Victim Focused Prosecution

The current District Attorney focused his last campaign on improving prosecution of child abuse and domestic violence cases.  Unfortunately, he has done the opposite.  

Domestic Violence prosecution has been extremely ineffective:

62% of misdemeanor Domestic Violence Assaults (8,430 individual cases) have been resolved by dismissal under the current administration.

In that same time, the Domestic Violence Homicide rate in Bexar County has more than doubled.

From January of 2015 (when the current District Attorney took office) until November of 2017, 13,585 misdemeanor Family Violence Assault cases were resolved in Bexar County.  There are 4 trial court prosecutors assigned to handle these cases. That means that each prosecutor is handling over 1000 cases per year.  Each of these cases has a victim attached to it. These are the most difficult misdemeanors to prosecute. There is no way that these young prosecutors can effectively handle this volume of cases. Joe will make sure that there are enough prosecutors and victim advocates assigned to domestic violence cases to enable successful prosecution. Victims deserve better.

Sexual Assault prosecution has been equally ineffective:

A defendant charged with a committing a Sexual Offense against a Child under the current administration has a 54% chance of walking away without prison time.

• 28% (216 defendants as of Nov. 2017) have received a dismissal.
• 22% (167 defendants as of Nov. 2017) have received probation.
• 4% (30 defendants as of Nov. 2017) were found Not Guilty.

A defendant charged with Sexually Assault of an Adult under the current administration has a 62% chance of walking away without prison time.

• 27% (150 defendants as of Nov. 2017) have received a dismissal.
• 33% (184 defendants as of Nov. 2017) have received probation.
• 2% (10 defendants as of Nov. 2017) were found Not Guilty.

Why is the District Attorney’s office struggling to lock up sexual predators?  Recently, an SAPD SVU Detective was fired for mishandling over 130 sexual assault and family violence cases.  This is not an isolated incident and it is not a problem limited to the SAPD. Sexual Assault cases of all kinds are routinely under-investigated by law enforcement agencies across Bexar County. The current state of affairs increases the chance that victims will not receive justice and that innocent persons will be prosecuted. Neither situation is acceptable. The  District Attorney’s Office is the only agency that has the ability to set countywide standards for the investigation and prosecution of sexual assault cases. As District Attorney, Joe will make sure that these cases are properly investigated and get the attention and resources that they deserve.