Primary election: Democratic candidates for Travis County District Attorney sit down with KVUE

it's time to vote Texas I'm Ashley goodto kvu news political director you know one of the most watched local races this primary is on the Democratic primary ballot in Travis County after serving one term district attorney Jose Garza drew a democratic Challenger a former prosecutor from the DA's office who shortly served under Garza Jeremy Sistine now while there is one Republican running in a very blue Travis County historically the Democrat who wins the primary wins in November and while the tw

o Democrats running agree on those tried and true Democratic Values they have very different ideas on how to achieve Public Safety through criminal justice to help you make a decision we're bringing you interviews with both of the candidates let's start with Jeremy Sistine for our viewers who are not familiar with you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background my name is Jeremy Sistine I've lived here in Travis County County for the second time since 2006 I was here for undergrad at

UT from 1997 to 2000 I grew up in East Texas am a member of the Alabama kashada tribe of Texas over there and uh first generation college graduate I went on to law school at the University of Virginia moved back to Texas after that and worked as a public defender in the Panhandle and then moved back to Austin in 2006 to work for the DA's office where I stayed for about 15 years just over 15 years and since December of 21 I've been running My Own Private Practice in criminal defense let's talk a

bout you stayed at the DA's office for a considerable amount of time and then you decided to leave why was it that you decided to leave there were a number of reasons um primarily mean to be honest with you I thought I was going to retire there that that became my professional home and I had lots of friends and colleagues who I cared very deeply about uh but on top of that was the mission of the office and and what it stood for and the good that we were doing in Travis County um I really took th

at seriously and to leave when I did was very hard but uh when I saw the the way things were going in terms of the policies that were being pursued and the the resources that were being moved away from our ability to do a good job it just became unsustainable for me and several others uh many of my colleagues left during that time I stayed on as long as I could so let's talk about today and why you're running why are you running to be the da I I mean if I had to just boil it down to a single sen

tence it's because we can do better than what's being done right now uh criminal justice is a complicated thing and it takes many shapes and forms but in Travis County I've seen what that looks like up close and personal for 15 plus years I've spoken to juries over 75 times here in the county and I know generally what their values are and how they view cases and to see what started taking place in 2021 and thereafter um it it just doesn't line up with what I Know Travis County cares about and I

think that there needs to be a reset to something that is more balanced and more pragmatic and common sense because right now it's more about political promises and policies that aren't in line with what the criminal justice system and what a prosecutor should be focused on so let's talk about that because da Jose Garo was elected in 2020 really on the heels of a movement to fight racial Injustice and to have more police accountability and so he ran saying you know really he was going to tackle

those things and put some policies in place you were there for some of that in the beginning are there any policies that were put in place that you agreed with and or agree with and and would continue if you are elected to be the yeah I want to put a pin in the police accountability part because I think that's so important but in terms of other policies and things that are in Place Mental Health diversion drug courts veterans court those are all wonderful things that we need to be celebrating an

d pushing more toward what I'll say about that is that they existed before Jose Gara got there and there's been a lot of credit taken for the fact that those programs are flourishing but they existed before he did that it's not a new idea for him um that I think is something that we need to continue focusing on and U increasing the scope of them because they are successful and necessary and we know that those are some of the biggest drivers of people who find themselves back in the system over a

nd over again so if we can provide that on-ramp to services and resources through those programs by all means let's do that that's piece number one the police accountability part I think has been a failure of his office um and I look at those political cases that he brought um he promised like you said he promised to bring those cases rising out of the protest in May of 2020 and that was really a promise made without looking at any of the evidence before he got there we were in that office looki

ng at those cases and trying to figure out if there was any sort of criminal liability there um it was a very serious matter some of them were horrifying to look at but in the end it really comes down to what you can and can't prove so to come in and immediately promise that and then get 21 indictments 17 of which have now been dismissed tells me that he's ineffective in his ability to evaluate the evidence and pursue those as a prosecutor should which is with a mind toward what can I or can I n

ot prove okay so since we're on the police accountability and since we're talking about that but we see saw the internal report from APD that came out that says they did know and there was information known up the chain where they was information and supervisors knew of the danger of those rounds those Munitions and they were not taken taken off of officers still had them so you don't think that that was maybe something that was missed prior to him coming in I don't and the reason I don't think

that is because I knew it in December of 2020 I was working on one of those cases in particular and the exper the expired rounds was not a new fact in January of 2021 we knew that then and he either knew or should have known that before he's using it as an excuse to dismiss those cases now okay I want to go back to the original question because you mentioned a few of the programs that as you mentioned were already in place but are there any policies that he put in place that you think are workin

g man um I mean I I do like to give credit where it's due but I'm I'm not seeing a lot that's working functionally and a lot of it is less policy and more Personnel um the fact that he's run off so many prosecutors who had experience and at that level U I'm going to be frank with you it's very necessary you can't have inexperienced lawyers come in and work on felony level cases because they are of the utmost importance the difference in uh the county and District system is that County cases deal

with misdemeanors things you can go to jail for whereas on the felony side these are things you can go to prison for and at that level we need to have people who know what they're doing who have the right training and mentorship and when all of those people left with Decades of experience under their belts that mentorship and that uh that movement toward an experienced and knowledge-based prosecution system walked out the door with them yeah I I don't think anyone woman disagree with you that t

here is value in people who have experience in an office I do think that we saw a clear message from the majority of Travis County voters in 2020 who said the way that things were being done is not how we want to see things continue to be done you're running saying that you want to see a reset you want to go back to some of the old ways how does that communicate with voters who say they want something new I wouldn't say that I want to go back to the old ways what I what I think is that there has

to be a reprioritizing of how we're going to do it and that we need to do it with expertise there is um a Common Thread that prosecution at the criminal justice and the criminal justice system should be about balance and smart people making good decisions and the way we do that is by having people who are expert in the field in those positions where they're making those decisions every day what I have seen as a defense attorney now on this side of things is that those things are being inexpertl

y done and that is not a unique criticism it's one that we are seeing in the results of cases that are coming out and in the stories that survivors of violence and victims of violence are telling us yeah are there crimes that you think should be being prosecuted or other things that you think should be handled differently that you just don't see that happening right now yeah I mean in particular the domestic violence stories that we're highlighting through the campaign those are those are real p

eople who have suffered not just the crime that they went through but also at the hands of the DA's office when they've either been ignored left out or otherwise betrayed by the plea bargaining process that is actually happening we're not making these things up these are people who are finding us and saying I have a real grievance against that office and I want you to tell this story to the public and and that I would imagine is really hits home for you because you used to prosecute those domest

ic before you moved up to Major Crimes in the DA's office you prosecuted those yeah I did for seven and a half years child abuse and domestic violence and what was then called the Family Justice Division and it was a a unique opportunity because they're just such specialized cases and the victims and survivors in those cases are so vulnerable and sometimes helpless um it really needs somebody who knows what they're doing to step in and make their case for them yeah you know earlier this week in

fact there was a group of Democratic elected officials who sent you a letter they also sent it to to all of us calling on you to renounce campaign donations from donors who are Republican donors and by that they mean people who have donated to other major Republican campaigns and they also called on you to stop using quote Republican talking points and attack in your campaign how do you respond to that well I'll deal with the Republican talking points and attacks first because I just don't think

that's true and I guess if telling the the stories of survivors of violence and reading the data and looking at specific cases if that's a republican talking point I guess I'm missing the message because that is that is what is happening that's what we're seeing in the documents that come out of the the courts and the stories that we being told by people who have experienced these things and want to come forward and tell their stories so that's that part of it as to the the donor base I'll say

this people in Travis County who are the majority of my donors are from all across the political spectrum and you can go in and pick and choose anybody and say that they have given to this person or they've given to that person but no one is sitting here telling me to say anything different than what my message is and that is smart Common Sense prosecution that has a balance to the system and what we are seeing right now is a system that's out of balance and people know people know very explicit

ly that the winner of this race in the Democratic primary will be the da there's a republican challenger but that Republican Challenger doesn't stand a chance come November so the real change happens now and I am giving a message that people can believe in that will restore balance and integrity back to that office is there something you want to say though to the people who voting in the Democratic primary to so that they can feel assured that you are truly a Democrat yeah people if they want to

be will be assured people may not be assured at all but what I can say is that I've been voting Democratic my entire voting life the very first time that I voted was in in Bush vior in 2000 and that was a big deal and very meaningful for me but all of my my beliefs stem from my upbringing and what I have seen over the years um and none of that's changed I live in Austin on purpose I live in Travis County on purpose because I believe in what Travis County Citizens believe in and if that were any

thing different it would be glaringly obvious uh if I have a more moderate position I don't think that's something that needs to be punished I am like many others in not just Travis County but the United States who believe that we can live in the middle and we can also hold those independent thoughts in our head that we can believe in Progressive principles and reform in the system while still believing in Law and Order yeah you've mentioned Common Sense prosecution what does that look like prac

tically I think we don't have to give up on the idea that there are cases where people have to go to prison and I know that's an unpopular take in the Jose Jose Garza camp but it's true and the way we know it's true is what juries have told us there are several cases that even his administration has brought brought taken to trial and at the end of it there is a a prison sentence waiting for the defendant if they're convicted that is not necessarily wrong now how we go about that and the the meth

ods we pursue to get there maybe that's something we can talk about and doing it better and smarter but I don't think giving up on the idea that the community can speak into a case and tell us what it's worth is of little value and that's that's what I see coming out of his campaign and his office so let's talk about what it would look like the how the DA's office will look if you are elected day one what are you doing well one thing I want to do is reestablish the intake unit and I've said this

a lot on the trail but there are thousands of cases at last count close to 6,700 cases that are unindicted and just sitting there waiting for someone to do something with it what I know as the intake division as it was established before gave the prosecutor's office a chance to triage cases make them better take input back to the investigating agencies and say we need this this and this before we move forward with the case that's not happening now because he's established a vertical model that

really increases the case loads on the prosecutors to an insurmountable level uh whereas I might have had 150 to 200 cases that I was responsible for now under the Garza Administration I'm looking at 350 to 400 and that is an impossible case load to manage because each one of those represents a specific victim a specific defendant and circumstances that you have to go in and investigate and if I am not able to get to these cases and I'm focusing on my trial work somebody is getting lost in the m

ix that somebody is a victim or a survivor of abuse now what I also know is that backlog and the concentration that's missing from those cases results in harm and the way we know that is there are specific cases where deadlines have been missed um this gets a little bit in the weeds but there are timelines that go into effect as soon as somebody gets arrested so day one you a person gets arrested the DA has 90 days to get that case before grand jury and indicted or not indicted and during that t

ime if the da misses it the person then becomes entitled to a lower Bond uh when that happens even in a violent case there's nothing a judge or the da can do about it that bond gets granted that person gets out and in the case of Hilario Adrien who has been reported on that resulted in the murder of a Travis County Citizen and that's the kind of thing that doesn't have to happen so what I'm seeing there is the combination of bad policy and ineptitude from the top down there are certain types of

crimes that da Garza has committed to not pursuing are there crimes that you would make that same commitment to not pursuing what do you mean I mean when we're talking about uh abortion cases in Texas when we're talking about some of the things related to marijuana yeah I don't I don't see Travis County Citizens or even myself being concerned about that that's not something that's going to be pursued in Travis County okay um you know are there any final thoughts you would like to give our viewer

s about why they should elect you this March what we're seeing and feeling in Travis County is very real uh the results speak for themselves the victim story speak for themselves and the feeling that we get when we go downtown for example is a real feeling that we have to pay attention to and I'm tapped into all of that not only have I heard it but I feel it myself living here um I'm raising my family here and I want it to be a safe Community not just for me but for everyone else because I'm bou

ght in here and what I know is that uh the Democratic nominee is going to be whoever is the guy in November that's true um what I'm bringing to the table is the EXP experience the relationships the expertise and a proven track record of actually having prosecuted felonies in Travis County and I'm also I want people to walk away knowing this that it's okay to be a Democrat and be in a moderate position that's not there's nothing wrong with that there are several people who live in this community

who believe in those principles and still want to feel safe and they want a Law and Order da and that's just not what we bargain for in 2020 we may have elected him then but what we got as a result is not not what we thought we were going to get as you just heard Sistine says he will bring a more balanced Common Sense approach to the DA's office while Jose Garza says this race is a choice between going back to the old way of doing things or progressing forward with a new approach to Justice let'

s sit down with Jose Gara thank you so much for taking some time out to talk with us today it's great to be with you you know you were elected in 2020 right on the heels of a Nation movement where we were hearing you know cries against racial Injustice and cries for more police accountability you campaigned with the promise that you were going to come in and you were going to do things differently and you were going to address those things how have you kept that campaign promise well we absolute

ly have um I'm really proud of our record over the last three years um working to fix our broken criminal justice system and improve the safety of our community um over the last three years we have have put in place new strategies to prevent gun violence before it happens um we have held our promise to stand by survivors of sexual assault and we have increased the number of sexual assault convictions from the last Administration to ours um we've held people accountable who commit acts of violenc

e in our community but at the same time we've begun to reduce our Reliance on incarceration um and begin to address the root causes of crime in our community and as a result of that work this is one of the safest communities in the country um we have a lower rate of violent crime than liberal bastions like Bowmont and lck and Amarillo um we have the lowest violent crime rate of any major city in the state of Texas and since I took office in 2021 homicides are down 20% violent crime overall is do

wn 10% property crime is down um so we know that the strategies um that we are using work um we know that following the data and the evidence that working with our community um is effective at um keeping our community safe yeah you know you also said back in 2020 that you would seek accountability for the officers for some of their actions during those May 2020 social justice protest and we saw indictments handed down on nearly two dozen officers but then charges dropped on almost all of them wh

at do you say to people who feel like that promise was broken yeah so in um at the end of last year um the District Attorney's office um received a brand new investigation from the Austin Police Department and for the first time um at the end of 2023 the Austin Police Department concluded that senior members of the Austin Police Department knew prior to the pro protest that the weapons used during the protest were capable of and had caused Serious injury um the Austin Police Department did not i

nitiate this investigation and did not reach this conclusion until the statute of limitations had run for the leadership team and for the Department itself um at the end of the day the job of the District Attorney's office is to seek just outcomes um it would be unjust to hold line officers criminally accountable when their leadership um when the agency that may have uh contributed to these serious injuries is shielded from Criminal liability because of their own um delay in investigating the fa

cts and circumstances of what happened in the summer of 2020 that's why um the mayor joined me in a request to the Department of Justice um seeking a pattern and practice investigation into the Austin Police Department so that we can finally get to the bottom um of what happened that summer um and we should um we should um remember what happened that summer um during May of 2020 Austin Police Department officers um fired deadly weapons into crowds of unarmed people almost 700 times and caused se

rious injuries um to far too many innocent bystandard people who were standing people who were holding signs um people who were chanting um were um shot and seriously injured um there are four criminal cases that are moving forward um where we will be trying those cases later this year um and we continue to review the actions of the Austin Police Department um and this new report to determine what um legal repercussions there may be um for this action do you believe the timing of the report was

intentional um we have very serious concerns about the timing and substance of the report I have communicated those concerns to senior leadership in the city of Austin um and I have communicated those concerns to the Department of Justice and I am currently um we are currently reviewing the facts and circumstances surrounding the production of this report you know how does that impact your ability to then work with the Department in order to prosecute cases yeah um I'm really proud of the way we

work with law enforcement every day in this community you know I as I said over the last three years we've put in place new strategies um to address the root causes of crime in our community um we have a brand new initiative that began in July of last year that um addresses the root causes of domestic violence in the home and ends the arrest of children in our community um this program is early in its existence but we're already seeing exciting success this program exists and works because of a

partnership we have with the Austin Police Department the Travis County Sheriff's Office um the fluger police department and the mayor Police Department we've worked closely with the Austin Police Department to develop strategies to prevent gun violence before it happens in our community um we've worked closely with the Austin Police Department to increase the number of sexual assault convictions and to build a criminal justice system where survivors are believed and treated with dignity and re

spect we work with um our partners in law enforcement every day outside of the spotlight on individual cases winning Justice for victims of crime um I am incredibly proud of our relationship with law enforcement and I think we can see the results of that collaborative work you talked to us about some of the pro just now you're speaking about some of the programs that that were put in place are there other changes that you've made within that office over these past three years that you believe ar

e working really well in the DA's office things that you think should be continuing absolutely um let me start with that program because I think it is revolutionary um it is called the the Travis County transformation project it was named by Our Community Partners who are serving families who are experiencing violence in the home um we know that over the last 10 years um the number one criminal offense that juveniles face in our community the number one reason that kids get arrested is for viole

nce between the child and their parent what has happened for 60 years in this town is that when that happens the kid goes to jail um because of this work because of this partnership when law enforcement arrives at a home um a parent now has a choice their child can be arrested and go to jail or their child can go to a respit center where they can continue to go to school where they can receive services and counseling but if the parents choose that path the entire family has to enter into a 10-we

ek um intensive restorative justice and counseling program so that we can begin to address the root CA causes of violence in the home um this work matters for so many reasons um one because we have an opportunity to change the trajectory of the lives of kids in our neighborhood kids in our community but we also know what the consequences are of letting violence go unchecked when it happens in the home over the same period of time over the same 10 years we know that a plurality of all homicides a

rise out of a domestic violence context um of course we have to hold people accountable who commit acts of domestic violence um but if we are serious about our long-term Public Safety we have to do more to address the root causes of violence in the home and that's what we are doing um I just mentioned that over the last three years we've put in place new strategies to prevent gun violence before it happens um and there's some really promising data um that getting um victims of gun violence the h

elp that they need um prevents gun violence over the long term we know that if you are a victim of gun violence once the likelihood that you will be a victim of gun violence in the future goes up exponentially we also know that victims of gun violence today um are too often perpetrators of gun violence tomorrow and so meeting the needs of victims of gun violence is not just the right thing to do but it is in the long-term interest of our public Public Safety so we partnered with um Travis County

Commissioners Court to start a um hospital-based violence Intervention Program um that works with the hospital system to meet the needs of victims of gun violence we have completely changed um our policies in the office and are working with APD to change their policies um to make sure we're meeting the needs of survivors of sexual assault we have doubled the size of our victim witness counselor team so that every Survivor of sexual assault has access to a trauma informed counselor to help them

navigate the system it helps them stay engaged in the criminal process um helps them um have confidence in the system and Report their crimes so that we can hold people who commit acts of sexual violence accountable and we're already seeing the results um we have nearly doubled the amount of sexual assault convictions from my Administration to the last Administration um we have begun the work of treating substance use disorder like the Public Health crisis that it is um the fact of the matter is

that the War on Drugs has failed um the data is really clear that every day a person um struggling with substance use disorder stays in jail the likelihood that they will commit a new crime goes up and so we have invested time and resources in partnership with Travis County Commission Court um into harm reduction strategies into access to services for people struggling with substance use disorder there is so much work um that has just begun that is every day improving the safety of our communit

y and making our Criminal Justice System uh more just and fair for everyone um we're just getting started and I'm really excited about the work that lies ahead you know your primary opponent Jeremy Celestine points out what he sees as failure within your office uh High turnover between prosecutors a larger workload for all of the prosecutors in the office Miss deadlines on some cases and and in some cases a failure to prosecute cases what is your response to that you know um these issues are so

much um bigger and deeper um than my republican-backed opponents um right-wing talking points um so I want to talk about these issues if we can um with the serious buiness that they deserve um I am really proud of my record leading our district attorney's office leading our Criminal Justice System um out of the deadliest pandemic that our nation has seen in a century um just as a reminder criminal district courts were closed in Travis County from March of 20120 to March of 2022 that means for al

most the first two years of my Administration there were no jury trials happening because of uh the pandemic we also know that the pandemic um has resulted in significant and serious changes to our labor market um there are labor shortages in almost every sector of the economy we have teacher shortages nursing shortages uh shortages in retail shortages in law enforcement prosecutors offices have been no different it's why I know you cover the legislature you may be aware um that just this past s

ession the legislature increased pay for prosecutors so that they could compete with private private sector jobs but here is the reality um against that backdrop the Travis County District Attorney's office has been a uh bright light and an example about how to recruit and retain um Quality prosecutors so um just some context if you look across the country um because this is a national phenomenon what you will see um is significant shortages in major offices around the country the Harris County

DA's office has a 15% vacancy rate which by the way is relatively low compared to other major cities across the country there are uh prosecutor offices that have 20% vacancy rates as you and I sit here now the Travis County District Attorney's office office has one opening um and that is because um for two reasons one this is one of the safest communities in the country and people love to come to Austin and they love to work here um but it's also because we are building a district attorney's off

ice that prosecutors are proud to work in and want to work in we're recruiting prosecutors from all over the state and it's why our vacancy rates are so much lower um than prosecutor offices across the country let me just say one one other thing about this um the overwhelming majority of our team um our seasoned experienced prosecutors over 80% of our prosecutors have 5 years of experience or more but in order to build the kind of Criminal Justice System that lives up to the aspirations of this

community um we have very purposefully recruited young attorneys who reflect the lived experiences of this community we have recruited um prosecutors of color we have prosecuted wh we have uh recruited women um and we have a um pipeline that we have built to recruit young attorneys into our office and to help them grow and develop and so I am incredibly proud um of the way um of our vacancy rate compared to to vacancy rates across the state um I am proud um of the experienced team of prosecutors

that we have and I'm incredibly proud of the young crop of diverse prosecutors that we have recruited over the last three years and I'm and I'm excited about what their growth means for the long-term health of our Criminal Justice System just for the record you said March 2016 you mean March 2022 when you ever start Prosecuting yes I'm so sorry okay I just wanted to make sure we had it had it very clear just just to be clear about that um criminal courts closed in March of 2020 and reopened in

approximately March of 2020 to you know I think it's fair to say that you and Mr sine have very different ideas of how you achieve Public Safety through criminal justice in our community he describes his approach as being quote more balanced more pragmatic and common sense you know he has said I think bad guys do need to go to jail what is your approach um well first of all I don't know what any of that means um um my opponent has not proposed a single new idea um has not proposed any detailed p

lan of what he would do um as I hear my opponent talk what we hear is more of the same um the same tired old solutions that we have been hearing in this country for almost 200 years which is that if we want Public Safety um what we have to do is lock up as many people as we can who by the way happen to be predominantly workingclass people and people of color um and it's not surprising to hear that old old tough on crime approach coming from my opponent U because we know how and why he is in this

race we know that the majority of his support comes from Deep pocketed right-wing donors um who are upset at the progress that we have made um here is one place where um my opponent and I may agree which is that of course we believe that people who cause harm in our community should be held accountable um and that people who commit acts of violence should be in jail and every single day um the dedicated prosecutors at the Travis County District Attorney's office work to hold people accountable

who commit acts of violence um but what we know um and what we see every day what we know from our lived experiences and what the data and evidence supports is that what Public Safety is is access to good jobs what Public Safety is is access to good schools to send our children it is access to health care and mental health care what Public Safety is is stability um when communities are stable they are safe and it is why Austin is one of the safest communities in the country because our Democrat

um elected leadership has time and time again invested in stability um over um over fear-mongering um and and the results speak for themselves our city Council and our commissioners Court have made record Investments um in um housing um for and in affordable housing they've made record Investments um in um healthc care and mental health care they have made record Investments um in pay for teachers and at the District Attorney's office we have also taken approaches that support the stability of t

his community um I want to give you one example um we had a young man enter our criminal justice system and he was charged with possession of cocaine he was a single father um who had never had a meaningful opportunity for a career in his life um he was hustling to support his family um and when he came to our office um we gave him the choice to enter into a program sponsored sponsored by the Carpenters um he took that opportunity and the Carpenters told us he was their best student and so inste

ad of leaving our criminal justice system as a convicted felon he left our criminal justice system as a carpenter's Apprentice with his first opportunity to have a meaningful career and again that's not just the right thing to do it is the smart thing to do for our long-term Public Safety so of course we hold people accountable um who commit acts of violence as I just said um you know we've tried more homicide cases and one more of them um than the last Administration um we are holding people ac

countable who commit acts of violence we've increased the number of sexual assault convictions from the last Administration to ours but we know that the challenges that face our community that threaten our Public Safety are not challenges that we can arrest and prosecute our way out of if we are serious about our long-term Public Safety we have to pursue strategies that strengthen than the stability of our community and that's what we do you know I think a lot of Travis County voters and and rea

lly residents in our area would have like to be able to see a debate between you and your opponent uh we extended the invitation for you to participate in a debate that was declined you also didn't participate in a candidate Forum by the downtown Austin Alliance that happened earlier this week why um let me just say a few things about that um I have had the opportunity to debate my Republican backed opponent I think five times over the last um several months um and I'm really proud to share with

you that every time we have debated um we have won the endorsement of the organization um in front of whom we were debating in fact there is footage um on on uh the internet right now of some of those debates um we have certainly debated um the community has had opportunities to see us debate they've had opportunities to hear our message um um but um from our perspective um the time for talking is over and the time for voting is now and that is how we are spending our time um communicating dire

ctly with voters um let me also just mention that um you know as we sit here now um I'm happy to sit with you um I have taken time out of running the District Attorney's office um to come be with you um as you know we are in the middle of a trial against the deputies who killed Javier Ambler um we are in the middle of multiple serious criminal cases and that is where my focus is um on doing the work of the District Attorney's office and talking directly with voters um we've been uh grateful for

the opportunities um to to debate our Republican backed opponent we have done that um and we've been successful in every one of them for you what's on the line this election um you know what is on the line is the the long long-term um safety and vitality of this community um our community um came out and spoke up in record numbers in 2020 um and demanded changes to their Criminal Justice System the changes that they sought in 2020 are happening all around us and we can see the results we can see

the progress since I took office in 2021 homicides are down 20% violent crime is down 10% property crime is down um and at the same time um our Criminal Justice System um is treating people more fairly and is itself more just so really this is a question of whether um we're going to keep this progress going or whether we're going to go back um you know to the to the old days of of um Richard Nixon's tough on crime campaigns um that's what we're seeing play out over the airwaves that's what we'r

e hearing from our opponent um this path keeps our community safe um and we're excited to keep making this progress um I will actually can I add just one thing yeah um you know I I think this is um just an important point to make um you know the the statute the law that our legislature enacted that defines what the job of the prosecutor is said says explicitly that the job of the prosecutor is not to seek convictions but it is to see that Justice is done in our democracy and in our system of gov

ernment it is our community who gets to decide what Justice is and what Justice Means um they get to make that decision by electing their district attorney their County attorney their judges their Sheriff their City Council Members um who hire their police chief and they get to make those decisions by serving on juries and grand juries um over the last 3 years time and time again we have stood up for the values of this community and for what Justice Means for our community um we stood up to Greg

Abbott when he sought to criminalize people who seek abortions in this community we stood up to um Ken Paxton when he sought to remove transgendered children from their parents in this community um the job of the district attorney the job of the prosecutor is to reflect the values of this community and I am proud of the way that we have done that over the last three years you can learn more about the candidates plus get information on the other races on the ballot when and where to vote with th

e K voter guide just head to k.com vote Texas remember election day is Tuesday March 5th