At the conclusion of the pulmonary hearing, when Garcia was bound over for trial, my father

Allison and I all looked at each other with that eyes wide, eyebrows raised and lips

perched look that says, oh man, this just got real, and in a hurry.

It wasn't the fact that Garcia had been bound over for trial, no, that was a foregone conclusion.

It was the fact that from the time that Garcia was arrested and we were handed the probable

cause of it down in southern Illinois, that we had said among ourselves that this was

a mere presence case as to the Brombex, and that they had virtually no evidence against

Garcia in the Hunter case, including forensic evidence of any kind linking Garcia to either

crime scene.

But on that sweltering August day in Omaha, Nebraska, all of that changed, as the state

dropped three potential bombshells on us without warning, starting with the additional charge

for attempted burglary over at the Boutra residents, followed by an alleged confession

to Cecilia Hoffman at an adult entertainment club in ending with the purported searches

for Boutra and Brombex homes on Garcia's various electronic devices.

So yeah, we were concerned to say the least as we walked out of the courtroom that morning

with a new moniker, Team Mata, which was bestowed upon us by the judge, and we were immediately

sworn by the press.

Now at that point, there wasn't much to say other than we hadn't seen the evidence yet

of what the state claims to have gathered against our client.

But the fact of the matter was, collectively, we were concerned.

As our client, who had always professed his innocence to us, suddenly had a seemingly

much more powerful case building against him.

...