D.A. Yvonne Rosales agrees to resign by Dec. 14
UPDATE: Rosales has agreed to resign by Dec. 14 at 5 p.m., otherwise be removed by Dec. 15, according to ABC-7's Dylan McKim, who is at court proceedings.
According to McKim, Rosales has written a letter but has yet to send it to Governor Greg Abbott.
Rosales retains her title until her official resignation date; however, her second in command, Salah George Al-Hanna will be handling the day-to-day operations in Rosales's place.
By resigning, the case against Rosales will be dismissed.
By Texas law, D.A. Rosales will continue to be paid until Governor Abbott names a replacement.
Omar Carmona, the defense attorney who filed the petition to remove Rosales from office spoke with ABC-7 about the future of the D.A.'s office, and said it's not going to be easy.
"This administration has left El Paso in a worse state prior [Rosales] being elected" said Carmona.
"This is going to be an all hands on deck type situation, obviously, the private defense bar, the public defender’s office, the DA’s office, the judge’s court staff, it’s gonna be all hands on deck. We have to resolve the backlog, file cases, and other things" he added.
"It's not going to be done overnight" he said.
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EL PASO, Texas -- All eyes will be on the 346th District Court Monday afternoon to see if District Attorney Yvonne Rosales will be in the courtroom after a visiting judge ordered her appearance to discuss matters in the removal case against her.
Visiting Judge Tryon D. Lewis made that order a week ago, the same day he set a separate hearing to discuss whether or not Rosales would be temporarily suspended from her position pending a jury trial.
That trial is scheduled for December 15.
The Monday hearing will concern a motion from Rosales's defense counsel to withdraw from the case, and an amended petition submitted by County Attorney Jo Anne Bernal.
Bernal amended the original removal petition submitted by local attorney Omar Carmona. Bernal added the latest allegations that came to light in the state's case against the alleged Walmart shooter that claimed a representative to Rosales threatened and impersonated the family of a Walmart victim.
Court filings from Monday morning show Rosales has retained a new defense attorney in the case. Richard A. Roman entered his appearance as counsel to the judge. Rosales, through her attorney, has asserted a "General Denial" in the case.
The hearing will begin at 1 p.m., and ABC-7 will be in the courthouse bringing you updates on the story.
Update on Walmart case
There have been new developments in the state's case against the alleged Walmart shooter in the past week.
Presiding Judge Sam Medrano has ordered Rosa Maria Valdez Garcia, Alexander Wilhelm Hoffmann, and Thomas Hoffmann to appear at a November 30 hearing. Those three are the family of Walmart victim Gerhard Alexander Hoffmann.
Media outlets in El Paso, including ABC-7, received a message from the email of Garcia on August 4 that claimed a guest on KVIA's newscast broke the gag order in the case. The Hoffmann family, through their attorney Justin Underwood, claim Roger Rodriguez, a Vinton municipal judge, wrote that email.
Rodriguez has been called a representative to Rosales.
That hearing is scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m.
