AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wants to keep up with how local prosecutors are handling certain offenses.
On Wednesday, he proposed new state rules that would require counties with a population of 250,000 or more to submit more reports about certain crimes and how district and county attorneys are prosecuting them. The goal, according to Paxton, is to increase transparency and allow Texans to hold their elected officials accountable.
It would also require additional quarterly and annual reports.
“District attorneys who choose not to prosecute criminals appropriately have created unthinkable damage in Texas communities. Some of these officials have developed an unacceptable pattern of failing to uphold the law and adopting policies that privilege criminals over innocent victims,” said Paxton in a news release.
The rules would give the AG access to certain case files such as when a police officer is indicted or decisions not to indict violent offenders. Paxton said this would also help Texans know if prosecutors are keeping potentially dangerous criminals off the streets,.
Some examples listed out in the proposal are:
- The case file regarding any decision to indict a peace officer
- The case file in any prosecution where a defendant has raised a justification under Chapter 9 of the Penal Code, Subchapters C and/or D
- The case file for any case where a recommendation is made to a judicial body that a person subject to a final judgment of conviction be released from prison before the expiration of their sentence
- All correspondence regarding any decision not to indict a person who was arrested for committing a violent crime
DAs such as Travis County's José Garza has been under the microscope in the past after being accused of not prosecuting certain crimes. KVUE reached out to Garza's office for a comment on the proposed rules, but it declined to comment.
Charley Wilkison, executive director with the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas (CLEAT), said the rule is necessary only if it leads to a safer community.
"The outcome has to just be the search for truth and fair," said Wilkison. "[The DA's office has] been running counter to state statute, and there's been no real accountability because in the past, the district attorney's office has been this benign administrator of the law."
The proposed rules are separate from a Texas law known as House Bill 17. Under that law, a district attorney's refusal to prosecute certain crimes could lead them to be removed from office.
Wilkison said the new rules could add an extra layer to the law, and it's an "unfortunate" path the state has had to take to enforce.
"Everyone ought to be focused on finding a way to make the district attorney's office above reproach and not a place where the whims and winds of political desire drive things like fact and truth," said Wilkison.
Wilkison added he had been critical of HB 17 in the past, but its laws and proposed rules may make a difference.
"We supported it in the end, and the reason is because he got us a half step closer to what we thought was some administration of justice, where any sense of fairness that we could achieve," said Wilkison.
The AG's office will take public comment on the proposed rules for 30 days. The earliest it could take effect is on April 7.