Petition to remove Travis County DA José Garza accepted, judge appoints prosecutor
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — 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.”
According to the court records, Nichols was selected by Waldrip after considering available options in accordance with Texas’ statute stating “the county attorney of the jurisdiction serves as counsel for the State in actions to remove an officer, except when such an action seeks removal of a prosecuting attorney.”
Nichols will investigate the allegations against Garza before the matter is brought before Waldrip, who will decide if the case moves forward to a jury trial. Garza will remain in his official capacity pending a jury’s verdict.
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.”
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.
KXAN reached out to Abbott and Nichols about the matter and will update this story once a response is received.
The petition’s allegations
The petition argues “incompetency and official misconduct” related to the policies enforced by Garza about the 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.
Texas may soon have a process to remove local prosecutors who won’t pursue abortion, election cases
The 21-page petition goes on to detail policies and evidence that allegedly show violations of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure such as presenting cases to grand juries that are not supported by probable cause and discriminatory practices specific to law enforcement officers.
“Tonight is 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,” said Save Austin Now co-founder Matt Mackowiak. “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.”
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin.
