'Rogue prosecutor' lawsuit to remove Travis County DA José Garza moves forward

A prosecuting attorney has been assigned to a case to remove Travis County District Attorney José Garza from office under Texas' "rogue prosecutor" statute.

The petition was filed April 8 under Texas House Bill 17, which allows for the removal of a district attorney for "official misconduct" — including declining to prosecute certain criminal offenses. The Texas law took effect Sept. 1 and was part of a movement among state Republicans to rein in "rogue" progressive prosecutors.

Dib Waldrip, presiding judge of the 3rd Administrative Judicial Region, will oversee the case. On Friday, he assigned Bell County Attorney Jim Nichols to be the prosecuting attorney. HB 17 specified that, in removal suits, a prosecuting attorney from another county must be assigned to the case.

The case was filed by Mary Elizabeth Dupuis, a Travis County resident. The petition argues that Garza has policies not to prosecute certain crimes, which amount to "incompetency and official misconduct." The filing alleges that the district attorney’s office has adopted a “blanket non-prosecution policy” for drug possession and cites Garza’s promise not to prosecute abortion crimes. The petition also points to Garza's approach to police use-of-force cases, which it describes as “discriminating” against law enforcement officials, as evidence of prosecutorial misconduct.

The content of the petition is the same as one filed last November by Jason Salazar, but the case was complicated by Salazar's October arrest on suspicion of drug possession. Salazar's case was dismissed in January.

The American-Statesman previously reported that the petition was written by Martin Harry, a former Republican candidate for district attorney. In 2020, Harry lost the general election for district attorney to Garza. Harry, who now resides in Florida, has posted on X, formerly Twitter, recruiting Travis County residents to file the petition. Harry’s website also contains a blank copy of the petition.

In a statement sent to the Statesman on Saturday, Garza defended the work of his office and pointed out that he won the Democratic primary for his role last month — almost certainly securing his reelection in November, given the political makeup of Travis County — despite contributions to his opponent from “a few billionaires and MAGA Republicans and their dark money PAC.”

"Now, one month later, their allies are wasting taxpayer money trying to undermine the decision of the voters of Travis County,” Garza said in the statement, which he also posted to X, formerly Twitter. “They failed once, and they'll fail again."

On Monday, Dupuis posted on X, saying that she is not a Republican and supports abortion access and drug decriminalization. She said she filed the petition because she believes her sexual assault case was not properly addressed by Garza's office.

"It is my hope that this petition will bring light to all of the illegal and unethical actions of José Garza during his tenure in the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, and not just what is listed in the petition," Dupuis said.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: 'Rogue prosecutor' lawsuit to remove DA José Garza moves forward