Facing exodus of prosecutors, Bexar DA seeking salary boost for his attorneys
Assistant District Attorney Alaina Altis shows off a giant file from one case she is working during an interview in her office inside the Paul Elizondo Tower in Downtown San Antonio, Wednesday, June 15, 2022. “A file is a person, a file is a life,” Altis said, as she talked about the backlog of cases in the Bexar County justice system.Alaina Altis — a prosecutor with the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office since 1999 — says she was born to seek justice for victims.
As she glanced at the towers of files that crowd her office in the Paul Elizondo Tower downtown, she said prosecuting is not an eight-hour job. It’s early mornings, working through lunch and late hours.Some of the pressures Altis described, combined with less than stellar pay, are fueling an exodus of prosecutors. And that’s making the job even harder for Altis and the other assistant DAs who remain.District Attorney Joe D. Gonzales says he’s worried.
Gonzales is hopeful the five-member commissioners court will consider his funding request, saying it has been “supportive since I walked into this office, supporting us in our needs.” In Harris County, home to Houston, county commissioners have OK’d a budget proposal to start prosecutors at $87,000 per year — $20,000 more than entry-level pay in Gonzales’ office.
With fewer attorneys, remaining assistant DAs have to do additional work on criminal misdemeanor and felony cases, including reviewing countless hours of police officers’ body-camera recordings. Not surprisingly, attorneys’ quality of life — or lack of it — is a big concern.
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