DA’S Office gets $350K to hire 3 family violence prosecutors
The Bexar County District Attorney’s Office will get about $350,000 in county funds to hire three prosecutors and a paralegal focused on family violence cases, resolving a clash among top officials about how the money should be spent.
Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales in October sought a portion of about $1 million that was originally set aside to create another civil court — one focused exclusively on family violence issues.
Now, the pot of money is being split three ways.
“It will go a long way in helping us move family violence cases along and bring justice to the victims of family violence,” Gonzales said Tuesday, before the Bexar County Commissioners Court unanimously approved the reallocation.
The Collaborative Commission on Domestic Violence, the task force established two years ago to address an increase in family violence fatalities, will still receive $492,000 to improve how the county’s 14 civil courts respond to family violence. It hopes to fund the civil court by other means.
The remainder of the money, about $105,000, was set aside to hire a consultant to review how family violence cases are handled within the local criminal justice system.
“There are probably a lot of things we are doing right,” said Precinct 2 Commissioner Justin Rodriguez, who worked with the two groups to reach a compromise. “We want to know how we can improve it.”
Gonzales’ request last year initially pitted him against other members of the domestic violence commission, including District Judge Peter Sakai, District Judge Monique Diaz, Assistant City Manager Colleen Bridger and
Police Chief William Mcmanus.
At the time, Gonzales said the proposed civil court would be a waste of Bexar County money. He argued that it would be handling only protective orders, a legal tool that can require accused abusers to keep away from victims of domestic violence. He said those orders pertain to only a “small percentage” of all family violence cases.
Gonzales said the money would be better spent hiring prosecutors to handle a backlog of misdemeanor family violence cases that worsened after the COVID-19 pandemic largely halted in-person hearings and jury trials.
By various estimates, those pending cases have increased by 70 percent since the start of the pandemic in March.
The Collaborative Commission disagreed with Gonzales’ assessment. They said a new court would not be a waste of money as it would also enforce court orders about firearms, among other goals.
Rodriguez said Tuesday he was happy a compromise was reached.
“It was a team effort,” he said. “This is not the culmination of the work. This is the start of the work.”
Diaz, co-chair of the domestic violence ommission, also applauded the compromise.
“We do still fervently believe that at some point we need a full-time dedicated civil domestic violence court, and that it would be one of the best ways to deal with family violence,” Diaz said. “But we also recognize there are other needs.”
She said the funding approved Tuesday will help hire two social workers and a compliance officer to work with victims and alleged abusers on the civil side in divorce, child custody or protective order cases.
Diaz said the social workers, once hired, will be trained in the dynamics of domestic violence and versed in various community resources. They will be able to connect victims and alleged abusers to those resources.
The compliance officer will function like a probation officer does on the criminal side by ensuring that orders issued by judges are being followed.
“Those orders can address housing. They can provide counseling to the offender, their children, or the victim. They can even address the care of pets,” she said. “But right now, we lack the infrastructure to have someone follow up on these orders.”
Diaz said some members of the domestic violence commission are in the initial stages of forming a nonprofit that could help raise more money in the public and private sector for such initiatives.
She asked for Bexar County’s support in applying for public grants, like those offered under the Violence Against Women Act, that could help fund a civil court similar to the one initially proposed. Diaz said the setup would be similar to the Bexar County Children’s Court, which is funded by public and private partnerships.
“These grants carve out specific opportunities to fund judicial family violence prevention programs such as this one,” the domestic violence group wrote to commissioners.
“Notably, expansion of the (civil family violence program) to include a civil family violence court would uniquely position Bexar County as a trailblazer,” the group wrote.
Gonzales said Tuesday he understood the importance of addressing the needs of victims on the civil side.
According to the District Attorney’s Office, applications for protective orders increased 197 percent last year compared with the year prior — due in part, Gonzales said, to the applications now being available online.
“Victims generally obtain protective order assistance long before any related criminal case goes to court,” Gonzales wrote to Commissioners Court. “This is because victims of family violence often regard obtaining a protective order as the first step in breaking free from an abusive relationship.”
All three of the initiatives funded by the county address problems identified by the domestic violence commission, including limited access to protective orders, delays in prosecuting cases and a lack of coordination among key stakeholders in the criminal justice system.
The collaborative rolled out a plan last year, and an update about the initiatives is expected later this month.
“Our focus has been to, very simply, end the cycle of generational abuse we see in our community,” Diaz said. “We need to look at the long-term plan.”