Johnny Sutton

From 1988 to 1995[10] Sutton served as a criminal trial prosecutor in the Harris County District Attorney's Office in Houston, where he tried more than 60 first chair felony jury trials. In 1994, Sutton obtained the death penalty against Raul Villareal in the rape and murder of two teenage girls, Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena. Four other death penalty verdicts were rendered in the case.[11]

In 1995, Sutton accepted a position as criminal justice policy director for then-Governor George W. Bush, providing analysis and recommendations for proposed criminal justice laws for Bush to support or veto.[1]

Upon Bush's election as president in 2000, Sutton became coordinator for the Bush-Cheney transition team assigned to the Department of Justice where he served as Associate Deputy Attorney General, initially advising on U.S.-Mexico border issues.

Sutton is perhaps best known for his prosecution of former Border Patrol agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos for misconduct[12][14] following the shooting and wounding of Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, a narcotics smuggler who had illegally crossed the Mexico border near Fabens, Texas. Compean and Ramos were convicted of assault with serious bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon, discharge of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence and a civil rights charge, in addition to obstruction of justice charges.[15] In October 2006 they were sentenced to twelve years and eleven years and one day, respectively.[16]

Sutton drew criticism from some politicians and anti-illegal-immigration activists, especially on talk radio and the Internet.[14] CNN anchor Lou Dobbs devoted more than one hundred broadcast segments to the case.[17] Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, asked in 2007 whether Sutton's job was in danger over controversy associated with the case, said "No."[18] Sutton told the Texas Monthly, "All people have heard is that two American heroes are in prison for doing their job and that a drug dealer has been set free. If those were the facts, I'd be furious too. But the evidence is overwhelming that these guys committed a very serious crime."[17] On January 19, 2009, President Bush commuted the sentences of both Compean and Ramos, effectively ending their prison term on March 20, 2009.[19]

According to The Observer (UK), in August 2003 the U.S. Department of Justice was informed that a paid informant for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had participated in murders carried out by a drug cartel in Juarez, Mexico, operating out of a condo in Juarez where a dozen people were tortured, killed, and buried in the backyard. The informant was, at the time, cooperating in an ongoing cigarette-smuggling investigation. As Sutton was U.S. Attorney for West Texas, this information passed through his office to Deputy Assistant Attorney General John G. Malcolm. The DoJ decided to allow ICE to continue working with the informant rather than act on the information about the murders. Eventually, Mexican police uncovered and raided the house, and exhumed the bodies. This was not the first narco-cemetery to be discovered in Mexico, but due to the number of bodies (and the controversy surrounding ICE knowledge of cartel operations), the event became publicized and known as the "House of Death" case. Sutton later filed an indictment against a cartel lieutenant, Heriberto Santillan-Tabares, for drug trafficking and five murders, though the murder charges were later cancelled by Sutton in a plea bargain.[20] Sutton was criticized afterward by some observers, including University of Texas-El Paso law professor Bill Weaver, for not taking action to shut down the operation earlier and recommending the DoJ refrain from commenting to the media about the case. On April 19, 2006, Sutton announced a plea bargain arrangement with Santillan including a 25-year jail sentence, with no murder charge or plea included.[21] Furthermore, Sutton was criticized by former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney for approaching journalist Bill Conroy in an alleged attempt to dissuade him from covering the story: McKinney admonished Sutton for "an attempt ... to intimidate a journalist who has reported facts that are embarrassing to him".[22]

In addition to Morales, Sutton's notable cases included prosecution of two San Antonio city council members and two lawyers on charges involved in a bribery scheme related to a city contract, obtaining convictions in 2005.[23] Other widely covered prosecutions included an El Paso counterfeiting ring,[24] a Permian Basin heroin and cocaine operation,[25] the leader of an Austin-based illegal immigrant smuggling organization,[26] and Kickapoo tribal leaders accused of embezzling $900,000 in casino and health-care revenues for personal and political use.[27]

On October 8, 2018, the University of Texas at Austin confirmed the university had hired Sutton to investigate claims that Texas State Senator Charles Schwertner sent lewd messages and pictures to a graduate student at the university.[28]