Local News
Victor Yanez back in court after July mistrial - KCBD
The retrial of Victor Yanez, a Lubbock man accused of fatally shooting 38-year-old Joshua Rios on Clovis Road, got underway in Lubbock County courthouse after a mistrial derailed the first attempt last month. Yanez is charged with murder in the April 2025 shooting.
Yanez is charged with murder in the April 2025 shooting. He turned himself in three days after Rios was killed. Judge William Eichman granted a mistrial after Yanez's defense attorneys argued they had not been given enough time to review police videos that prosecutors introduced as evidence.
Arguments are now underway in the retrial, meaning Lubbock County jurors will hear the case again from the beginning. For the Rios family, that means the wait for a verdict stretches even longer than the months already behind them.
The mistrial was not a finding of innocence or guilt. It was a procedural stoppage, and the distinction matters. The case against Yanez remains fully intact, with the same charges and the same set of facts that a jury was already seated to weigh once before.
Mistrials tied to late evidence disclosures are relatively rare, but when they happen in murder cases, retrials can take months to schedule.
Common questions
Why did Victor Yanez's first trial end in a mistrial?
- Judge William Eichman declared a mistrial after Yanez's defense attorneys argued they had not been given enough time to review police videos that prosecutors introduced as evidence. A mistrial is not a finding of innocence or guilt - it simply means the case must be tried again.
What is Victor Yanez charged with and what happened?
- Yanez is charged with murder in the April 2025 fatal shooting of 38-year-old Joshua Rios on Clovis Road in Lubbock. He turned himself in to authorities three days after Rios was killed. Lubbock County jurors are now hearing the case from the beginning in the retrial.
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