El Paso District Attorney faces upcoming suspension hearing in December

EL PASO, Texas -- A visiting judge presiding over the removal case of El Paso District Attorney Yvonne Rosales has set a hearing for mid-December that will decide whether or not Rosales will be suspended pending a jury trial.

Judge Tryon D. Lewis, visiting from Odessa, scheduled the hearing for December 15 in an order signed on Monday.

Records show Rosales is facing removal from her position after local attorney Omar Carmona filed a petition in August to remove her from her elected position.

A jury will have to make the ultimate decision to remove Rosales.

The jury trial is set to begin in March 2023.

Texas state law says the judge in a removal case can temporarily suspend an official while the jury trial is pending. The judge would also have to appoint a temporary replacement to perform the duties of the office.

The order signed by Judge Lewis says the court will discuss a temporary suspension, and if needed, a temporary replacement to head the district attorney's office.

On November 18, the defense counsel representing Rosales in the removal case, Luis Yañez, Patrick Wilson, and David Chavez, motioned the court to withdraw themselves as attorney of record.

The defense counsel said a conflict had developed between the attorney-client relationship and could not be resolved.

The suspension hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in the 346th District Court at the El Paso County Courthouse.

Before the December 15 hearing, Judge Lewis has scheduled a separate hearing for November 28 to discuss the defense counsel's request and a new motion made by county attorney Jo Anne Bernal.

Bernal submitted an amended petition to remove Rosales on Monday. The new petition has new developments that happened in the Walmart case after the original petition was filed in late August.

The petition says Roger Rodriguez, a Vinton municipal judge who has been accused of threatening and impersonating the family of a Walmart victim, had a connection to the Walmart case.

"In one instance, Defense counsel for the Walmart shooter offered to meet with Rosales to offer hundreds of pages of mitigation evidence regarding the Defendant. Instead of going herself, Rosales sent Rodriguez apparently as her representative, along with Assistant District Attorney Curtis Cox (“Cox”), to meet with the Walmart shooter’s defense counsel to discuss the mitigation evidence," the petition read.

Rosales had said under oath during a judge recusal hearing that Rodriguez had no access to any of the information or evidence in the Walmart case.

Bernal also claims in her new petition that Rosales is using taxpayer money to hide her mistakes.

"Rosales, rather than expending tax dollars on the prosecution of the alleged Walmart shooter, is expending public funds to thwart the introduction of evidence that may reveal misconduct on her part," the petition said.

Judge Lewis said Rosales must be at the hearing on November 28.