Death at West Oaks Hospital

"He started crying and going in the closet. He wouldn't talk," Chazz ­remembers.

Their parents, immigrants from Costa Rica and Honduras with six children, "were trying to survive," Chazz says. They took Mario to a doctor and got an initial diagnosis of bipolar. Given hefty doses of Thorazine, Mario became virtually ­comatose.

Mario, who spoke Spanish and English, tried to stay in school but ended up dropping out. He got his GED later on. The family moved around a lot. Their father died in 1988, and it was left to their mother to take care of Mario, with help from Chazz. Just before her death in 1996, she entrusted Mario to Chazz.

As Mario's illness got the best of him, he became odd; his strange manner made him a ready target for bullies.

People would pick on him after seeing Mario flail his arms around or contort his face. Boxing became street fighting, and while Mario may have been a champion in the ring, he was a loser outside those boundaries. "He'd come out of jail all black and blue," Chazz says. Several of his teeth were knocked out in fights over the years.

He would get into fights with strangers, imagining that they had something to do with the death of his mother. In the 2006 criminal case, Mario, who'd been drinking, mistook a Hindu man for a Muslim and went up to him, demanding an answer to the question "Why did you bomb New York?" "He did punch the guy and he ran. He ran and he hid," Chazz says.

Around his family, though, Mario was calmer. "He never hit me or my mother. Never," Chazz says. But he amends that statement later. When Mario went off his medicine, things didn't go so well. And, of course, hitting his brother is exactly what got him taken to West Oaks just before he died.

By the time the police officers made it to West Oaks on June 14, Mario had already been transported to Memorial Hermann Southwest. The police report notes the condition of Frederick Williams, who had clearly been in a fight.

"He had a deep abrasion to the right side of his forehead...a swelling above his right eyebrow...a small cut on his left cheek and another small cut near the inside corner of his left eye. He also appeared to have an abrasion on the underside of his top lip. There was swelling to the thumb palm area of his right hand."

Also noted: Williams's blood, hair and tissue on the stucco wall and a bloodstain on the sidewalk. Mario's black T-shirt was on the sidewalk, his green socks in the grass.

According to attorney Azzo, Williams was justified in what he did. "It's clear that my client was the one who was attacked and was trying to defend himself, calling for help as soon as he could." He described his client as a "soft-spoken, very nice man in his early thirties" who was beaten badly by Mario. Because of the attack, Williams had to have an operation on his hand, Azzo says.

Williams was never arrested, but was detained for questioning for about two hours after police arrived at West Oaks. Azzo says he's aware of the witness who said that Williams had kicked and stomped Mario, but that obviously made no difference to the grand jury who heard his ­testimony.

"I don't know how much effort was needed to control Mr. Vidaurre, as far as should they have had two or three people on him watching him at all times, should they have had him in restraints to protect my client and others? I don't know what goes into the considerations by psychiatrists in determining the type of restraints are required on a person."

Azzo says he thought it was amazing that they had a person totally dedicated to no one else but Mario at all times. "I think that speaks volumes to what they thought of his violent nature, with, as you know, the expense that that involves."

Still, the around-the-clock personal attendant strategy ultimately didn't work. "It certainly wasn't enough to keep my client from being hurt, but realistically I suppose if you had three people and Mr. Vidaurre lashed out against one, that one would have still been injured before he could be controlled," Azzo says.

"My client is not a big man — no more than 5'8", and he's not fat or muscular," Azzo says. "He doesn't have weight to him where you could put pressure with your own weight vs. like a 350-pound person who could just sit on someone."
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The thing Mario Vidaurre wanted above everything else was to have a job. But Chazz says that time after time that didn't work out. "He worked when he was about 24 at Veteran's Hospital, but he got nervous. He worked at 31 Flavors, but he couldn't remember the flavors. He was going to try welding."

In fact, Mario did take some basic academic courses at the University of Houston, but that didn't lead to anything because he'd get just as nervous before going to class as he would with a job.