Texas Gov Abbott, leaders of Senate, House to target local prosecutors who refuse to prosecute
Murder charges dropped. Repeat offenders walked. Abbott, Patrick, and Burrows want the next session to own the DA.
Summary
- Just the News, citing The Center Square, reports Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and House Speaker Dustin Burrows pledged Friday to write laws next year for greater state oversight of local prosecutors they say release repeat offenders and refuse to enforce Texas law.
- Abbott said when murder charges are dropped and repeat offenders walk free, innocent Texans pay. Burrows said murderers are let off, released on bail through catch-and-release, or have charges dismissed. He created a House Governmental Oversight Select Committee that meets September 30.
- The leaders cited Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza as a rogue example, pointing to dismissed murder charges, refused prosecutions of violent criminals, and repeat offenders released with no bond. Rural residents have also complained that some DAs will not prosecute voter fraud and dismiss large numbers of cases.
- Under the Texas Constitution the attorney general cannot prosecute in a county unless the local DA requests it or recuses. Former Zapata County Sheriff Raymundo Del Bosque, a Democrat, asked the Republican Legislature and the Trump DOJ to investigate alleged systemic voter fraud in rural border counties.
Commentary
A shop dad in Travis County still locks a side door and knows a murder charge is supposed to mean a hold, not a no-bond walk. He did not pay the levy so a DA could dismiss the file and call it ideology.
September 30 hearing. Next session. Garza named. Zapata asking for help. The vinyl chair in that rural clerk's office still waits. The honest household already bought the overtime for the deputies who made the arrest.
Look every working father who still waits on a courthouse bench in the eye and answer this: if a local DA already dropped a murder charge, who still owns the next Texas file a rogue desk left open?
Comments
Abbott. Patrick. Burrows. Next session. Keep the four.
I stood a gate so a murder charge still meant a hold. A no-bond walk is not justice.
Garza named. Sept 30 hearing. OAG blocked unless recusal. Print the three.
Allied counties still treat a dropped murder file as a failure, not a style.
Zapata. Voter-fraud complaints. Recusal delays. File the three.
I still lock a side door after a double. I want the next charge to stay on the docket.
A no-bond repeat walk is not mercy. It is a warning the street already paid.
A DA who will not prosecute is a second border around every honest porch.
Center Square printed Garza, Sept 30, and Zapata. Argue those nouns.
Write the statute. Own the DA. A dropped murder file is not a souvenir.
