Members of the Texas House Select Committee on Government Oversight met for more than twelve hours on Wednesday and heard extensive testimony about Democrat Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza and his office. Many witnesses painted a picture of Garza’s office as hostile to law enforcement rather than criminals.
Jokob Dupuis, a Visiting Fellow with the Cicero Institute, discussed how Garza had implemented policies that disfavored incarceration and “lax” sentencing guidelines for those who were incarcerated. As an example, Dupuis said that the sentencing recommendation for a defendant convicted of aggravated robbery where the victim was seriously injured and where the defendant had a “substantial pattern of committing similar offenses” was only 4 to 6 years.
Since Garza’s election, Dupuis noted, the homicide rate in Travis County has increased by 71%, and the automobile theft rate rose by 107.4%.
Sean Kennedy of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund testified about the role left-wing organizations, such as the Wren Collective, play in setting policy for District Attorney’s offices. Kennedy is the principal author of a 2025 report entitled “Outsourcing Justice”, which is based on 50,000 pages of public records.
In his testimony, Kennedy told lawmakers that Garza’s office entered into a nondisclosure agreement with the Wren Collective in January 2022 and discussed relationships among several district attorneys’ offices, the Wren Collective, and liberal political donors.
Jennifer Szimanski of the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas (CLEAT) described Garza’s “reign of terror” towards law enforcement.
“Since Travis County district attorney Jose Garza took office, nearly 30 CLEAT members – police officers – have been indicted and not one has resulted in a final conviction,” said Szimanski, who added that the legal defense of these officers has cost over a million dollars.
“Garza releases dangerous criminals continuously back into our community and then indicts the law enforcement officer who is forced to deal with them time and time again.”
Doug O’Connell, a criminal defense attorney who represents some of the police officers indicted by Garza’s office, told that committee that Garza was waging a “war on police.”
“Mr. Garza is adamantly, zealously targeting and prosecuting law enforcement officers every chance he gets. He is, with the help of the machine, executing a war on police,” said O’Connell.
While Garza was invited to testify before the committee, he failed to do so – an action that resulted in some members of the committee discussing the possibility of subpoenaing him to testify. The committee’s chairman, State Representative Cody Vaust, noted, however, that a subpoena compelling Garza to testify could make him immune from prosecution.
A representative from Garza’s office, Stephanie Gharakhanian, did testify – although several lawmakers expressed frustration with her testimony.
“We’re very exhausted by you refusing to be straightforward with us,” State Representative Richard Hayes told Gharakhanian.
State Representative Ellen Troxclair, who represents a portion of Travis County, didn’t hold back in her criticism of Gharakhanian’s handling of the hearing. Troxclair accused Gharakhanian of not providing “information that was clearly indicated that the committee would want to talk about” and said she treated “the committee with really insulting behavior in your non-answers that you should have been prepared for.”
“How many people have to die in this city for DA Garza to do his job and prosecute criminals and give defendants and victims their day in court and their justice,” said Troxclair.
“Give me a break. There is nothing going on in this city that is about delivering justice. And the facts show it. And the fact that he wouldn’t be here today to defend his own policies, and you can’t give us the facts that you reference, is just proof that there is a massive organized cesspool that is detrimental to our state, detrimental to our residents. And as legislators, we have a responsibility too to keep our people safe.”
Members of the committee discussed potential solutions to the problems posed by Garza and other rogue prosecutors.
State Representative Mitch Little floated the idea of removing Garza from office.
“Fortunately, Texas law gives the legislature the ability to fire him. Let’s do it. We have the ability to investigate this and fire him. And I think the legislature should heavily consider doing that,” he said.
State Representative Richard Hayes raised the prospect of creating a statewide prosecutor. Governor Greg Abbott has endorsed the idea as part of the public safety platform he is running on in his re-election campaign.
Other subjects discussed at the hearing included local governments’ use of taxpayer funds in contracts with nongovernmental organizations and consulting firms, as well as the Texas-New Mexico boundary.
After the hearing, Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows praised the committee’s work, saying the hearing “laid important groundwork for the Texas House to act next session.” Burrows remarked that the committee “exposed how rogue prosecutors are influenced by politically aligned organizations that oppose the rule of law and push soft-on-crime policies, compromising the safety of Texans.”
“When witnesses like District Attorney Jose Garza fail to attend and answer questions on public safety in their county, it is evident that the work of this committee is just getting started,” Burrows added.
