Commissioners Court rejects bid by DA to be reimbursed for legal funds

In her opening remarks, she first requested that she be heard in executive session as she believed that certain aspects of this case were sensitive and should not be heard by the public. Her request was denied after advice from the county’s legal counsel but not after Commissioner David Stout threatened to leave the room if they were to go into executive session.

After deciding that she would be heard in public, Rosales argued that this kind of case is ill-considered and that the burden falls on her alone.

“There is no protection for the defense of the frivolous suit. The respondent must bare the burden of litigation. The financial burden to respond to frivolous motions places the respondent at a disadvantage.”

Despite hearing her arguments, the county commissioners voted against providing the funds for Rosales soley based on the fact that she is not a county employee and according to Stout, he did not find her evidence to be sufficient.

“The district attorney, as per state statute, as per our county attorney, is a state employee,” he said.

There was one “no” vote that came from Commissioner Iliana Holguin but according to her it was only because she wanted to know all the facts and the steps in this process if they were to provide the funds.

“On Commissioners Court, we make extremely important decisions that affect all the residents of El Paso county and I do my best to make sure that I have all of the information and that all of my questions have been answered and I truly understand the repercussions of what were deciding,” Holguin said.

County Judge Ricardo Samaniego did initially want to provide the funds to Rosales but first wanted to hear how much she thinks the legal funds would be before providing a yes vote.

“I was concerned with that and like I said I would be willing to support paying the assessment of what’s going to happen and bring it back and make a determination,” Samaniego said.

Despite the vote against it, there was a stipulation that was added, that if the case was to be dismissed or if the DA was to win at trial, she could return to Commissioners Court and request reimbursement. In the meantime, Rosales believes that this entire process is against her and that this could open the door for more petitions to be filed against elected officials.

“That means every elected official is subject to such petition for removal simply because an angry individual disagrees with a wide discretion an official has in the operation in their position,” Rosales said.