We don’t know why Dallas elected Amber Givens for DA either

Among the many surprises in Tuesday’s primaries, one of the most shocking took place in the Democratic primary for Dallas County district attorney. Amber Givens, a former district court judge with a history of injudicious behavior on the bench, handily beat incumbent John Creuzot, whose leadership and experience in office earned the respect of a wide array of legal and community leaders.

We had expected that Democratic voters would want to retain a public servant who performed his job with diligence and integrity. Creuzot championed innovative, evidence-based programs to address the needs of suspects with mental illness and substance abuse problems.

Instead they elevated someone whose ability to do the job is an open question.

So what happened? We don’t know.

Were primary voters just uninformed about the vast difference in experience and qualifications? Were they most concerned with the races at the top of the ticket, while ignoring lower ballot races? Judicial and county races often get short shrift.

Maybe voters viewed Givens as the more progressive of the two candidates, and preferred her politics. Long ago, Creuzot did run for judge as a Republican.

But as a Democratic district attorney, he’s been a favorite target of Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton. Early in his first term, Creuzot announced his office wouldn’t prosecute low-level theft of basic necessities, partly to keep impoverished, nonviolent offenders out of jail. He later dropped the policy when he found it had little impact on the crime rate. Creuzot also joined several other big-city DAs and sued Paxton after his office tried to impose onerous reporting requirements on local jurisdictions. The DAs won.

Meanwhile, before her victory, Givens was in the news for all the wrong reasons.

In June, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct publicly admonished her for “failing to comply with and maintain professional competence in the law,” in regards to due process and for failing to treat a defendant with “patience, dignity and courtesy.” Givens was also publicly reprimanded for allegedly allowing a court staff member to substitute for her during a virtual bond hearing and for mistreating attorneys in her courtroom. She appealed the rulings and a three-judge panel in Austin re-tried the case late last month but has not yet issued its verdict.

Givens’ campaign website said the incumbent DA’s office denied evidence was missing for some felony cases. In fact, the Dallas Police Department had lost track of or deleted digital files that the DA’s office didn’t know existed. Even highly professional prosecutors and judges can be stymied by failures in other parts of the criminal justice system.

Her first news conference as DA-elect (there is no opposition in November) revealed few specifics about how she plans to run her new office. Givens emphasized that she was vastly outspent by Creuzot, which is true. She wants to establish community justice councils and set strict deadlines to decide whether to seek an indictment in cases of all types. Neither sounds realistic.

We have to hope for the best, but the record here convinces us Dallas County Democratic voters got this race as wrong as any we can recall.

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