Charles Robert Borchers

Charles Robert Borchers, known as Charlie Borchers (March 19, 1943 – June 27, 1997), was a lawyer from Laredo, Texas, who served from 1973 to 1980 as the district attorney of the 49th Judicial District, which then included Dimmit, Webb, and Zapata counties in South Texas.

Background

Born in Laredo, the county seat of Webb County, he was one of four children of Elmore Herman Borchers, Sr., an attorney, and the former Angela Scovazzo, a native of Los Angeles, California, and one of three daughters of Dr. and Mrs. Charles Scovazzo. Angela Borchers became a civic figure in her own right in Laredo, having worked to establish the Laredo Kidney Center. She was the president of the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church Altar Society and served for two decades as well on the board of the Laredo Public Library. In 1956, the couple played George and Martha Washington in Laredo's nationally-known Washington's Birthday Celebration. The senior Borchers were named in 1976 to the Lord and Lady of the Holy Sepulcher, the highest honor bestowed on lay Catholics.^[1]

Borchers graduated from and played basketball at St. Joseph's Academy, a Catholic school operated in Laredo by the Marist Brothers until its closed in 1973. In 1963, he received in three years his Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Edwards University in the capital city of Austin. In 1966, he was awarded his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law, also in Austin.^[2]

Career

A Democrat, Borchers was initially appointed district attorney to complete the unexpired term of Carlos Castillon, who resigned in 1973, a year after having been elected in 1972. Borchers, who had been first assistant district attorney under Castillon, was then elected to a full four-year term in 1976. Borchers was generally known as "a hands-on DA who participated in arrests, drug raids and interrogations."^[2] Former Laredo municipal Police Chief J. L. Martinez recalled that Borchers "would join us in making arrests and getting the details firsthand." Borchers prosecuted Juan Aranda in Laredo and Arturo Aranda of Victoria in the death of police officer Pablo Albidrez. He prosecuted Kenneth Adami of Freer for the murder of five Mexicans at a ranch. He established a state crime task force in Laredo.^[2]

In private practice of law with the firm Person, Whitworth, Borchers, and Morales, Borchers did not seek a third term as district attorney. He was instead succeeded by Laredo lawyer Julio A. Garcia. From 1985 to 1991, Borchers was an elected trustee of the United Independent School District. From 1986 to 1991, he was the UISD board president. Prior to becoming DA, he had been an instructor of business law and government at Laredo Community College, then Laredo Junior College.^[2]

Death and legacy

Borchers died of cancer at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio at the age of fifty-four. He is interred at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Laredo. Borchers and his wife, the former Celita Pappas, an administrator at United Independent School District and a sister of veteran State Senator Judith Zaffirini, have three daughters, Valerie, Katrina, and Ericka. Katrina Mohrer had joined her father's law firm not long before his death.^[2] He had two brothers, E. H. Borchers, Jr. (born 1937), a since retired dentist in Laredo, who was formerly married to Susan Shelby Borchers (1937-2015), a long-time employee of the former Laredo National Bank,^[3] and Ralph L. Borchers, who lived in Guatemala at the time of his brother's death^[2] and later in Miami, Florida.^[1] His sister is Bernadette Powell and husband, Edward, of Houston, Texas.^[2]

Like his mother, he was a long-term member of Rotary International.^[1][2]

Borcher's bust, sculpted by Armando Hinojosa and architect James Humphries, is displayed near the main south entrance of the Webb County Justice Center in downtown Laredo. At the dedication ceremony in 1999, then 341st Texas District Court Judge Elma Salinas Ender of Laredo described Borchers as "truly a man of the people. It is particularly fitting that this dedication take place on Law Day, because Charles Borchers loved his profession. ... Those of us who knew the lawyer and loved the man understand that his spirit will forever live on in the halls of the Webb County Justice Center."^[4]

Charles Borchers Elementary School at 9551 Backwoods Trail in northeastern Laredo is named in his honor.^[5] Two scholarships in his name are issued annually by the Young Lawyers Association of Laredo.^[2]

References