News/Commentary

Victim’s family accuses Soros DA of putting murder case on the ‘back burner’: ‘Not interested at all’

March 7, 2023 | | Print Article

The family of Doug Kantor in Austin, Texas is blasting George Soros-funded District Attorney Jose Garza after he reportedly put the young man’s murder case on the “back burner” for two years because it doesn’t fit his liberal agenda.

Instead of addressing Kantor’s murder as being the urgent case that it is, Garza is accused of prioritizing cases that are progressive in nature, according to Doug Kantor’s brother Nick.

Kantor, 25, was killed in gang crossfire on June 12, 2021. The shooting left more than a dozen innocent bystanders wounded. He worked for Ford Motor Co. and was visiting Austin from Michigan in celebration of earning his master’s degree. Kantor was out with friends when two rival gangs from Killeen, Texas opened fire on each other in the middle of the city’s packed Sixth Street entertainment and nightlife hub.

He was caught in the crossfire and killed as 13 others were injured. It was the largest mass casualty event in Austin in a decade.

Kantor was originally from New York. He had just bought a new home and was getting ready to marry his high school sweetheart.

Nick Kantor told Fox News Digital in an interview that the case has sat on the “back burner” and “there’s an actual murderer who stands to potentially walk away if this case is in the wrong hands, which it very well may be.”

“Garza has pulled multiple prosecutors off Kantor’s case in order to focus on other cases, including the prosecution of Army Sgt. Daniel Perry, who is facing a murder charge for shooting a Black Lives Matter rioter who pointed a gun at him, Nick Kantor said, who added that Garza then appointed a prosecutor with little experience in Austin courtrooms to the case shortly before the trial was set to begin,” Fox News Digital reports.

“Throwing anyone on a case of this magnitude a month and a half before the date of trial is just reckless,” Kantor charged. He evidently flew out to Texas in February to meet the new prosecutor and Garza didn’t bother showing up.

“That just kind of goes to show you where he really sits in this,” he asserted.

“Considering this case is a mass shooting in the heart of downtown Austin, there’s been a lot of courthouse talk about why the DA isn’t making this case a priority,” Doug O’Connell, Kantor’s Austin-based attorney, pointed out. “I was surprised when the DA took his most experienced trial lawyers off the case.”

Kantor contends that the case against the suspected shooter De’Ondre White has not been handled competently. He was 19 at the time of the shooting. Garza is said to have created “wiggle room” for White by not going after a number of gang members who were at the scene brandishing illegal weapons. A deal could have been cut if they had been charged, compelling them to testify against White in exchange for reduced charges.

“He’s doing things that are clearly causing distress on the trial and on the overall outcome of the case and for getting justice for my brother,” he stated.

A number of families of crime victims in Travis County have told Fox News Digital that Garza doesn’t seem very keen on seeking actual justice. That is a sentiment that Nick Kantor wholeheartedly agrees with.

“He hasn’t been on a Zoom call with me in six months because I think he’s just tired of me laying into him,” Kantor said regarding his brother’s murder. “He’s not anywhere near as available as he led us to believe.”

“They’re not interested in this at all,” he remarked.

The trial was supposed to start in March but has been rescheduled for May because Garza’s office failed to provide all the necessary discovery documents to the defense team in time.

“They totally dropped the ball,” Kantor claimed, calling the delay another “slap in the face” to his family.

“This case did not fit their narrative blaming police officers or making this about race,” Kantor stated. “The way we feel is this is just not something that they want to entertain, and we’re forcing them to entertain it, so they’re reluctantly going through the process.”

“This one should have already gone to trial,” asserted retired Austin police officer, Dennis Farris, who is the president of the Austin Retired Officers Association. “There’s no reason why two years later this case hasn’t gone to trial. It’s open and shut. They’ve got eyewitnesses. They’ve got the person who did it. You have to wonder what’s going on at the DA’s office. Is it because they’re just simply incompetent? Or is it because Jose Garza really wants to let this kid, because of his age, off and doesn’t want to do anything to him?”

Garza is being accused of being soft on crime and being anti-police. Other Soros-backed prosecutors are being labeled the same way.

Austin Police Officer Justin Berry, who is one of 19 Austin police officers that Garza indicted for his response to a Black Lives Matter riot, told Fox News Digital in an interview that Austin elected a district attorney who is either “incompetent” or “derelict in his duties.”

“Time and time again, Jose Garza has shown he works more for the perpetrators of crime than he does with their victims,” Berry commented. “This is easily seen with the DA dismissing serious felony weapons charges against several other individuals that are involved in the death of Mr. Kantor and the mass shooting that led to the injuries of 13 others, forever changing their lives, especially Jessica Ramirez, a mother of five who was paralyzed after being shot.”

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