The man charged with killing Caldwell County Deputy Constable Aaron Armstrong was already out on bond in a pending Travis County burglary case. Gov. Greg Abbott is now using that fact to go after Austin DA José Garza. Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows put out a joint release on September 18 with a list of Travis County cases. Read the list line by line and one entry says more than the rest: the burglary case that left Thomas Vences out on bond still hasn't reached a pretrial hearing, and the officer has been dead for more than eight months.

Texas's Three Top Republicans Named One Prosecutor

The September 18 release from the governor's office (full text mirrored here) promised "greater transparency and accountability to rogue local prosecutors who refuse to enforce Texas law." It referred to local prosecutors in general, but only one of them was named. That was José Garza, the Democratic district attorney of Travis County, whose office the release accused of dismissing murder charges and refusing to prosecute violent criminals. It also blamed the county for granting bond "in numerous cases involving repeat offenders."

"When murder charges are dropped and repeat offenders walk free, innocent Texans pay the price," Abbott said. Patrick promised the Texas Senate "will take strong action against these rogue prosecutors who release violent murderers, rapists, and other violent criminals back onto our streets." Burrows said his House Select Committee on Governmental Oversight will take testimony on the issue on September 30.

The release went through five defendants in Travis County. Peter Perius had a 2022 murder charge dismissed in 2024. Roy Garcia, who was convicted of murder in Bexar County in the 1990s, had a 2022 murder charge dismissed in 2023. Christian Alba was charged with capital murder at 17 over a 2023 robbery shooting. According to the release, his murder charge was dismissed in 2026 and he got probation on a reduced robbery count. Quinton Peterson had two assault-on-a-peace-officer cases, in 2022 and 2023, and the release lists "No Charges Filed" for both.

What the Vences Entry Actually Shows

The fifth name is Thomas Vences. According to the release, he has 34 cases in Travis County. It shows a 2020 burglary of a habitation that ended in deferred adjudication, a disposition that can end without a final conviction. Then comes a second burglary of a habitation, filed in 2024, with this status: "Released on Bond - Pre-Trial Hearing set for 12/03/2026."

Look at that date. A felony home-burglary case from 2024 won't reach a pretrial hearing until December 2026, at least two years after it was filed. The defendant was out on bond in that case on January 4, 2026, when police say he shot and killed a police officer. The capital murder trial is set for January 25, 2027, just eight weeks after the old burglary case's first pretrial hearing.

The coverage of the release we reviewed repeated the list as written. None of those stories pointed out that the state's own summary shows a pending felony case sitting unresolved for more than two years while the defendant was free on bond. FOX 7 Austin reported another detail that the release leaves out: Vences had five active warrants at the time of the shooting.

How Deputy Constable Aaron Armstrong Died

Armstrong was a deputy with the Caldwell County Precinct 3 Constable's Office. He was working off-duty security at Club Rodeo on North Lamar Boulevard in Austin early on January 4. According to police, he was shot at about 2:07 a.m. while trying to arrest Vences after an altercation inside the club. Police say Armstrong had escorted Vences out, found him still in the parking lot and moved to arrest him before a handgun came out. Armstrong returned fire before losing consciousness and died hours later.

"He was executed by this man who knew he was a cop, knew he was a police officer, and he did it," Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said after the arrest, according to CBS Austin. Court documents quoted by FOX 7 say Vences later told police, "I didn't want to shoot him, but I shot him." Vences is charged with capital murder. He has not been convicted and is presumed innocent.

Garza's Office Got Him Held Without Bail. Then It Talked About a Parole-Eligible Offer

To be fair to Garza, the no-bail order in this case came from his own office. His prosecutors filed a motion on February 20 to deny Vences bond. On April 7, Judge Brown granted it. CBS Austin reported it was the first time Travis County used Proposition 3, the voter-approved constitutional amendment that took effect January 1 and lets judges deny bail to people charged with certain violent crimes. "We thought that the evidence of this crime was so egregious when combined with the defendant's criminal history," Garza told FOX 7.

Then came July 7. At a hearing in the 147th District Court, the DA's office disclosed that it was considering lowering the capital murder charge to one that would allow parole. The difference is large. Austin defense attorney Jeremy Rosenthal, who is not involved in the case, explained it to FOX 7. A capital murder conviction in a case like this carries life without parole. A first-degree murder conviction carries 5 to 99 years or life, with parole eligibility after about half the sentence.

After the hearing, Garza's office told FOX 7 it "has not made an offer in this case" and would go forward with capital murder if the case goes to trial. The prosecutor said a decision on an offer would come by the next hearing on August 18. We found no public reporting on what was decided that day. The governor's September 18 release does not mention the offer discussion at all, even though it is the strongest point in the state's case against Garza's handling of Vences.

What Is the Committee Burrows Is Sending This To?

The Texas House posts the proclamation that created Burrows's committee, and it is worth reading. The Speaker signed it on March 26, 2026. It gives the panel "broad jurisdiction" over the "accountability and integrity" of state government and political subdivisions. The document never mentions prosecutors or district attorneys.

The "non-compliance" language in that clause gives the committee its opening. The proclamation names 13 members, with Rep. Cody Vasut as chair and Rep. Armando Walle as vice-chair. The last line matters most: the committee "expires on the date the 90th Legislature convenes," which is January 2027. Whatever the September 30 hearing produces goes into a final report, and the committee ends when the session opens. The Vences trial is set for later that same month.

Texas Already Passed a Law for This. It Went Nowhere Against Garza

This is not the first time Austin has tried to rein in Garza. In 2023, the Legislature passed House Bill 17, and Abbott signed it. The law redefined "official misconduct" to include a policy of categorically refusing to prosecute certain state crimes, and it lets any county resident petition to remove a DA. A Travis County resident filed a petition against Garza in April 2024. A visiting judge from Comal County dismissed it on December 12, 2024, a month after Garza won reelection.

HB 17 is aimed at blanket policies, which is its weakness. None of the five cases in Abbott's release comes from a written policy. They are individual decisions about dismissals, charges that were never filed, and bond. A removal statute built around categorical refusals has a hard time reaching choices like those, and that helps explain why Abbott called in December 2025 for a new "Chief State Prosecutor" with power to take cases local DAs refuse to pursue. "Progressive DAs are literally leading to the murder of Texans," Abbott wrote at the time.

What the Release Doesn't Tell You

The state's list has real gaps, and conservatives should admit them rather than let Garza's defenders point them out first. The Dallas Express noted that the release does not say why any of the three murder charges were dismissed and gives no case numbers. A dismissal can come from a weak case or a prosecutor who gave up, and the summaries don't say which. Texas Scorecard said it asked Garza's office for comment, and none of the coverage we reviewed included a response.

The Vences entry does not have that problem. Nobody needs a case file to understand what it shows. A man with 34 prior Travis County cases was free on bond in an unresolved 2024 felony when, police say, he shot a deputy who was trying to arrest him. Months later, the DA's office was discussing whether to take life without parole off the table.

The September 30 hearing is where Garza's office can explain each dismissal, each "no charges filed," and the two-year gap in the burglary case. It can also say whether a parole-eligible deal for the man accused of killing Aaron Armstrong is still being considered. If the office doesn't send anyone to answer those questions, lawmakers will likely treat that as its answer when the 90th Legislature convenes in January.