Hays County district attorney targeted under “rogue” prosecutors law

The Republican-led Texas Legislature handed a brand new law that went into impact this month that permits prosecutors to be got rid of from administrative center in the event that they make a selection to not cross after positive crimes. The purpose: to rein in “rogue” district legal professionals in Texas’ massive, left-leaning counties.

But in what may well be the primary petition under House Bill 17, the Democratic district attorney in Hays County is being targeted by means of a member of his personal birthday celebration.

Hays County District Clerk Avrey Anderson and District Attorney Kelly Higgins — two newbies to political administrative center — first butted heads at the heels of being sworn into their respective places of work in January.

Anderson filed a petition to take away Higgins from administrative center previous this month. Using the brand new provision HB 17 created, Anderson alleges Higgins has refused to prosecute low-level drug offenses. The allegations are in accordance with promises Higgins made during his campaign in 2022 not to prosecute minor marijuana-related offenses, in addition to violations of the state’s strict abortion ban.

Higgins is a long way from the primary Texas prosecutor to make such vows. Law enforcement and district legal professionals around the state — specifically in additional populous city spaces — have subsidized clear of prosecuting positive misdemeanors, particularly ownership of small quantities of marijuana. They say such instances incessantly clog up the prison justice gadget and disproportionately entangle other people of colour.

Anderson says he helps the decriminalization of hashish and misdemeanor drug ownership, however he sees HB 17 so as to take away Higgins from administrative center after months of interpersonal struggle.

But the instigator of the Hays County petition, Anderson, noticed it as a method to take away an reliable who he aligns with on coverage however discovered tough to paintings with.

Anderson, 20, is without doubt one of the youngest elected officers within the state. He mentioned Higgins threatened to record to carry him in contempt for now not issuing subpoenas at a sooner charge, spoke sick of Democratic judges and made disparaging feedback about his age. Anderson likened the district attorney to former president Donald Trump.

“It wasn’t a political statement,” Anderson mentioned, when requested why he filed the petition to take away Higgins. “I do think that removing him was important to our party … I don’t think we need a bully in our party because our party, its whole purpose is to stand up to bullies.”

Higgins declined to touch upon pending litigation however mentioned his administrative center does now not have any insurance policies in regards to the non-prosecution of any form of crime.

In his written reaction to the petition, Higgins mentioned Anderson exhibited “intransigence at earnest attempts to assist him in stabilizing his office” and “incompetence and unwillingness to improve.” The district clerk was once noticed taking selfies within the court docket and twirling in a district pass judgement on’s chair, he mentioned.

The Hays County district clerk has requested the courtroom for a jury trial and to droop Higgins right through complaints. The result of the case in opposition to Higgins will stand as a take a look at for the sorts of proof it is going to take to take away a prosecutor from administrative center under the brand new law, professionals say. It additionally raises questions on if and the way district attorney campaigns will trade in line with the brand new regulation.

Allegations in accordance with marketing campaign guarantees

Higgins ran on a marketing campaign to make use of the county’s restricted sources to prosecute violent crime. He mentioned he would now not prosecute citizens for his or her non-public selections.

“We cannot continue to spend taxpayer funds to pursue every offense without regard for its seriousness and danger to the community,” Higgins mentioned as a part of his marketing campaign platform.

Democrats have a narrow majority in Hays County — 54.4% of electorate forged a poll for Biden within the 2020 presidential election. In 2022, Higgins beat a Republican for his seat by means of greater than 6 proportion issues.

Higgins deliberate to redirect sources clear of prosecuting substance use and towards group teams offering remedy choices, in keeping with his marketing campaign web page, which was once nonetheless up on the time the petition was once filed.

The petition suggests Higgins made excellent on that promise. Anderson claims an “excessive” quantity of drug ownership instances — together with cocaine and methamphetamines — were declined “for random and nonspecific reasons” since Higgins took administrative center.

In his preliminary petition, the district clerk additionally alleged Higgins was once now not prosecuting clinical malpractice claims associated with abortion procedures and well being take care of trans formative years — guarantees Higgins additionally made in his marketing campaign. But Anderson dropped the ones fees as a result of he mentioned they cross in opposition to the passion of his constituents.

The courtroom should cope with whether or not a marketing campaign platform that has now not been disavowed will also be interpreted as a coverage, mentioned Roger P. Abshire, a political scientist at Texas State University in Hays County.

It may also have to deal with whether or not Higgins’ marketing campaign statements, made prior to the law went into impact on Sept. 1, can be utilized on this case. Higgins’ protection argues that most effective statements made after Sept. 1 are matter to the law.

If Higgins is got rid of, Abshire mentioned it should trade how prosecutors run their campaigns.

“It will be curious to see going forward now if this has an effect, whether or not any of those platforms change,” Abshire mentioned. “There may be coded language that comes up in which these kinds of district attorneys sneak that message in without blindly saying it.”

Removal makes an attempt

The try to take away Higgins comes within the background of state impeachment complaints in opposition to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, which led to an acquittal final week, but additionally exacerbated a widening rift throughout the Texas GOP.

“What we’re seeing is, more broadly speaking, the politicization of removal processes,” mentioned James Riddlesperger, a political scientist at Texas Christian University.

Removing elected officers from administrative center — whether or not via criminal channels or impeachment — was once as soon as thought to be a unprecedented, last-resort procedure. But it’s grow to be a long way much less uncommon lately: Trump was once impeached two times, and the U.S. House is these days making an allowance for impeaching President Joe Biden. And on the similar time Paxton’s trial was once going down within the state Senate this month, the Texas A&M pupil frame president additionally confronted impeachment for allegations of misusing his administrative center.

The Hays County district clerk has been met with backlash by means of his personal birthday celebration for beginning the removing procedure with HB 17. John Hatch, the chair of the Hays County Democratic Party, known as Anderson a “foot soldier” for the Republican Party’s time table.

“If it’s about personal interactions, issues that he’s had with Mr. Higgins, but he’s going to use a law that violates all of his own tenets — that doesn’t make much sense to me,” Hatch mentioned. “I have a problem with using taxpayer dollars to settle personal disputes.”

Former U.S. House Speaker Sam Rayburn — a well-known Texas statesman — as soon as endorsed new congressmen: “Learn to disagree without being disagreeable.” Former President Gerald Ford, who was once in that crowd of newcomers, recounted it as one of the crucial best possible items of recommendation greater than 50 years later.

But on this technology of polarization, Riddlesperger means that recommend may now not stick anymore.

“There’s always been name-calling in politics,” Riddlesperger mentioned. “But the nastiness and the will to engage in character assassination … it is a difference in kind.”

Disclosure: Texas Christian University has been a monetary supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news group this is funded partly by means of donations from contributors, foundations and company sponsors. Financial supporters play no position within the Tribune’s journalism. Find a whole checklist of them right here.