Challengers to Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore in this year’s Democratic primary differ with her on felony drug cases, saying prosecutors should devote their attentions elsewhere.
But Moore defends the need to prosecute the most serious drug cases, saying violence connected to narcotics trafficking is a serious problem in the county.
Two experienced lawyers are challenging Moore in the Democratic primary, José P. Garza, a former federal public defender and immigrant rights activist, and Erin Martinson, a specialist in representing battered women in domestic abuse cases.
The winner of the election will head the District Attorney’s Office, responsible for prosecuting the most serious crimes in Austin, including felony charges like drug dealing. The office doesn’t handle misdemeanors, which are prosecuted in the county courts.
Speaking at a candidate forum televised by CBS, Moore’s challenger Garza said, “Every year in Travis County, our District Attorney’s office brings more drug possession cases than any other kind of offense, and that has a direct relationship to our ability to focus on the most violent crimes.”
“Just to give you an example, in 2018, the District Attorney’s Office prosecuted approximately 80 sexual assault cases out of close to 800 cases reported by the Austin Police Department. That’s less than 10%. Well, in the exact same year, the District Attorney’s Office prosecuted over 2,700 drug cases. And we know that one of the results of our continued focus on low-level drug offenses is to have a disproportionate impact on communities of color and working people.”
Moore responded to this criticism saying, “We prosecute drug cases that are filed, but remember, we handle felonies. I’ve got to get this across: It happens every day, somebody thinks we handle low-level marijuana cases. We do not. We are typically handling much more serious cases. And they involve drugs like methamphetamine, cocaine, crack, heroin — we have a big heroin problem.”
Increase in Narcotics-Related Violence
“So we have shifted resources away from the lower-level drug cases. But we are also focusing on cases where there’s possession with intent to deliver, or there’s some sort of violence associated with it. And what is happening in this county right now is an increase in violence related to narcotics trafficking. And we know we have to deal with that,” Moore said.
Garza belittled this concern, saying, “It’s really time to end the fear-mongering around substance use. The data is overwhelmingly clear that for every day a person stays in custody who is struggling with substance use the likelihood that they will commit another crime goes up, continuing to spend our resources on these kinds of offenses makes us less safe.”
“Sitting in jail when you’re struggling with substance use doesn’t help you fight addiction. That’s not how addiction works. And it also doesn’t make our community more safe, it actively makes our community less safe. It is time to end the prosecution of low-level drug offenses here in Travis County.”
Martinson Stresses Treatment Programs
Moore’s other opponent Erin Martinson said the focus should be on substance abuse programs and what she calls “deflection” prior to arrest.
“We all know somebody who has struggled with addiction. It’s a lifelong process. When I’m elected, I will deflect those cases prior to arrest, I will ensure that the people who are struggling get the resources that they need. I will partner with community providers and make sure that we don’t have a waitlist, that we have enough beds for everybody who wants to avail themselves of treatment,” she said.
“It is clear that these cases don’t need to be clogging up our criminal justice system.”
For her part, Moore defended her record, saying she has already worked to connect offenders to treatment programs and to avoid marijuana prosecutions. “That is why I started our state jail impact court,” she said. “95% of the convictions in that court, which are only half of the cases that get referred to it, are reduced to misdemeanors. We have reduced the time to disposition and we have reduced the time that they spend sitting in jail.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott recently sent Moore a letter asking her to continue prosecuting marijuana cases in the district, but Moore says the recent legalization of hemp makes it difficult to know whether a substance is hemp or marijuana.
“We’ve dismissed every one of them (marijuana cases) ever since the law went into effect,” she said.
Martinson emphasized that it’s time to stop putting people in jail for possessing marijuana: “I think it’s clear that our community isn’t interested in prosecuting marijuana cases… It’s very, very clear that Travis County is ready to end the prosecution of marijuana cases.”
