El Paso is bulking up its legal team as it stares down a high-profile civil-rights showdown with Daniel Villegas, the man who says he lost almost 20 years of his life behind bars after a confession he later called coerced. On Tuesday, the City Council signed off on bringing in outside consultants to help defend the city in federal court, where pretrial deadlines are stacking up ahead of a possible jury trial later this year. Council members did not release contract details during the meeting.
What the council approved
According to KTSM, the council authorized the city manager to hire consultants to support the city attorney’s office and outside defense counsel. Their work will include reviewing discovery, helping coordinate expert witnesses and preparing for trial. The consultants are meant to boost staff capacity as the case moves through a crowded federal docket and will work alongside the city’s outside lawyers, the report says. The suit has repeatedly appeared on the city’s litigation lists in recent years.
Case background
Villegas was 16 in 1993 when police obtained a written statement that later became central to his convictions in the deaths of Robert England and Armando Lazo. He has long said that his confession was coerced. The National Registry of Exonerations and court records show Villegas later recanted, a judge found the confession unreliable, and he was ultimately acquitted in 2018. “We are very happy to get Daniel justice,” one of Villegas’s attorneys told El Paso Matters.
Court developments and timeline
Villegas filed a federal civil-rights complaint in late 2015, and the case, 15-CV-003862, has since seen years of skirmishes over evidence and expert testimony. U.S. District Court filings show Judge David C. Guaderrama in December 2025 ordered part of the case bifurcated so claims against certain officers can be tried first, and a January 2026 order addressed disputes over expert depositions. The court has directed both sides to coordinate scheduling as pretrial work continues.
Legal stakes for the city
The lawsuit accuses current and former El Paso police officers of fabricating and suppressing evidence. It also includes Monell claims that seek to connect the alleged misconduct to city policy or failures in supervision. Reporting and public court dockets list Villegas’s suit among the city’s active cases, and the plaintiff’s lawyers are pursuing damages tied to the decades Villegas spent behind bars, according to Courthouse News. The council’s consultant vote is a typical municipal move when a complex civil-rights case poses potential financial and administrative risks. The city’s pending litigation reports include the Villegas case by name, according to a recent city litigation report.
What’s next
Local reporting says a federal trial is set for Aug. 31, 2026, and recent rulings have pushed discovery and expert depositions into the early months of 2026, according to KTSM. Separate court orders from January 2026 require depositions of key experts and set deadlines meant to head off more delays. Both sides are expected to return to federal court as discovery wraps and jury selection approaches in late summer.
The city declined to comment beyond a brief statement noting that the matter involves active litigation, while Villegas’s attorneys said they look forward to presenting their case. With the clock ticking toward trial, the council’s consultant vote signals that El Paso is gearing up for the legal and budget hit that could follow a long-running, high-profile civil-rights battle.
