Public safety takes center stage in Democratic primary fight for Travis County District Attorney
AUSTIN (KXAN) — As early voting in the 2024 March primary begins, Travis County has its eyes on the race for its next top prosecutor.
Incumbent District Attorney José Garza faces a Democratic challenger, Jeremy Sylestine — an Austin defense attorney who filed to run against Garza on the last day of filing in December. Sylestine spent 15 years as a prosecutor in the Travis County DA’s office, before leaving shortly after Garza took office in 2021.
Austin defense attorney running against DA José Garza
In the three years since his election, Garza said he was most proud of creating programs aimed at preventing gun violence and increasing the number of sexual assault convictions, compared to the previous administration.
“We have held people accountable who commit acts of violence, but at the same time, we’ve begun to reduce our reliance on incarceration and address the root causes of crime in our community,” Garza said. “And as a result, this is one of the safest communities in the country.”
He cited data showing homicide rates and violent crime rates on the decline, over the last three years.
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Meanwhile, his opponent has been critical of Garza’s approach to the office, claiming his administration has not been aggressive in prosecuting violent crime and even accused Garza of relying too heavily on plea deals, instead of taking cases before a jury.
“I saw victims being ignored. I saw lenient plea deals on serious cases,” Sylestine said. “People getting out on low bonds when they didn’t need to, and people getting hurt as a consequence.”
Last year, KXAN investigators dug into criminal case data to find an increase in the amount of felony cases dropped during Garza’s term, as well as questions about the conviction rate being publicized by his campaign.
Sylestine hopes to balance progressive efforts and diversion programs that Travis County voters support, with an aggressive prosecution of violent crime.
“Crime is not democratic; crime is not republican. Safety is not democratic; Safety is not republican. Those two things are of concern for everybody,” he said.
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Garza responded by telling KXAN he is proud of his office’s record in cases of violent crime.
“We have been focusing our time and our effort on the most serious and most violent cases… Since we started trying cases again, we’ve tried 16 murder trials,” he said, referencing the year jury trials began again after the coronavirus pandemic shut down most court operations. “By comparison, the last administration lost five murder trials during their term.”
‘Hotly contested’
Elected amid nationwide calls for police reform and protests for justice following the death of George Floyd in 2020, Garza built his campaign on progressive ideas to reimagine the criminal justice system in Travis County. He vowed to put victims first, as well as hold law enforcement accountable in cases of potential excessive force and bring all cases of police misconduct to a grand jury.
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This stance earned intense disapproval from police unions and some conservative critics, but Garza forged ahead. His office indicted nearly 20 officers over actions tied to the protests and took the case of Christopher Taylor, the Austin police officer who fatally shot Mike Ramos in 2020, to trial.
Jurors in the Taylor case failed to reach a decision, resulting in a hung jury last fall, and just weeks later, Garza’s office dropped 17 of the officer’s indictments related to the protests.
On Tuesday, the first day of early voting, Garza spent the afternoon speaking to students and potential voters at the University of Texas. Across town, his team began jury selection in another high profile trial: manslaughter cases against two former Williamson County deputies, accused in the 2019 death of Javier Ambler.
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Garza said he spent the weekend preparing with his team to bring the case before a jury.
“They are ready to continue to fight for justice for Javier Ambler and for his family. And we are ready for our community to see those facts and to weigh in on on what happened on that fateful night,” he said.
He told KXAN he will continue to push for accountability in policing, presenting misconduct cases to the grand jury and, when they believe the law was broken, prosecuting them. He also noted that his office recently sent a letter to the Department of Justice requesting a pattern and practice investigation into use of force at the Austin Police Department.
“These are among the most difficult cases in our office. They are more hotly contested than capital murder cases; they have more resources behind them in capital murder cases,” he said. “These are not easy cases, but we are committed to putting them in front of our community to allow them to weigh in and exercise their oversight, responsibility and their oversight rights.”
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Still, he said the goal is to “work with our law enforcement partners to make sure they have the tools and resources they need to do their job safely.”
Sylestine applauded the work of the Civil Rights unit at the Travis County DA’s office — the department created by Garza’s predecessor, Margaret Moore, to review use of force cases. However, he told KXAN he feels some of these efforts were “dragged out” and ultimately appeared as “political prosecutions.” He also argues the relationship with APD is “fractured,” so he’d need to work with the department to rebuild its relationship with the office.
‘Brain drain’
Despite leaving to work as a defense attorney in 2021, Sylestine believes his reputation and years of experience in the office make him the right person for the job.
“I tried murders, sexual assault cases, domestic violence cases, and there is an art to it. It’s not something you can just come in and say, ‘Hey, we know how to do this now. And we are seeing that — it’s just inexpert prosecution of cases,” he said.
Sylestine said he has been alarmed watching dozens of prosecutors leave the office during Garza’s term, as well as a growing backlog of more than 6,000 pending cases.
In an interview with KXAN, Garza pointed to the coronavirus pandemic shutting down courts for month and delaying jury trials for nearly two years. He noted the pandemic also left behind a nationwide labor shortage that affected prosecutors’ offices across the state.
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“Across the country, there are 20% vacancy rates in prosecutors’ Offices. In the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, we have one vacancy,” he said.
He said 80% of his attorneys have at least five years of prosecutorial experience, and they’ve been working with judges to chip away at the case backlog.
“I am proud of our record navigating our criminal justice system out of the deadliest pandemic that our planet has seen in a century. I’m proud of the work we have done and excited to keep that progress going forward,” he said.
‘Invested in the community’
The primary race between the two men has seen an infusion of cash from donors, in the weeks since Sylestine announced his challenge. According to the most recent campaign finance reports filed, Sylestine has nearly $215,000 on hand, while Garza has nearly $160,000.
Garza criticized his opponent’s supporters, calling them wealthy, Republican donors. According to those reports, some of Sylestine’s top donors have also donated to GOP candidates in the past, while others have donated to candidates of both parties in past races.
Sylestine said he believes the office should be less politicized.
“I have a diverse group of donors — people who are invested in Travis County,” he said. “These are people who live here and who are invested in the community, and have seen themselves the problems that are plaguing Travis County.”
Garza, on the other hand, added, “It’s easy to sit on your couch and Monday morning quarterback, the serious work of keeping our community safe, but that’s the work that we’ve been doing over the last three years.”
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