During a hearing at the Capitol on Wednesday, Texas lawmakers who wanted answers from Travis County District Attorney ( DA ) Jose Garza’s ( DA ) Jose Garza’s ) decisions to not prosecute numerous criminals received few answers and became increasingly irate from Garza’s office’s lack of transparency.
Multiple victims, advocates, and members of the criminal justice system testified during a day-long hearing by the Texas House Select Committee on Governmental Oversight about their dealings with the Travis County District Attorney’s Office (TCDAO ).
For instance, charges against a guy who was detained for once more attacking an Austin woman past weekend were dropped, as was the case against Roy Garcia, who was charged with murder after being charged with shooting a man in the back of the brain in 2022.
According to Chairman Cody Vasut (R-Angleton ), Garza declined to be a witness and instead wrote a five-page letter to the committee. However, TCDAO sent Legislative Liaison Stephanie Gharakhanian to testify after state representative Mitch Little (R-Lewisville ) suggested the committee issue a subpoena hours into the hearing.
Gharakhanian refuted claims that TCDAO collaborates with the progressive criminal justice business Wren Collective during her testimony and claimed she had no knowledge of a non-disclosure deal her business has with the group. Gharakhanian claimed she had no information for the commission regarding the structure yet after committee users mentioned emails that Garza’s workplace exchanged with Wren Collective employees.
She added that she and another TCDAO prosecutors “exercise their judgment with earnestness, devotion, and care,” but she chose not to reveal details about Roy Garcia or other cases.
State Representative Ellen Troxclair (R-Lakeway ) pressed Gharakhanian for clarifications regarding TCDAO’s inaction that resulted in the release of 263 defendants in 2024, as well as other cases, including one in which Garza reduced murder charges to tampering with a human corpse for a man accused of killing a woman.
An irritated Troxclair questioned:” How many people must perish in this town for DA Garza to do his job, punish criminals, and grant defendants and victims their time in court and their justice” after Gharakhanian refused to give certain answers.
Jose Garza’s and your company are actually crashing on the job, she continued. How is justice served to the victims who always get their day in court, the victims who took time off of their hectic schedules to speak to this council about their lives and their loved ones, because the victims aren’t there to tell their stories themselves?
State Representative Richard Raymond (D-Laredo ) echoed Troxclair’s resentment, particularly after Gharakhanian once more avoided questions about whether murder charges had been dropped.
The general public has a right to know what the hell is happening. Do you comprehend that statement? He inquired. You “get what you’re supposed to do when people die, but you don’t do it, or you didn’t complete it”?
Gharakhanian also frequently criticized committee inquiries, claiming that they were outside the purview of House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock )’s proposed interim hearing charge.
State Representative Joe Moody (D-El Paso ) claimed on social media that the questions the committee posed to Gharakhanians were unrelated to the charge that was brought against them.
Politicians have expressed growing concern about Garza’s extreme trial of police officers, including those who were involved in controlling unrest in Austin in 2020, as well as his company’s relationship with the Wren Collective.
Kristina Byington testified in court about how Garza, who had confessed to the death of her cousin Anita Byington, had not been cleared of guilt by Texas judges, requested a$ 2.5 million wrongful prison sentence.
Governor. earlier this year. Governor Abbott demanded the establishment of a provincial prosecutor’s office and a procedure for detaining “rogue” district attorneys who do not abide by the law, but state lawmakers are required to hammer out the specifics of any changes in the legislative program next year.
Little made the suggestion that the Legislature may already be able to remove Garza from office during the hearing, but Vasut said that the committee’s constitutional representative would need to examine the Texas Constitution’s language to decide whether lawmakers may file for a removal action.
State Representative Erin Zwiener (D-Austin ) requested specific details about a Waco case in which OAG prosecutors agreed to a deal that gave a man accused of continuing to sexually abuse a child a right to serve only 29 days in jail when Brody Burks of the Texas Office of the Attorney General ( OAG ) appeared late in the hearing as a resource witness. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s strategy for the U.S. Senate has raised the issue, but Burks responded that he had no knowledge of the circumstances.
Shouldn’t we get grilling the AG on every case’s information if we’re going to interview native prosecution? Zwiener posed a question.
However, the majority of the committee’s fury was directed at TCDAO, and state representative Richard Hayes (R-Denton ) lambasted Gharakhanian for prosecuting law-abiding citizens who carried weapons in court cases against violent defendants.
Shelby Slawson, a state representative from Stephenville, noted that Garza’s notice to the committee recommended that inquiries be made to the TCDAO congressional liaison. But, Gharakhanian, the TCDAO’s sole legislative contact, has stated on numerous occasions that she is unable to respond to inquiries about particular cases.
Little noted that Gharakhanian’s background included working for left-wing organizations like the Workers ‘ Defense Action Fund and that he had “bad news” for the victims ‘ families when he spoke to them.
He said,” I believe what you’re experiencing is a deliberate project.” What’s happening here has all the hallmarks of a dishonest racketeer-influenced institution, it seems.
Little added that he believes that” we have reached a boiling point as a government and as a condition, and that boiling point suggests that perhaps we will have to act because this could continue.”
