were unfit and that the four-day old infant was in imminent danger of harm,\u201d Roberson wrote. \u201cWhile this Office recognizes the Court\u2019s inherent authority to take emergency action under appropriate circumstances in exigent instances to protect an infant from imminent danger, the facts of this matter could raise substantial due-process, statutory, and constitutional concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n
Judge Alvarez’s order prompted this scathing letter to be sent days later from the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office to CPS. (KSAT)<\/p>\n
Roberson added that the incident was a possible deprivation of parental rights and potentially exposed county employees to unintended liability or confusion.<\/p>\n
Judge\u2019s decision rare, but not unprecedented in Bexar County <\/p>\n
San Antonio attorney Meredith Chacon spent nearly two decades working in the Bexar County District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
A significant portion of her tenure was spent serving as supervisor of the office\u2019s child abuse and neglect section.<\/p>\n
Chacon said Alvarez\u2019s decision was the fourth time in 20 years she could recall a judge in Bexar County taking similar action.<\/p>\n
\u201cA district court judge has heard something that raises to a level of concern. I do believe she has the authority to demand that the department (CPS) come and look into it, to demand that they take custody at that moment, perhaps,\u201d Chacon said.<\/p>\n
Former Bexar County prosecutor Meredith Chacon. (KSAT)<\/p>\n
Alvarez declined a request to be interviewed by KSAT for this story.<\/p>\n
In a written statement, she told KSAT it was \u201cdeeply troubling\u201d that the DA\u2019s office filed the letter in the court\u2019s record.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch actions not only risk eroding the foundational trust between attorneys and their clients, but they also strain the integrity of the very institutions charged with protecting the most vulnerable children of our community,\u201d Alvarez wrote.<\/p>\n
Baby\u2019s mother faces 20-year prison sentence for felony injury to a child<\/p>\n
Alvarez\u2019s case notes, which were included in the DA\u2019s letter to CPS, potentially reveal what was behind the judge\u2019s decision that day.<\/p>\n
The baby\u2019s father tested positive for THC, according to the notes.<\/p>\n
The baby\u2019s mother, Marissa Salas, was free on bond at the time of the baby\u2019s birth and weeks from beginning a lengthy prison term in an unrelated felony injury to a child case.<\/p>\n
In June 2022<\/a>, Bexar County Sheriff\u2019s deputies found a 15-month-old girl in Salas\u2019 care with severe injuries, including burn marks, a fractured skull and a brain bleed.<\/p>\n Salas was sentenced to 20 years in prison in April<\/a>.<\/p>\n Under an agreement reached this summer between prosecutors and Salas\u2019 defense attorney, however, Salas was allowed to stay out of jail until after her baby was born, due to it being a high-risk pregnancy, the DA\u2019s office confirmed to KSAT.<\/p>\n Marissa Salas was allowed to give birth while free on bond, as part of an agreement between her defense attorneys and prosecutors signed this summer. (KSAT)<\/p>\n Salas is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 17 in the 437th District Court.<\/p>\n Salas\u2019 co-defendant in the criminal case, Thomas Torres, was sentenced to five years in prison in 2023, court records show.<\/p>\n Alvarez\u2019s notes included multiple references to Salas\u2019 criminal case and upcoming sentencing.<\/p>\n \u201cIf she had sent the baby home and something had happened, what would we be sitting here saying?\u201d Chacon said.<\/p>\n Alvarez returned the baby to Salas\u2019 care on Oct. 21, according to court records.<\/p>\n The judge noted in her order that CPS failed to file a case \u201cseeking to protect Baby Boy\u201d and referred to Roberson\u2019s letter as \u201cunprecedented and abnormal.\u201d<\/p>\n Reached for comment, a spokeswoman for CPS told KSAT the agency only gets involved if a report is made to its statewide intake division.<\/p>\n Judge Alvarez is months removed from state reprimand<\/p>\n Alvarez is just months removed from being reprimanded by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct.<\/p>\n The nine-page reprimand, handed down by the commission in May, states Alvarez:<\/p>\n failed to comply with the law and maintain professional competence in the law<\/p>\n failed to accord every person with a legal interest in a proceeding the right to be heard<\/p>\n was found in 16 opinions by the Fourth Court of Appeals to have violated the Separation of Powers Clause of the Texas Constitution<\/p>\n failed to follow orders issued by the Fourth Court of Appeals in a timely fashion seven times<\/p>\n failed to perform her judicial duties without bias or prejudice<\/p>\n engaged in willful and persistent conduct that was clearly inconsistent with the proper performance of her duties and cast public discredit upon the judiciary<\/p>\n failed to perform her judicial duties without bias or prejudice by making disparaging remarks about someone in court<\/p>\n lent the prestige of her judicial office to advance her own private interests by having Bexar County pay for multiple transcripts used in her defense before the commission<\/p>\n