Texas Prosecution of Progressive District Attorney Gets Hearing

A bid from Texas Republicans to remove progressive prosecutors is gaining momentum in Austin where the district attorney must formally answer to claims he’s refusing to prosecute abortion as a crime.

José Garza, a Democratic district attorney in Travis County, was ordered by a judge Friday to appear in court May 16.

This court date is thought to be the first of its kind in Texas under H.B. 17, the new law backed by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to limit the authority of blue county district attorneys. The law prohibits prosecutors from adopting or enforcing a policy of refusing to prosecute a class or type of criminal offenses.

In a statement, Garza, a first-term prosecutor, returned fire to his right-wing critics. The petition for his removal he noted was brought weeks after voters in the Democratic primary resoundingly chose him over a well-funded challenger with GOP support. In the November general election, Garza is a heavy favorite over a Republican opponent.

“Every day, our office works to bring justice to Travis County and keep people safe,” Garza said. “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.”

District Court Judge Dib Waldrip (R), presiding judge of the Austin region, granted the removal petition “without consideration of factual merit.” Waldrip, an Abbott-appointee, tapped Bell County Attorney Jim Nichols (R) to review the claims against Garza. Nichols will now decide if the case should move forward to trial. If he does, the trial will be held in Travis County—a decided advantage for Garza.

The petition was brought by a Travis County resident named Mary Dupuis. She pointed to public statements from Garza about not prosecuting women who seek an abortion. The statements were from June 2022, more than a year before the implementation of Texas’s so-called ‘Rogue DA’ law. At the time, Garza was reacting to the Supreme Court’s decision to end federal rights to an abortion.

Dupuis in the April 8 lawsuit also emphasizes Garza’s firm stance on prosecuting law enforcement officials. Under his administration, all cases alleging excessive force get reviewed by a grand jury.

An earlier petition to remove Garza under H.B. 17 failed on jurisdictional grounds because the petitioner had a pending felony in Garza’s office.

Garza was represented by William Christian of Graves Dougherty Hearon & Moody.

The case is Dupuis v. Garza, Tex. Dist. Ct., No. D-1-GN-24-002191, 4/19/24.