EL PASO, Texas (KTEP) - A District Court judge's new order allows a criminal defense lawyer's petition to remove District Attorney Yvonne Rosales from office to carry on.
Judge Tryon Lewis of Odessa ordered Rosales be formally notified of the removal petition through his court on Wednesday. It's the first step toward allowing a court to decide the merits of a petition to remove Rosales from office.
The district attorney will have 10 days to respond to a citation by the court after she receives it.
It also requires county attorney, Jo Anne Bernal, to state whether her office will prosecute or dismiss the petition against Rosales. By law, Bernal's office is required to represent the state in a removal proceeding.
The county attorney has 10 days to file her decision with the court.
"There is no comment at this time due to pending litigation," a statement from the DA's office said.
Attorney Omar Carmona petitioned the district court on August 24th to remove Rosales from office for "official misconduct and incompetence."
Rosales accused Carmona's petition to be "a political stunt."
The DA called the petition a “frivolous attempt by an attorney who has actively been attacking the administration for many months now in regard to a case which is pending on appeal," in a court filing.
On Monday, Lewis threw out Rosales' requests to dismiss the petition.
Tryon Lewis, who was appointed to oversee the removal petition, stated Rosales' arguments were premature because he had not approved Carmona's petition to continue.
"The court finds that the proposed respondent (Rosales) may not properly appear or litigate the merit of a petition for removal prior to the court's granting an application for citation to issue, if it does," the filing states.
