Texas DA Slammed for Indicting Trooper While ‘Career Criminals Roam Free’

Travis County District Attorney José Garza has added another police indictment to his growing list, charging a DPS trooper while the career criminal he chased — a documented gang member with multiple pending felonies — remains free thanks to the DA’s revolving‑door justice system.

News reports indicate that Texas Department of Public Safety trooper Jason Tye allegedly shot a fleeing felon. DA Garza indicted Tye with a charge of Aggravated Assault by a Public Servant. The charge is a first-degree felony, and Tye could face between five and 99 years in prison if convicted by a Travis County jury.

The shooting, which allegedly happened in July 2023, involved Trooper Tye and a suspect identified as Elijah Barrientos. Tye reportedly attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by Barrientos, who, according to reports, failed to yield. The pursuit ended when Barrientos crashed his vehicle and fled on foot.

Ty allegedly shot Barrientos as he attempted to climb a fence in an attempt to escape, the reports indicate.

Garza returned an indictment on the charge of Aggravated Assault by a Public Servant, a First-Degree felony. Tye is also named in a civil lawsuit.

Garza issued a statement in which he claimed, “In this case, an independent group of members of the Travis County community heard the evidence and law and decided that Trooper Tye’s conduct was unlawful.”

The Combined Law Enforcement Association of Texas (CLEAT) responded to the indictment, slamming Garza as having a propensity to indict cops and allow dangerous felons to roam free on Austin streets.

“How this documented gang member, felon in possession of a firearm, drug dealer was able to roam the streets of Austin is the question we should all be asking. Garza is a continued danger to the residents of Travis County as well as the law enforcement officers sworn to protect and uphold the law,” says Robert Leonard, CLEAT Executive Director. “We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again… the revolving door of justice is placing our law enforcement officers in great danger, and this is being perpetuated at an unprecedented level by Garza and the Travis County District Attorney’s Office.”

KUT TV in Austin reported that Barrientos has an extensive criminal history dating back to 2008. He is currently facing a charge of felony drug possession and five other charges.

CLEAT says Barrientos is a documented gang member who had “previously been released after reaching for a firearm in his waistband during an encounter with police officers. Following that incident, he was again arrested on a first-degree felony for distributing narcotics and was given a sweetheart deal by Jose Garza. As of today, the suspect involved has four pending felony cases in Travis County and is a career criminal.”

Reports indicate that Barrientos sustained a single gunshot wound to the arm. The wound is described as a non-life-threatening injury.

In April 2023, DA Garza was accused of tampering with a witness and retaliation against one of his detective witnesses, Breitbart Texas reported. The allegations came following the prosecution and conviction of Army Sergeant Daniel Perry in the self-defense shooting of a Black Lives Matter protester.

Defense attorneys F. Clinton Broden and Doug O’Connell sent a letter to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to present evidence in support of the governor’s requested pardon recommendation. Governor Abbott made the request on April 8 following the conviction by a Travis County jury of murder in the Daniel Perry self-defense trial, Breitbart Texas reported. The letter from the defense team (attached below) reveals exculpatory evidence that was not allowed to be presented to the jury by the trial judge.

The letter resurfaces a previously made accusation that Travis County DA Garza tampered with evidence prepared by the lead investigator during the time leading up to the grand jury hearing. A motion requesting an evidentiary hearing regarding the initial allegation was denied by the trial judge. The judge denied the evidentiary hearing request but did not rule on the merits of the allegations, Fox 7 reported.

“As the Board will no doubt learn, the lead detective in this case was forbidden by the Travis County District Attorney from mentioning a great deal of exculpatory evidence to the grand jury which considered the case in the first instance,” the attorneys [F. Clinton Broden and Doug O’Connell] wrote. While acknowledging the DA is not required to present exculpatory evidence to the grand jury, the defense team added, “there is a very clear legal distinction between choosing not to present exculpatory information to a grand jury and tampering with the testimony of a grand jury witness by shaping that witness’s testimony as to what that witness is allowed to say under fear of reprisals.”

In August 2021, Detective Fugitt filed an affidavit (attached below) detailing the allegations against District Attorney Garza. In that sworn affidavit, Fugitt stated:

I firmly believe the District Attorney’s. Office, acting under the authority of Jose P. Garza, tampered with me as a witness. Often witness tampering is subtle. In this case, there were foreseeable consequences if I did not comply and tailor my grand jury presentation as directed and failure to do so would adversely affect my working relationship with the District Attorney’s Office for the foreseeable future. I was afforded no choice but to comply with the directives that were issued to me by Jose Garza through his assistants.

I am familiar with the crime of witness tampering as set out in the Texas Penal Code and under the circumstances believe myself to be a victim of such tampering.

The indictment of Trooper Tye has become another flashpoint in the ongoing clash between Travis County prosecutors and Texas law enforcement, with critics arguing that DA Garza consistently prioritizes charging officers over confronting the repeat offenders driving Austin’s crime problems.

While Tye now faces a first‑degree felony and the possibility of decades in prison, the suspect he pursued — a documented gang member with a long criminal history, multiple pending felonies, and a recent arrest — remains free despite what police groups describe as a pattern of lenient deals and dismissed cases. The contrast has intensified scrutiny of Garza’s prosecutorial approach and fueled renewed accusations that his policies endanger both officers and the public.