Person who filed petition to remove Travis County DA steps forward
AUSTIN (KXAN) — The person who filed the petition to remove Travis County District Attorney José Garza is stepping forward.
In a statement sent to KXAN, Mary Dupuis, who said she goes by Betsy, said her goal with this petition was to initiate an investigation into Garza’s office.
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In the statement, Dupuis said she was sexually assaulted. She claims a friend of Garza represents the person who sexually assaulted her.
KXAN reached out to the attorney for a response and will update this story when we hear back.
Dupuis alleged that during the sexual assault investigation, Garza’s office “destroyed evidence, ignored multiple confessions from the perpetrator, and openly mocked me during a hearing to discuss why they declined to prosecute,” the statement reads.
According to Austin Police Department records, an officer and the district attorney’s office agreed there was a lack of probable cause.
The case was closed and prosecution was declined.
KXAN reached out to Garza’s office for a response to these allegations but has not heard back yet.
Background on the petition
A petition filed in the 455th Travis County District Court on April 8 calling for the removal of Travis County District Attorney José Garza was accepted for consideration Friday afternoon by Dib Waldrip, the 433rd District Judge in Comal County and Presiding Judge of the 3rd Administrative Judicial Region.
Waldrip, who was appointed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to serve as the Presiding Judge of the 3rd Administrative Judicial Region in 2022, was assigned to the case on Apr. 10.
Additionally, Waldrip appointed Bell County Attorney Jim Nichols to represent the State as “a qualified and appropriate prosecuting attorney from within the region.”
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On Saturday, Garza sent a statement to KXAN.
“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.”
Travis County District Attorney José Garza
Dupuis said in her statement: “I am not a Republican, and certainly not MAGA. I have not been paid by anyone and filed this petition at great personal risk. In fact [sic] did not have an active voter registration during the primary election and had not had one since 2007.”
A citation issued by the court requires Garza to appear May 16 in a Travis County district courtroom for a hearing on the case.
Comal County’s court administrator told KXAN that right now, Judge Waldrip won’t comment on this pending case before him.
The allegations
The petition argues “incompetency and official misconduct” related to the policies enforced by Garza about who and what criminal offenses his office prosecutes.
Specifically, the petition references three issues supporting these allegations:
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.
Democratic lawmakers reaction
Texas State House Representatives and Congressman Lloyd Doggett held a press conference on the steps of the Capitol on Monday to speak out against the petition.
“No DA prosecutes all crimes. All DA’s use prosecutorial discretion to determine how best to serve those who elected them within their available resources.”
State Rep. Donna Howard, (D) Austin
Elected officials said this is a political move backed by Republicans.
“My understanding is, as representative Howard indicated, she [Dupuis] was solicited, as were others on social media,” said U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin. “She may have a complaint against the district attorney, and it’s her right to file the petition.”
Ultimately, Doggett said the goal is to impose a Republican on Travis County voters.
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Many speakers called House Bill 17, the law that allows for these types of petitions, an attack on democracy.
“It’s an assault on the voters who overwhelmingly elected Jose Garza in the Democratic primary.”
Austin Kaplan, Attorney
Dupuis did use similar language that was also used in a petition from a previous, failed effort to oust Garza. However, she told KXAN Investigators that she filed this on her own.
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