By Steve Pomper
Whenever I see the headline, “Soros-funded, fill in the blank DA…,” the hairs on the back of my neck rise. That cop-hater has done more damage to the police and public safety than any other private citizen (yes, unfortunately, he is an American citizen) in the U.S.
This time, the headline that caught my eye involved a non-prosecuting DA I’ve covered before. Wait. I should amend that: non-prosecuting of criminals; he loves to prosecute cops. The FOX News headline read: “Soros-funded Texas DA accused of evading court order, grand jury to charge police officer.”
The story features Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza, infamous for his soft-on-crime, hard-on-cops inclination.
Travis County DA, Jose Garza
FOX’s Louis Casiano wrote, “A Texas court has ordered Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza to record all grand jury proceedings related to investigations into use-of-force by law enforcement, said attorneys for a police officer charged in connection with allegedly assaulting a man.”
The motion filed by Doug O’Connell and Ken Ervin specifically cites the ongoing grand jury investigation involving Austin Police Department Officer Alejandro Gaitan.
“We believe the extraordinary number of police officer indictments obtained by Mr. Garza since 2021 has resulted from his office carefully selecting what evidence to show to grand juries, and more importantly what evidence to withhold,” O’Connell and Ervin said in a news release.
“They said the court order’s intent is to ‘prevent Mr. Garza from abusing our grand jury system to indict police officers.’”
Does this surprise anyone? According to the NPA’s book The Obama Gang, Soros donated “$650,000 to fund Jose Garza in his Travis County (Austin, Texas) re-election bid.”
The NPA also covered Garza when he was rebuffed, as a jury acquitted former Austin Police Officer Nathaniel Stallings. Stalling’s attorney, Terry Keel, a former Travis County sheriff and assistant DA, pulled no punches when discussing Garza.
According to NPA, Keel said, “Austin has descended into a dysfunctional prosecution-local police relationship with resultant widespread crime similar to other U. S. cities with Soros-financed, anti-police prosecutors. The last line of defense against the unfair targeting of police for criminal prosecution is the jury trial, which really makes that the last stand against tyranny.”
O’Connell and Ervin said, “If the grand jury was misled, we would finally have proof” that Garza was misusing the grand jury to target cops. In this case, the alleged targeted officer is Alejandro Gaitan whom Garza has charged with “aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, assault with bodily injury, and official oppression….”
Gaitan’s attorneys said Garza “sidestepped the court mandate, as well as the grand jury, and formally charged Officer Gaitan with multiple offenses without an indictment and without grand jury approval.”
They added, “Mr. Garza’s actions have done nothing to dispel our belief that he intends to criminally charge police officers at any cost.”
The executive director of the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas (CLEAT), Charley Wilkison, said Garza, the “George Soros funded District Attorney is as dangerous as they come.”
Garza is bringing charges against so many police officers a judge ordered the DA to “record his presentation to the grand jury in the case against an Austin Police Officer and CLEAT member.”
Wilkison alleges Garza immediately sidestepped the judge’s order by charging the officer using a procedure called an “information.” He said Garza’s “continued abuse of official capacity and dereliction of duty is criminal and must be dealt with.”
About a year ago, Garza obtained indictments against more than 20 APD police officers for actions taken during the violent 2020 riots.
However, despite going after cops so aggressively, Garza charged “a fatal DUI crash” suspect with a misdemeanor. The suspect was sentenced to only 10 days in jail.
O’Connell and Ervin also represented another accused Austin police officer, Nicholas Gebhart, in case that was recently dismissed.
FOX wrapped up the story, writing, “According to data compiled by the Capital Research Center, Garza is one of dozens of district attorneys around the country to have been substantially backed by leftwing billionaire George Soros, via direct contributions and supporting ads from activist groups such as the Texas Justice and Public Safety PAC.”
This article originally appeared at the National Police Association.
