A Texas House oversight committee is examining the relationship between district attorneys and the Wren Collective, a criminal justice reform organization that has worked with prosecutors across the country, including Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales.<\/p>\n
The hearing comes as the governor, lieutenant governor and Texas House speaker have said greater transparency and accountability for district attorneys will be a focus of the 2027 legislative session.<\/p>\n
The issue has gained attention in Texas following investigations into the Wren Collective\u2019s relationships with prosecutors and questions about how outside organizations may influence local prosecutorial policies.<\/p>\n
In 2024, KSAT obtained thousands of emails and text messages involving Gonzales, his then-first assistant district attorney, Christian Henricksen, and Wren Collective founder Jessica Brand.<\/p>\n
The messages showed discussions about prosecutorial policies involving marijuana, bail, sentencing and plea guidelines, among other issues.<\/p>\n
More than a dozen people testified before the committee, including family members of crime victims and representatives of public safety organizations.<\/p>\n
Sean Kennedy, of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, told lawmakers that Brand communicated directly with Gonzales and Henricksen about prosecutorial policies.<\/p>\n
Kennedy alleged that Brand provided policies involving marijuana, bail, sentencing and plea guidelines and directed the office to drop a death penalty case and charges against a man who assaulted a police officer and was later shot by that officer.<\/p>\n
Those claims were part of a broader focus on the Wren Collective\u2019s relationship with Travis County District Attorney Jos\u00e9 Garza, whose office has also worked with the organization.<\/p>\n
Brand was invited to attend the hearing but did not appear. In a statement to KSAT on Wednesday, Brand said she \u201cnever received a formal invitation to testify.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the Chairman called me yesterday toward the end of day to invite me, I could no longer move a work obligation,\u201d Brand said.<\/p>\n
Gonzales\u2019 name was also discussed during the hearing, although the committee\u2019s focus was largely on Garza and Travis County.<\/p>\n
Gonzales is not seeking reelection and is scheduled to leave office at the end of 2026.<\/p>\n
The committee\u2019s examination could lead to additional proposals during the 2027 legislative session.<\/p>\n
KSAT will continue to follow the issue as lawmakers consider potential changes involving district attorneys and prosecutorial oversight.<\/p>\n
Read also:<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Texas House oversight committee is examining the relationship between district attorneys and the Wren Collective, a criminal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452946,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[12942,27,29,293,28,155679],"class_list":["post-452945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-joe-gonzales","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-legislature","tag-texas-news","tag-wren-collective"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}