A murder charge against an El Paso man in the 2022 stabbing death of his 81-year-old grandfather has been dismissed, while a court ruled his confession could not be used against him. The case also involved a separate 2018 aggravated-assault matter.
The reversal traces back to a July 31, 2025 ruling from the Texas Eighth Court of Appeals, which affirmed a lower court's decision to suppress Robles's recorded statement to El Paso police. According to Justia Law, the Eighth Court's ruling in case No. 08-24-00322-CR upheld the 327th District Court's order tossing out the state's central piece of evidence. The trial court had found that Robles suffered from a psychological disability affecting his cognitive functioning, appeared visibly distraught during questioning, twice asked to stop the interview, and was subjected to coercive language from officers before he made his statement.
How the Confession Fell Apart in Court
The appellate court went further, ruling as a matter of law that El Paso police failed to “scrupulously honor” Robles's clear request to end the interview, a violation of both his federal Miranda rights and Texas statutory law, per the same Justia Law account of the ruling. Texas law offers broader protections than the federal standard: Article 38.22 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure requires officers to inform custodial suspects of their right to terminate an interview at any time.
The Napier Law Firm, writing about the case in September, notes that Texas courts have long drawn a hard line here. Citing precedent from Dowthitt v. State, the firm explains that once a suspect unambiguously asks to stop talking, officers are legally barred from trying to persuade or pressure them into continuing, and that questioning must cease immediately without any effort to change the suspect's mind.
Monique Velarde Reyes is the judge of the Texas 327th District Court, according to Ballotpedia. The 327th District Court issued the suppression order. Once the appellate court affirmed that order, prosecutors lost their primary direct evidence. Under Article 38.23 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, evidence obtained in violation of a defendant's constitutional or statutory rights cannot be admitted at trial, a strict exclusionary rule that The Napier Law Firm says frequently forces prosecutors to drop charges once a key confession is thrown out.
The Night on Colmillo Drive
The case began on December 14, 2022, when El Paso police responded to a 911 call reporting an aggravated assault in the 300 block of Colmillo Drive in the city's Lower Valley, according to KFOX14/CBS4, which first reported the dismissal. Robles's father called 911 after Robles had asked for a ride home from a convenience store, and medical crews arriving at the home found Juan Julian Macias Salas with blood on his face and stab wounds to his neck, per the same KFOX14/CBS4 report. Robles was living in the home with his parents and grandfather at the time, and he later told his father he had attacked the older man.
Investigators say Robles used a fork rather than a knife because he did not want the wounds to be too big, and that he had sandpapered the fork into a knife-like edge beforehand, the station's report states. Robles was 25 years old at the time of the killing and was arrested and charged with murder in December 2022. Bond was set at $2 million, according to KVIA, which covered his initial arrest at the time.
Why Prosecutors Walked Away From the Murder Charge
The murder charge was dismissed, and the court excluded Robles's recorded statement, according to the KFOX14/CBS4 report.
The account also references a separate aggravated-assault case involving Robles.
The murder charge tied to his grandfather's death is closed.
