Brittany Kelley
SAN MARCOS — The Hays County Bar Association hosted a candidate forum Wednesday, Feb. 18, inviting those running for district and county court-at-law judge, county clerk and district attorney.
District Judge, 428th Judicial District
Cassie Benoist-Templeton — Democrat
Benoist-Templeton shared that she has been a prosecutor in another county for more than a decade and has “helped or handled every single job in a Criminal District Attorney’s (DA) Office, including on the civil side, as well as criminal.” Her experience primarily is in felony criminal work and crimes against women and children.
If elected, she would bring organization and movement of cases.
“The two things that I would want to accomplish in my first year as the 428th District Judge is going to expand the drug court program,” said Benoist-Templeton. “The second thing would be to address the civil backlog. I know Judge [Alicia] Key and Judge [Sherri] Tibbe have done a phenomenal job at eliminating the criminal backlog, as well as the DA’s Office, but a civil backlog is there.”
She stated that there needs to be additional dockets for civil cases and that, on the criminal side, it is “unacceptable” for a drug case to be on the docket for three to four years.
Benoist-Templeton believes that the biggest challenge will be the growth of the county: “You need a judge who’s willing to come up with inventive ways to move cases … I’m willing to take a risk and if it doesn’t work, okay, then, we’ll go back to the drawing board.”
Joe Pool — Democrat
Pool is the incumbent in this race and noted that he has “the court efficiency record of 17 pleas and five sentences in one day.”
He stressed that, if reelected, there would not be “any problems” with diversion courts, nor would there be Delta-8 THC convictions. Pool said that he wants to continue to impose supervision on those who need it — such as repeat offenders with driving under the influence charges — be transparent and, ultimately, help people.
“I’m kind of known as the civil district judge here in Hays County and one of the reasons is that we are processing the civil cases,” said Pool. “We are working through all the backlogs — criminal and civil — and we’re getting it done efficiently.”
He stated that a challenge the court is facing is getting the community to change its outlook on jury duty by creating a more positive experience for those attending.
Paul Still — Republican
A former Houston trial prosecutor, Still stated that he eventually transitioned to working in the Court of Criminal Appeals in Austin, frequently advising in felony matters.
He stated that he puts an emphasis on clear record-making, organization and giving advocates the time and space to make the most effective case.
Still would focus on supervision for those with several driving under the influence charges, as Pool mentioned, if elected.
“I think I want to reassure the lawyers who practice in the county that I am not here procedurally to reinvent the wheel or to sweep in some massive procedural changes that are going to change the way you do business,” said Still.
He also wants to aid in the backlog of civil cases with special dockets, as he feels like the growing stack of both civil and criminal cases will be a challenge.
Candidate Bill Henry — Democrat did not attend the forum.
Judge, County Court-at-Law 2
Chris Johnson — Democrat
Incumbent Johnson introduced himself swiftly, stating that those in attendance know how hard he works and that he treats others with compassion.
He stated that one of his primary goals is the juvenile justice system. As it takes up more and more time, he hopes to get a dedicated juvenile master and a full-time courtroom space at the detention facility. Johnson has begun work on both of these projects.
Johnson was asked by the moderator about alleged “privileged continuation of self-represented litigants and attorneys” to which he stated that he does not feel as though there is a problem with this: “I refuse to stomp on people’s rights. If they — despite a great deal of encouragement to hire a lawyer — insist upon representing themselves, I’m going to let them do it.”
Thomas Just — Democrat
Just is an Air Force veteran and has experience in criminal, family and civil law.
If elected, he hopes to bring changes to the court: “One in five people in Hays County speak Spanish, [yet] we do not have any interpreters on staff with the courts. We rely on the same system. I want to fix that. I also believe that we need to double down on some additional diversion courts and there are some pretty significant changes to the Veterans Treatment Court that I would love to make.”
Just also stated that he would like to expand the contract with the public defender’s office to cover all indigent defendants, rather than only 25%, to reduce the appearance of a conflict of interest.
Charmaine Wilde — Republican
Wilde has been an attorney since 2012 and currently works at a private practice, working in criminal and juvenile law and probate guardianship.
“I cover all those areas that are practiced in Hays County Court-at-Law. I think experience is very, very important,” said Wilde.
One policy Wilde would like to implement is an automated system for scheduling hearings, as the process is currently lengthy.
As far as transferring any policies from district court to the county level, Wilde stated that the county court judges already “pay attention to what happens at the district court level and if they see something efficient, they do their best to implement it.”
W. David Friesenhahn — Democrat did not attend.
Hays County Clerk
Nicholas “Nico” Costilla — Democrat
Costilla graduated from Texas State University with a degree in criminal justice.
In response to a question about adding more technology services for community members, Costilla noted that he was part of a project for the system that the DA’s Office currently uses.
“I was the project manager for TechShare, so I was instrumental in the implementation at the office,” said Costilla. “One thing that I’ve always said is I want to look at modernizing the records management system. I want to make sure that it’s accessible to not only the staff, but the public and to you, as attorneys, as well.”
He stated that he wants to ensure that those in the clerk’s office are cross trained to assist both the attorneys and the residents.
Cynthia A. Millonzi — Democrat
Sitting as the current assistant county clerk, Millonzi, a veteran, stated that she has been at the clerk’s office for four years after being sought out for her leadership, process analysis and operations and budget management.
Regarding technology, she stated that the office is working on two portals that will allow the public to search for public records easier.
“Our biggest operational challenges are trying to keep up with the requirements of growth and matching the staffing to that growth,” Millonzi said.
Despite this, she shared that the office has been “very successful” since her time in office at achieving this.
DeeDee Rogers — Democrat was not in attendance.
Hays County Criminal District Attorney
Landon Bryan Campbell — Democrat
Campbell is currently a prosecutor in the DA’s Office. He grew up in Katy and went to Texas A&M University and The University of Texas at Austin School of Law. His experience includes work in felony courts, as well as misdemeanor and civil court.
In response to how protective orders can be used more as a tool than gesture, the prosecutor shared that, in the last three years, protective orders have been moved to the civil division to ensure that there are institutional blocks and support for handling protective orders, increasing the number of orders 11-fold.
He hopes to one day have a civil attorney, whose focus would be protective orders.
Campbell shared that the office has shifted its focus from “can we file a charge” to “can we and should we,” which he believes should be doubled down on. He stated that each case needs to have a “why” and should question whether there could be a good result for someone. Because of this, he noted that his first budget request will be requesting additional intake attorneys.
“I’m asking for your support to be the next Criminal District Attorney because I think that Hays County is on the precipice of amazing success. We’ve had very good accomplishments in the last three years. I want to take us to the next level and really soar,” said Campbell.
Alfonso O. Salazar — Democrat
Salazar serves as the managing partner of his own law firm. He is originally from San Antonio and served in the Air Force for 12 years. During this time, he received an undergraduate degree from The University of Texas at Austin and went to the Baylor University School of Law. He has experience in felony and misdemeanor courts.
Regarding protective orders, he stated that, currently, there are too many given out. Yes, the amount has been increased, Salazar continued, but “that piece of paper is not going to defend you.” Instead, this comes with the relationship he aims to build with local law enforcement.
Salazar stated that one of the campaigns he’s running on is to strengthen the intake division. This would include hiring more people, if needed, and analyzing the court’s policy to determine what is being filed, is it legitimate and where it is something that can be taken to trial in an effort to make sure that cases in the system are going to make the community safer.
“All of the judges know me; I’ve practiced in front of every single one of them. I’m bringing a completely different perspective to the DA’s Office. I see the successes every single day, but, like y’all, I see all of the failures — when they’re in my inbox, when they’re in my TechShare, when there’s a disconnect and I have to show up in person and go try to fight that out. Those are the things that I am trying to fix and that’s why I would ask for your vote,” Salazar said.
Kirsta Melton — Independent
Melton shared that she has experience handling sexual abuse, physical abuse, adult sexual cases, family violence, capital murder, trafficking and more. She also has worked at the Attorney General’s Office and “helped identify gaps in the law [and] create legislation.”
Praising Bexar County’s process with protective orders, Melton stated that they have easier access to the application process and increased speed. Additionally, she said that there not only needs to be enforcement, but the ability to provide victim support to those in fear by aiding their partners at the Hays-Caldwell Women’s Center.
If elected, the candidate stated that she wants to first establish trust within the community by creating a prosecutorial performance indicator, a dashboard that would allow the public to see what cases are coming in and how they’re being resolved.
“I am running as an independent,” said Melton. “I don’t believe that we should have partisanship when it comes to issues of criminal or legal. I think it should be making decisions based on facts and [the rules] of the law. The three things that I’m running on are trust through transparency, the power of professionalism and the importance of integrity.”
Early voting for the Democratic and Republican primaries began Feb. 17 and will continue through Feb. 27. Eletion Day is Tuesday, March 3. Independent candidates will not appear on the primary ballots. For more information on the election and to view sample ballots, visit bit.ly/4s2mbWP.
