293rd Judicial District Attorney’s Office Records Over 170 Convictions in Recent Months

The Office of the District Attorney is responsible for the prosecution of felony crimes within the 293rd Judicial District, which covers Dimmit, Zavala and Maverick Counties. In just the last few months, the Office of the District Attorney has obtained, by way of plea agreements and jury trials, over one hundred and seventy convictions (170). Notably, after coming off of covid backlogs the office has as well conducted over 10 jury trials throughout the district. Furthermore, due to the unprecedented border migration impacting our district, our office has encountered hundreds
of new felony cases that have been referred for prosecution. The State of Texas has recognized that the 293rd Judicial District is at the epicenter of human smuggling in the State and has added the 293rd D.A’s Office to a Special District Court to help address this crisis. Thus, the D.A’s Office now has the equivalent of three (3) District Courts to work in in three (3) different counties. A tremendous amount of work has been added to the already massive and extensive caseload carried by our office.

I would like to recognize and commend the outstanding job being done by our Assistant District Attorneys; Hugo Zapata, Jaime “AJ’ Iracheta, Amanda Riojas, and Ruben Ramos, our investigators and legal support staff for
taking on this responsibility in these unparalleled times.

The District Attorney’s Office continues to pledge that justice will be pursued. Prosecutors in the State of Texas are ethically bound by the Rules of Professional Responsibility which dictate that, “Prosecutors are to seek
justice and not convictions”. Therefore, every case will be thoroughly reviewed and only cases that meet the standard for prosecution and can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt will be prosecuted.