Newly elected Travis County District Attorney José Garza is moving forward with the bail reform and diversion plans he promised on the campaign trail, which Garza said will make it easier for people charged with some nonviolent crimes to stay out of jail and get into intervention programs. If we can invest our time and resources addressing the root causes that lead people to engage in criminal activity in the first place, then that is how we have the best opportunity to make our community most safe, Garza said.
The plans were among several that he outlined in a public letter to the community Friday. He also mentioned among his priorities in the letter:
A Travis County judge has declared that
Rosa Jimenez, serving a 99-year sentence for the death of a toddler in her care in 2003, should be released from prison while she awaits a new trial that was first ordered a decade ago. At a Jan. 26 hearing, District Judge
Karen Sage ordered the release on bond, saying, “I do not believe that Ms. Jimenez should spend another night in jail if it can be prevented.” Her attorneys say she could be free by the end of the week.
Jimenez, an unauthorized immigrant, was 20, a mother of a one-year old daughter, and seven months pregnant when 21-month-old
In an emphatic break from his predecessors, Travis County District Attorney
José Garza has released the first of what are promised to be bimonthly reports on his office s investigations into allegations of potential misconduct by local law enforcement officers. The five-page brief, issued on Jan. 14, compiles information on each case his office is working – there are more than two dozen, including three that have already resulted in indictments – including the names of those hurt or killed (except when minors or in cases of sexual assault) and of police officers involved. It also estimates when the cases will be presented to grand juries or brought to trial.
Austin police shot and killed
Alexander Gonzales and injured his girlfriend,
Jessica Arellano, in Southeast Austin shortly after midnight on Jan. 5, following an alleged altercation between Gonzales and an
off-duty Austin Police Department officer while both were driving in the 2500 block of Wickersham Lane. Gonzales and Arellano s 2-month-old son was in the backseat of the car and was not injured.
The officer claims to have been cut off by Gonzales, who, the officer told investigators, pointed a gun. This prompted the officer, not in uniform and in a private vehicle, to fire a number of rounds at Gonzales vehicle before initiating a stop and calling 911. From here, bystander video recorded by a witness from a nearby apartment balcony shows how events unfolded.