Austin, Texas is one of the major U.S. cities that has been afflicted by rising crime and a soft-on-crime district attorney.
Austin Police Retired Officer’s Association president Dennis Farris joined “Fox & Friends First” Thursday to discuss a George Soros-backed district attorney charging a defendant with a misdemeanor in a fatal DUI crash, leading to a 10-day jail sentence.
“This is what this D.A. does. He truly believes that people should get the minimum amount of time in jail for any crime they commit. As long as he thinks it’s keeping Austin and Travis County safe, which the statistics are showing, that’s not happening,” Farris told Carley Shimkus.
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Leo Anthony Carreto-Lopez, 19, was originally charged with intoxication manslaughter in May after driving drunk at a high speed before crashing into a tree in a fiery accident that killed his 19-year-old passenger, Teresa Gonzales.
Court records reviewed by Fox News Digital show that the office of Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza negotiated a plea deal with Lopez that sentenced him to a misdemeanor and 10 days in jail in a move that has drawn criticism from law enforcement.
Last year, a man who was arrested in 2019 for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon was charged with committing two murders while free on bond via Garza’s office without any bail conditions such as a GPS monitor or curfew. Garza’s office did not immediately respond to multiple requests for comment from Fox News Digital about the case.
Farris said “one of the worst things you can do as a police officer” is to notify a family that their loved one is gone.
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“I can’t imagine how this family feels having now been victimized twice … to find out that the person who did this basically got no punishment whatsoever,” said Farris.
Farris said Garza does not believe in harsh punishments for criminals, including passing on prosecution for drug crimes.
“He is low bail, or no bail at all for even some of the most violent, horrible crimes that you can imagine. Murder, rape. He’s pled out a first-degree murder case to 15 years in jail for first-degree murder. It’s just on and on,” said Farris, describing officers making arrests and seeing the suspects being set free before their reports are finished.
Farris warned these policies only make Austin and Travis County less safe.
“We’ve got a problem where our homicide rate for the third year in a row is going to be at record levels.”
Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report
