Candidates for McLennan County district attorney flexed their conservative muscles Thursday while trading jabs about District Attorney Barry Johnson’s record in office and Josh Tetens’ work as a criminal defense attorney.
Johnson, who is completing his first, four-year term in office, and Tetens, his challenger in the March 1 Republican primary, squared off during a Republican Club lunch that also featured brief comments from McLennan County Court-at-Law No. 3 Judge Ryan Luna and his Republican primary challenger Kristi DeCluitt, a prosecutor in Johnson’s office.
The winner in the DA’s race will face Waco attorney Aubrey Robertson in the November general election.
Johnson started his remarks by touting the accomplishments of his office. However, his tone turned quickly as he attacked Tetens’ representation of criminal defendants. Tetens countered by saying Johnson spent 32 years practicing law in a civil practice and still has not tried a single criminal case in front of a jury.
Johnson
Johnson told the crowd he has 30 lawyers and 34 staff members, including seven investigators, working in his office, and said he has saved taxpayers $924,000 in unspent budgeted funds in the three years he has been in office.
“All of them do great work and we are so proud of our accomplishments, and we, in my opinion, have worked hard to get here and we now have the best district attorney’s office in the state of Texas, and we are going to continue to get better every week,” Johnson said.
Tetens has won endorsements from the Sheriff’s Law Enforcement Association of McLennan County, the Waco Police Association and the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas. He said Johnson has let law enforcement down as the chief law enforcement officer of the county.
“That is in your title, and unfortunately, that is not what has been happening,” Tetens said.
Tetens
He said local crime statistics indicate murder has spiked in the last three years.
Waco saw a longtime low of four homicides in 2018, then 10 in 2019, 17 in 2020, and 16 last year, according to Waco Police statistics. Waco Police officials addressing the frequency of murders over the years have consistently said violent homicides generally occur because of factors beyond the control of law enforcement. Waco’s recent increase in homicides also mirrored similar spikes nationwide, largely tied to the pandemic, officials have said.
“We currently have 47 different individuals charged with murder here in McLennan County,” Tetens said. “That is absolutely and completely unacceptable. That’s murder on the high end. Just as important, on the other end, you have misdemeanor offenses. Working with law enforcement, making sure that people are held accountable is your job as district attorney.
“That would be my entire focus: accountability and communicating with law enforcement. The criminal justice system is a chain. You’ve got law enforcement on one end, you’ve got judges on the other and the district attorney in the middle. Right now that chain is broken. We need to repair that chain. I’m the individual who is able to do that, with the help of law enforcement and the courts. Together we will hold people accountable.”
Johnson called it “disingenuous” that Tetens or any DA candidate would say they will lower the crime rate. That is law enforcement’s job, Johnson said.
“It is almost a joke for somebody who has worked their entire life since they got out of law school to say that we have not been doing what we need to do as district attorney when all he has been trying to do is let violent offenders, wife beaters and other dangerous people back on the streets. You can’t walk into the district attorney’s office and flip a switch and say, ‘I’m going to be a different person. I’m going to be tough on crime.’ The fact of the matter is, we all know, that there is an element of the sheriff’s department that would really like to have him in there so he can be their rubber stamp.”
Tetens countered that “new leadership” is needed in the DA’s office.
“It is not a joke to think that the district attorney’s office can’t do something about crime rates,” Tetens said. “They absolutely can do something about crime rates through deterrence, punishment and rehabilitation. All of those work hand-in-hand, and that is part of justice in our community.”
Johnson said he finds it “incredible” that anyone would vote for Tetens.
“Politicians can say anything,” Johnson said. “He says I am soft on crime. My office indicts about 50 felons a week. We file right at 100 misdemeanors a week. We put dozens of people in jail weekly that need to go there so that justice is done. We are anything but soft on crime, and there are about 150 defense lawyers in here that will tell you, ‘Oh, hell no, he is not soft on crime. In fact, he is not as reasonable as he said he was going to be.’ And then there are law enforcement officials. We have 30 law enforcement agencies in this county that will tell you, ‘Yeah, he is soft on crime.’”
Johnson charged that Tetens has spent the past 15 years “using his best efforts to put child molesters, wife beaters, perverts and violent criminals back on the streets of McLennan County, where they can continue to prey on you and your family.”
“Luckily, for our citizens, he is not too good at what he does and his efforts usually lead to failure and a jail cell for his clients,” Johnson said.
Tetens touted his 15 years’ experience in criminal law and said Johnson had no experience at all in criminal matters when he became DA. He said he finds it “more concerning to me than anything else” that Johnson thinks it’s a joke for criminal defendants to be represented as the Constitution requires.
Tetens said he defended a man charged with stabbing another man in a fight in the county’s first trial back after the long pandemic hiatus. Tetens’ client, who had spent 800 days in jail waiting for his day in court, was acquitted.
“Mr. Johnson has referenced that my practice has solely been to put sex offenders and those who assault others out on the streets,” Tetens said. “Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s in that 15 years that I have actually been watching, protecting, studying, learning and arguing zealously to defend our United States Constitution, and I will continue to do that as our district attorney. But unlike Mr. Johnson, my 15 years of legal experience, my law school concentration, was specifically in criminal law. Now, surprisingly, to this date, to my knowledge, Mr. Johnson has never tried a criminal case in a courtroom in front of a jury.”
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Gloves come off in race for McLennan County district attorney - Waco Tribune-Herald
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