Elsa Alcala

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Elsa R. Alcala
Place 8 Judge of the
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
In office
May 2011 – December 31, 2018
Preceded byCharles Holcomb
Succeeded byMichelle Slaughter
Personal details
Born1964 (age 56–57)
Political partyDemocratic (2019–present)
Republican (until 2019)
Spouse(s)Dan Jeffry Spjut
Children3
ResidenceHouston, Texas
Alma materTexas A&M University–Kingsville
University of Texas School of Law

Elsa R. Alcala, also known as Elsa Spjut (born 1964), is a former Republican official who most recently served (2011–2018) as one of the nine judges of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the court of last resort for state criminal appeals. She was appointed to the Place 8 on the bench by then Governor Rick Perry, when Charles Holcomb stepped down to run unsuccessfully in 2012 for the United States Senate. On July 16, 2019 she announced she was leaving the Republican Party to support Democrats at the state and national level.[1]

Background[]

Judge Alcala obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree from Texas A&M University in Kingsville, Texas. She holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, where she was named to the Order of Barristers.[2]

Alcala is married to Dan Jeffry Spjut (born 1961), an attorney and retired lieutenant of the Houston Police Department.[2] He was elected on November 4, 2014, as a Republican to a Harris County Criminal Court at Law judgeship.[3] Alcala has three children and has long been active in school and civic functions. The couple lives in Houston.[2]

Legal career[]

Prior to becoming a judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals, Alcala was for nine years a justice of the First Court of Appeals, an intermediate appellate court with jurisdiction over both criminal and civil cases. As Court of Appeals judge, Alcala signed more than 650 majority opinions and presided in some 3,000 cases. An original Perry nominee to the Court of Appeals, she was thereafter twice elected by voters in ten counties within the jurisdiction. Alcala is also a former 338th District Court judge with three years of service, initially under appointment of Governor George W. Bush but then elected without opposition in 2000 in Harris County.[2]

Before she became a judge, Alcala spent nine years as an assistant district attorney under DA Johnny Holmes in Harris County. She was the lead trial attorney in more than seventy felony jury trials, with focus on violent offenders and distributors of narcotics.[2]

Alcala was unopposed for the Republican nomination to the Court of Criminal Appeals for Place 8 in 2012 and faced no Democrat in the November 6 general election, when she polled 78.1 percent of the vote over William Bryan Strange III, the Libertarian Party candidate.[4]

On December 29, 2016, Alcala announced she would not seek re-election after her term ends December 31, 2018.[5]

From January 2, 2019 until May 31, 2019 Alcala worked as the policy director at during the 2019 legislative session.[6]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Former Texas judge leaves GOP over Trump". The Hill. July 16, 2019. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Judge Elsa Alcala". txcourts.gov. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  3. ^ "Harris County, Texas – General and Special Elections – November 4, 2014". harrisvotes.com. November 14, 2014. Retrieved December 9, 2014.
  4. ^ "2012 General Election". Texas Secretary of State. November 6, 2012. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  5. ^ "Judge Alcala Won't Seek Re-Election". The Austin Chronicle. January 6, 2017. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  6. ^ "Twitter @TexasElsa". Retrieved January 2, 2019.
Legal offices
Preceded by Judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
2011–2018 		Succeeded by
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