Travis Cty Crime Victims R.I.S.E. Against DA Garza

RISING UP against injustices perpetrated by Travis County DA Jose P Garza. Email your story—[email protected]. We’re about JUSTICE, not politics.

[Travis Cty Crime Victims R.I.S.E. Against DA Garza @TravisCo_RISE]

Notice: @Cleo_Petricek is no longer associated with Travis County RISE, nor we with her.

[Kristina Byington @ByingtonK]

THIS is what victims’ families get from DA Garza:
Mr. Garza is NOT AVAILABLE.

In the open Anita Byington murder case, he has yet to even speak with me. While grieving families reach out for basic meetings and respect, he’s nowhere to be found. Instead we get emails about accepting a 35-year plea on double murder charges…and “are you available for court on June 8th?”

Victims deserve better than this cold shoulder while criminals get sweetheart deals.

Governor @GregAbbott_TX — I know you’re fighting to fix this, but this is dire. Texas families deserve DAs who actually show up for victims. No more “not available.” Please hold them accountable.
@aaron_reitz @KenPaxtonTX @TXAG @JosePGarza @GovHotWheels_TX @realmitchlittle @ChipRoyTX @texasreplozano @RepJMLozano @DATravisCounty @TravisCo_RISE

[Travis Cty Crime Victims R.I.S.E. Against DA Garza @TravisCo_RISE]

@ByingtonK @merissahansen17 You blocked too fast, @merissahansen17. You should chill a little, hun.

[Travis Cty Crime Victims R.I.S.E. Against DA Garza @TravisCo_RISE]

@ByingtonK @bshelburne You’re a hypocrite, @bshelburne

[Kristina Byington @ByingtonK]

PLEASE SHARE:

Anita Byington’s convicted killer walks free and gets millions—without a single court ever declaring him innocent. Thirty years later, her family gets nothing but silence and contempt.
And it took a reporter who actually did her damn homework to expose what Garza and the Innocence Project tried to bury. @hollyshansen
@GregAbbott_TX @KenPaxtonTX @RepJMLozano —is ANYONE listening?
@JosePGarza @DATravisCounty @innocencetexas @aaron_reitz @tplohetski

https://t.co/S6j5Y9wJ1z

[Virginians for Safe Communities (VSC) @VA4SafeComm]

Want your blood to boil?🤬
Thanks to a Soros DA, taxpayers are paying $2.5M & $187k/yr for life to a CONVICTED killer
Why? Despite Allen Causey never being found innocent in court, Austin DA Jose Garza dismissed the case, now Texas is paying millions to Anita Byington's killer⬇️

[Virginians for Safe Communities (VSC) @VA4SafeComm]

https://t.co/g7IsyCowwb
@ByingtonK
When I hit “send” in April 2024 on an email to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, I laid out what looked like a looming miscarriage of justice in the 1991 murder of my cousin, Anita Byington, and I asked his office to intervene.
Little did I know that the next year, Travis County District Attorney José Garza would confirm my worst fears: In May, Garza asked the courts to dismiss the murder charge against Allen Andre Causey, the man convicted of killing Anita three decades earlier. The judge obliged.
Through relentless digging, I learned the Texas comptroller in July cut Causey a check for $2.5 million under the Tim Cole Act, a compensation statute reserved for people who have been cleared of the crime that sent them to prison. In addition, starting in July 2026, the state will send Causey annuity payments of about $15,590 a month for the rest of his life.
No court has exonerated Causey. Yet in court filings, Garza said he “believes (Causey) is actually innocent,” paving the way for the dismissal of the charges and millions of dollars in compensation from the state.
I have no objection to correcting genuine wrongful convictions. But that is not the case here. After a years-long habeas proceeding, Travis County District Judge Chantal Eldridge ruled last year that Causey “has not met his burden of proof to establish actual innocence” and that “some inculpatory evidence against Applicant remains in the record.” Likewise, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said in April that it did not find evidence that Causey is “actually innocent,” but it sent the case back to the trial court to address concerns about the original prosecutors' “unknowing use of false testimony.”
We deserved our day in court. Instead, Garza pressed for dismissal. The victim and her family were treated as collateral damage.
Anita was 21 when she was beaten to death in East Austin with a 40-pound concrete rain diverter and what appeared to be a belt buckle. Neighbors heard a woman screaming, then two male voices. Witnesses noticed Causey circling the crime scene in his car. He blurted out “I didn’t kill her” before anyone accused him, then signed a detailed, written confession, which Causey later asserted was fabricated by police. A jury weighed all of this and convicted him. He served 31 years of a 50-year sentence. Our family’s sentence was a lifetime of dealing with this loss.
Garza’s decision fits a pattern now familiar across America: progressive prosecutors, who often were previously public defenders or social justice activists, work hand-in-glove with the Innocence Project and defense lawyers to circumvent the appeals process and clear convicted killers. The prosecutor petitions a court to reopen a case based on police or prosecutor misconduct, secures a new trial and then dismisses the charges — pushing aside victims and law enforcement.
Police have said they are investigating a new suspect, Kevin Harris, the last person Anita was seen alive with. Eldridge's ruling says new evidence suggests “beyond a reasonable doubt that Kevin Harris was, at minimum, a party to the murder of Anita Byington.” But the evidence also “suggests multiple assailants.”

[Kristina Byington @ByingtonK]

PLEASE SHARE.

DA José Garza spent years fighting for the man convicted of murdering my cousin—and treating my family like we were the problem. And when his exoneration push went down in flames, he doubled down and quietly pulled strings to make sure the convicted killer still walked away with a massive payout. @JosePGarza @DATravisCounty

@GregAbbott_TX @KenPaxtonTX @texasreplozano—this is not what justice is supposed to look like.
A DA should protect victims’ families, not go to war against them.
We need real accountability. Now.
@aaron_reitz @tplohetski @AustinJustice @johnnyk20001 @chrisharris904 @theshellbelle @Jessika4Justice @BradWinsAgain1 @KarnifexMaximus @VA4SafeComm @ATXVideos @LELDF @slocumfortexas @grammabearatx

[Kristina Byington @ByingtonK]

I am counting on one, or both, of these men to rectify justice STOLEN from murder victim Anita Byington and her family by Travis County DA @JosePGarza.

Not only did Garza disregard and disrespect our family, he rewarded a convicted killer 2.5 million dollars in state funds although 4 separate courts stated that he was NOT INNOCENT.

@aaron_reitz @KenPaxtonTX @GregAbbott_TX @texasreplozano —can someone help my family, please? 🙏

[Kristina Byington @ByingtonK]

Justice for Anita Byington 🙏
The fight continues.

[Kristina Byington @ByingtonK]

To everyone who’s been sharing this story—I could honestly cry. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

All I’ve ever wanted is for the truth of this injustice to finally be seen, and your support means more than I can put into words.
Truly, thank you. 🙏😭

P.S. Please keep sharing. 😉

[LOVES atx @Luvsatx81]

@elonmusk
@RealAlexJones

[Kristina Byington @ByingtonK]

PLEASE SHARE:

The real story isn’t in this segment at all.

DA José Garza secretly dropped the murder charges, never notified our family, and hid behind a loophole that lets him disregard victims entirely. He did this after two courts rejected Causey’s claims, paving the way for a $2.5M payout intended only for people proven innocent—which he is not.

Garza didn’t “follow procedure.”
He exploited it, weaponizing the law to rewrite a murder case behind closed doors and silence the victim’s family.

We had to uncover everything ourselves. Garza never had the courage or integrity to tell us what he was doing, or why.

This wasn’t justice — it was a political favor done in the dark, at the expense of a murdered woman and the family he chose to ignore.

If any serious investigative journalist wants the real story —the documents, the rulings, the timeline, the secrecy—we’re ready.
This goes far deeper than anything reported so far.

Gov. Abbott and other state officials should intervene immediately to correct this injustice and hold Garza accountable. @GregAbbott_TX @DanPatrick @RepJMLozano @RyanGuillen @TXCrimeVictims @txcomptroller @tplohetski @KXAN_News @KVUE @cbsaustin @fox7austin @FoxNews @MeredithonFOX7 @MaryAnnreports @NancyGrace @TexasTribune @johnnyk20001 @AustinJustice @ATXVideos @Homicide_One @DouglasOConnell @LoewyLawFirm @MattMackowiak @SaveAustinNow @TravisCo_RISE @DATravisCounty @JosePGarza

[D. R. Ellis @HamamelisLark]

ATX, keep sharing this story of stunning local injustice, and a further outcome that is simply outrageous. How can a handful of voters be so uninformed as to vote Garza back into office. How can he be fit for office?

[TXPatriot321 @TXPatriot321]

GARZA HAS GOT TO GO

[AustinAdvocate @_AustinAdvocate]

This is disturbing for all who advocate for justice in Austin.

[American Faith @FaithInElon]

Mr Abbott, this is one more thing you ignore right in the heart of Texas.
Remove. Garza

[Lynn Cross @LynnCross_TX]

@ByingtonK @KenPaxtonTX. How did this Soros DA get away w/ convincing the Comptroller to pay this out??

[Matt Mackowiak @MattMackowiak]

Read. Share.

[Kristina Byington @ByingtonK]

Actually, it’s even worse than that. We didn’t find out from a news release—I had to dig up the information myself and give it to the media. José P Garza: Standing with Victims 🙄

[Chris Harris @chrisharris904]

Victims and their families in Travis Co find out faster from news releases, than the office itself.
It's shameful...