Travis County District Attorney Could Be Booted From Office Due To New Texas Law
Jose Nino
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According to a report by Texas Scorecard, Travis County District Attorney José Garza of Travis County could be the first prosecutor to be kicked out of office under a new state law singling out politically derelict prosecutors. Citizens have accused him of “incompetency and official misconduct.”
In 2023, state elected officials passed legislation to broaden the definition of “official misconduct” to include “a prosecuting attorney’s adoption or enforcement of a policy of categorically refusing to prosecute specific criminal offenses under state law.”
If a resident is of the view that the prosecuting attorney is involved in such misconduct, he has the ability to submit a petition for removal, which kicks off a process to remove the prosecuting attorney from office.
On April 19, 2024, Judge Dib Waldrip accepted a petition filed by Mary Dupuis, a Travis County resident. The petition alleging the following:
- Defendant singles out law enforcement officials by automatically, indiscriminately, presenting charges against them to grand juries;
- Defendant maintains a “do not call to testify” list of law enforcement officials who he deems unfit to testify and disqualifies from serving as witnesses for the State of Texas and
- Defendant refuses to prosecute a class or type of criminal offense under state law.
Garza has gained notoriety for promising not to prosecute illegal abortions and for not prosecuting several types of drug-related cases.
Matt Mackowiak and Cleo Petricek of Save Austin Now, an organization that has criticized Garza’s soft-on-crime policies, described this petition as a “watershed moment for public safety in Austin.”
“A Travis County resident has filed a substantive petition under HB17 alleging serious and provable violations of state law which, if proven, must result in DA Garza’s removal from office. This is the beginning of the end for DA Garza’s reign of terror for our community, ignoring the wishes of crime victims, attacking law enforcement, and enabling criminal activity through an indiscriminate refusal to uphold his oath and prosecute violent crimes. We want to thank the petitioner for her courage and seriousness,” Mackowiak and Petricek declared in a statement.
In response to the petition, Garazs blamed “MAGA Republicans” for this campaign.
“Every day, our office works to bring justice to Travis County and keep people safe. Last month, a few billionaires and MAGA Republicans and their dark money PAC failed to stop our progress at the ballot box. Now, one month later, their allies are wasting taxpayer money trying to undermine the decision of the voters of Travis County. They failed once, and they’ll fail again,” declared Garza.
With the petition being accepted, Bell County Attorney Jim Nichols was appointed to function as a special prosecutor to carry out an investigation and determine if the case will be brought to a civil trial, which would take place in Travis County.
Garza is one of the many George Soros-funded district attorneys who are wreaking havoc in cities nationwide with policies that privilege criminals at the expense of the law-abiding.
Frankly, these political reprobates need to get clobbered through prudential state action. These people can’t be allowed to continue to irresponsibility hold office for any longer.
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