Gov. Greg Abbott is floating a new proposal aimed at reining in progressive prosecutors in Texas, calling for the creation of a statewide Chief State Prosecutor with authority to step in when local district attorneys decline to pursue criminal cases.
Abbott laid out the idea Monday night in a post on X, arguing that some district attorneys are refusing to enforce the law and putting public safety at risk.
“I am calling for legislation that creates a Chief State Prosecutor to actually prosecute criminals like this that DAs in places like Austin refuse to prosecute,” Abbott wrote.
“Progressive DAs are literally leading to the murder of Texans. Those DAs must be held accountable and prosecutorial power must be shifted to actual prosecutors.”
The governor’s comments came in response to a post by Austin Justice detailing the case of Michael Nnaji, an Austin man accused of repeatedly committing crimes while seeing charges dismissed or reduced by prosecutors.
Nnaji has accumulated 34 criminal cases since 2019, including robberies, burglaries, and multiple felony evading-arrest charges, none of which resulted in a jury trial.
Several serious charges were reportedly dismissed outright or reduced to misdemeanors.
The post also cited a recent incident in which Nnaji allegedly banged on the locked doors of Padrón Elementary School as students arrived for class, screaming threats about killing people and finding a way inside the school. Despite the allegation, Nnaji was released on bond, skipped court, and was later rearrested for trespassing—only for that charge to be dismissed days later while he was still a fugitive in the school-threat case.
Abbott’s proposal has drawn national attention. Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk responded to the governor’s post by calling it “a great idea,” adding that he initially thought Abbott was proposing to prosecute district attorneys who refuse to prosecute crimes “which is also a good idea.”
Under current Texas law, prosecutorial authority largely rests with locally elected district and county attorneys. The attorney general, meanwhile, currently has limited authority in specific areas like human trafficking and election fraud.
