Gillespie announces re-election campaign

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) - District Attorney John Gillespie announced on Friday that he will seek re-election for a second term.

Gillespie has an active leadership style in the DA’s Office, and said that he is focused on fighting for justice in the courtroom.

“To be a voice speaking up for the vulnerable is my greatest privilege as District Attorney,” Gillespie said. “If re-elected, I will continue to lead the fight in court against those who prey upon the vulnerable.”

Specifically, Gillespie promised to focus on two pressing priorities: fighting in court against sexual and violent offenders, and working through the backlog of cases created by jury trials being shut down for 15 months during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said that the DA’s Office had created a specific plan to handle that backlog by reviewing and prioritizing all of its pending cases, and that they had been executing that plan since August.

““We’ve tried 8 jury trials since August, and obtained Life sentences on four of those cases,” Gillespie said. “The number of pending cases presents a challenge. But, challenges are also opportunities. We have a young office with eager prosecutors who are getting great trial experience. I am proud of our office, and we are more than up to this challenge.”

While Gillespie is known for being aggressive in the fight against sexual and violent offenders in court, his first term as DA showed that he also saw the other side of the story. His team obtained funding from the Attorney General’s Office for a Victim Assistance Coordinator in 2019, and subsequently worked with the Commissioner’s Court to make it a full-time position.

“Having a VAC to work with child victims and to help other victims and their families has a made a tremendous difference,” Gillespie said. “Ebonie, our VAC, has a gift for communicating with children and is a smiling face in the courtroom when they have to testify. She also has helped a lot of victims whose cases were on hold during the pandemic.”

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