Among His Souvenirs: Part II By Steve Peirce
Photo by Martha Istueta
This is the second of a two-part series on legendary trial lawyer Roy Barrera, Sr. In Part I, which appeared in the July-August 2020 issue of San Antonio Lawyer, we followed Roy’s early life growing up in South Texas, his Army service, his law school experience, and his early years as a young prosecutor with the District Attorney’s office. Part II, below, recounts more of Roy’s stories.
Nicholas & Barrera In August 1957, Roy and Anthony Nicholas formed the Nicholas & Barrera law firm on a handshake, opening up shop in the Frost Bank Building. They remained partners until the death of Nicholas on May 7th of 2011.
Albert Wechsler made the newspapers in 1962 when he was hired as an investigator by the DA’s office despite having a criminal record. Later, Wechsler was accused of stealing files from the DA’s office and selling the information to criminal defense attorneys. Wechsler was given immunity by the DA’s office if he told the truth and later testified at the grievance proceedings against the defense attorneys, but the Texas Attorney General obtained an indictment and conviction against Wechsler, notwithstanding the granted immunity. “I thought Albert got a bad deal because they didn’t prosecute the attorneys, and he had testified based on the grant of immunity,” Roy said. So, he represented Wechsler and obtained a reversal on appeal.
September–October 2020
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San Antonio Lawyer 11
