Filemon Vela Sr.

Filemón Bartolomé Vela (May 1, 1935 – April 13, 2004) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Born in Harlingen, Texas, Vela was a private in the United States Army from 1957 to 1959, and received a Juris Doctor from St. Mary's University School of Law in 1962. He was in private practice in Harlingen from 1962 to 1963, and then in Brownsville, Texas from 1963 to 1974. He was a city commissioner in Brownsville from 1971 to 1973. He was a judge of the 107th Judicial District in Cameron and Willacy Counties, Texas from 1975 to 1980.^[1]

On January 22, 1980, Vela was nominated by President Jimmy Carter to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas vacated by Judge Reynaldo Guerra Garza. Vela was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 18, 1980, and received his commission the same day. He assumed senior status on May 1, 2000, serving in that capacity until his death on April 13, 2004, in Harlingen.^[1]

Vela presided over the capital murder trial of drug lord Juan Raul Garza. Garza was executed by the federal government in 2001, eight days after Timothy McVeigh.^[2]

Vela was married to Blanca Vela, who served as the first female Mayor of Brownsville, Texas, from 1999 to 2003.^[3][4] Their three children include Filemon Vela Jr., who was elected to the United States Congress in 2012.^[5]

• List of Hispanic and Latino American jurists

• Filemon Bartolome Vela at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.