Petition seeking removal of Travis County DA José Garza moves forward

AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- A petition seeking the removal of Travis County District Attorney José Garza will move forward, following a court order issued Friday afternoon.

That petition, filed by Travis County resident Mary Dupuis, argues that Garza must be removed from office "due to incompetency and official misconduct."

In an order issued Friday, Judge Dib Waldrip, the presiding judge of Texas' Third Administrative Judicial Region, appointed Bell County Attorney Jim Nichols to litigate the case against Garza.

"The prosecuting attorney representing the state shall possess full authority under the law to proceed in the litigation as he and his office deem appropriate to bring this matter to a prompt and proper legal resolution," Waldrip wrote in the order.

The challenge against Garza comes after last year's passage of House Bill 17, which took effect in September. State law allows courts to remove district attorneys and county attorneys for "official misconduct", which under HB 17 includes refusing to prosecute certain criminal offenses under state law.

The petition highlights three issues with Garza's actions since taking office, alleging that Garza "singles-out law enforcement officials by automatically, indiscriminately, presenting charges against them to grand juries" and "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", along with refusing to "prosecute a class or type of criminal offense under state law."

The petition also highlights Garza's public statements that his office will not prosecute charges related to abortion or certain drug offenses.

Garza's office, in a statement, called the allegations politically motivated. "Every day, our office works to bring justice to Travis County and keep people safe. 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."

Garza is required to appear in court for a hearing on the case on May 16.