Big League Politics By
On April 8, 2024, a petition was filed in the 455th Travis County District Court pushing for the removal of Travis County District Attorney José Garza.
On the afternoon of April 19, Dib Waldrip, the 433rd District Judge in Comal County and Presiding Judge of the 3rd Administrative Judicial Region, granted the petition.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott appointed Waldrip to serve as the Presiding Judge of the 3rd Administrative Judicial Region in 2022. Waldrip was assigned to the case on April 10 prior to granting the application for the issuance of a citation with a directive for Garza to answer and make an appearance before the Travis County District Court on May 16.
On top of that, Waldrip appointed the Office of the Bell County Attorney and the Honorable Jim Nichols to represent the Texas state government as “a qualified and appropriate prosecuting attorney from within the region.”
The petition argues “Incompetency and official misconduct” connected to the policies implemented by Garza about the individuals and what criminal offenses his office prosecutes.
Specifically, the petition alluded to three issues substantiating 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.
Save Austin Political Action Committee co-founders Matt Mackowiak & Cleo Petricek issued a statement on this political development:
“Tonight [April 19] 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. 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…
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE… (bigleaguepolitics.com)
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