The Audiencia of Charcas took up the investigation of Reyes. The Audencias, the judicial system of colonial Spain, had a wide degree of latitude and independence from the viceroy. Charcas (now known as Sucre) was quite distant from the viceregal capital of Lima, amplifying the court's power even further. In 1721, the audiencia sent judge José de Antequera y Castro to Asunción to dispense justice as he saw fit. Antequera was a young rising star of the court, and even his fiercest critics wrote that he was likable, handsome, intelligent, and unusually well-educated for the time. The Audiencia gave Antequera a sealed document to open if he found Reyes guilty. The Audiencia and Antequera ordered Reyes to release the council members he had imprisoned and that he not interfere in the investigation in any way. After interviewing the witnesses accusing Reyes of misdeeds, Antequera concluded that the evidence was so strong as to warrant the immediate arrest of Reyes in September 1721. Antequera presented to the cabildo the sealed document he'd been given by the Audiencia. The document gave Antequera the position of governor, which he took over the objections of Reyes' remaining supporters. In April 1722, Antequera officially found Reyes guilty and dismissed him as governor, although Reyes immediately escaped Asunción on the same day the sentence was handed down. Antequera proceeded to impound much of Reyes' property and also order the arrest of many of Reyes' friends and supporters, taking their property to be sold at public auction as well. With all these actions, Antequera earned the support and adulation of the majority of the province, though he was hated by those who had done well under Reyes. Antequera clinched his popularity by taking a stand against the hated Jesuits; he endorsed settlers' demands that the mission Indians be distributed to the encomienda, that secular (paid by the Spanish government) priests be put in charge of the Jesuit missions, and that a customs house be established to enforce limits on Jesuit exports of yerba mate. To historian James Saeger, Antequera comes across as mostly well-meaning; he sincerely believed imposing the civil authority upon the independent Jesuit missions would benefit the Empire.