District attorney asks court for additional prosecutor amid high state-jail felony caseloads

District Attorney Josh Teaton asked the commissioners court on Tuesday to approve an additional assistant district attorney (ADA II) to handle a heavy caseload of state-jail felonies and filed misdemeanors, citing case counts and comparative workload data. After discussion and a short staff calculation, the court approved adding the requested ADA II to the proposed FY2026 budget and offsetting part of the cost by removing a vacant clerk position that the DA had offered to forgo. Teaton said the office currently has roughly 896 pending state-jail felony cases, including 308 in screening, and about 2,978 filed misdemeanor cases; two Deputy DAs currently handle both misdemeanors and the bulk of state-jail felonies. "Total pending state jail felonies right now are 896," Teaton said. He told the court that the mix of high-volume low-level felonies (primarily drug and theft offenses) and sustained misdemeanor filings requires courtroom coverage that a single additional prosecuting attorney would address. Frances (County Auditor) and HR staff provided budget estimates for adding an ADA II. HR recommended a budgeted salary of $104,000 (instead of the $110,000 originally requested) to align with internal compensation ratios. The court voted to add the ADA II position to the proposed FY2026 budget and accepted the DA's offer to use a currently vacant clerk position (vacant and valued at about $44,000) to partially offset the cost. The net budget impact was presented as roughly $73,967 to add one attorney after removing the clerk position; the precise figure will be captured in the final budget documents. Court discussion focused on workload per prosecutor, staff retention and the county's ability to recruit experienced attorneys locally. Teaton said his office receives steady applicant interest and that the office has benefited from relationships with Baylor Law for recruitment. Commissioner Smith and Judge Hensley both expressed support for the DA's efficiency and the request; HR staff noted the office historically carries a higher caseload per prosecutor compared with peer counties. Next steps: Staff will include the new ADA II in the proposed FY2026 budget and document the offset; the personnel change will be posted and filled following county hiring procedures. Teaton said the office could likely fill the position quickly from local candidate pools and also noted the office's plan to reassign internal staff to cover the vacancy created by promotion.