Ronnie Earle

Ronald Dale Earle (February 23, 1942 – April 5, 2020) was an American politician and judge who was, from January 1977 to January 2009, the District Attorney for Travis County, Texas.

In 1967, while a law student, he went to work in the office of Texas Governor John Connally.

After graduating from law school, he was appointed and served as a municipal judge in that city from 1969 to 1972.

At the time, he was the youngest judge in Texas.

Earle was elected to the Texas House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1972, serving until 1976.

Earle was elected district attorney of Travis County in 1976 and served until his retirement in 2008.

He faced opponents only twice during his unprecedented tenure.

He was, and his successor now is, the only Democrat with statewide prosecutorial authority.

While his high-profile prosecutions of elected officials garnered the most press attention, it was Earle's work in criminal justice reform that was his primary focus.

He was an early champion of reforms that, in his words, were “engaging the community in its own protection.” Earle's innovations focused on crime prevention, alternative sentencing, victim advocacy, and the reintegration of former offenders into society.

He spoke nationally on this work, and engaged in criminal justice reform efforts until his death.

During his tenure, Earle prosecuted a variety of elected officials from both sides of the aisle, often dismissing accusations of partisanship by pointing out that prosecutions tend to focus on officials in power.

He prosecuted Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox, a Democrat; United States Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Republican; and - in his most high-profile case - United States House Majority Leader, Congressman Tom Delay, a Republican.

Mattox was acquitted by a jury, Hutchison's case was dismissed, and DeLay was found guilty of money laundering, but his case was later overturned on appeal by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Through the Travis County Public Integrity Unit, Earle prosecuted politicians, including Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, United States House Majority Leader Tom Delay, Texas State Representative Mike Martin, and Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox.

Defendants often accused Earle of partisanship, which he dismissed by pointing out that the prosecuted those in power, and that the bulk of prosecutions during his career had been brought against fellow Democrats.

Prosecutions which Earle led as Travis County District Attorney through the Public Integrity Unit include:

On July 31, 1981, during the First Called Session of the Sixty-seventh Texas Legislature, Republican Representative Mike Martin, a Republican then of Longview, was shot in the left arm outside his trailer in Austin with 00-buckshot.

Soon after the shooting, unidentified spokespeople from Earle's office released information to the Austin American Statesman that they felt Martin was telling inconsistent stories to the police.

They claimed he first said he had no idea who did it; later he said it was a Satanic cult; in the end, he accused his political enemies.

Martin responded to the leaks by saying he was asked to give police all possibilities and said he had no idea why the district attorney's office would be saying such things.

Earle personally made a public announcement that Martin was cooperating with police and that no one from his office was releasing information saying otherwise to The Statesman.

Earle formed a grand jury to look into the shooting of Martin and invited him to attend without issuing a subpoena.

Martin refused to appear by issuing a statement that he had already given officials all the information he knew.

Gregg County District Attorney Rob Foster shortly arrested Martin on a three-year-old assault charge.

The charge was immediately dismissed due to time limits and lack of evidence.

Upon release, Martin appeared before reporters and accused Gregg County officials of using their offices to ruin him politically.

The day after his release on the assault charge, Martin voluntarily appeared before Earle's grand jury.

At the time he didn't know that his first cousin, Charles Goff, had previously appeared before the grand jury and admitted helping Martin stage the event to advance Martin's political career.

He claimed Martin offered him a state job as payment, despite Texas' strong nepotism laws forbidding the hiring of relatives.

Goff had served prison time and had three outstanding felony warrants pending at the time of his testimony; however, the grand jury took his word over Martin's. After Martin's denial of Goff's accusations before the grand jury, Earle filed felony perjury charges against the freshman legislator.

In 1983, Earle - an Eagle Scout - prosecuted himself for an election law violation after missing a campaign finance filing deadline by one day; he was fined $212.

Earle was a fixture in Travis County politics and served in public office there for more than 30 years, joking that he was asked if he was the "District Eternity".

Earle spoke extensively on his belief that the law guided public responses to crime but that it was society's collective "ethics infrastructure" that required support to deliver a safer, more just, and more livable community.

He became nationally known for filing charges against House majority leader Tom DeLay in September 2005 for conspiring to violate Texas' election law and/or to launder money.

In Texas, Earle was known for his criminal justice reform efforts which focused on crime prevention, alternative sentencing, victim advocacy, and the reintegration of former offenders into society.

This belief guided him, as he told the Austin Chronicle in 2008, "It really informs everything I've tried to do – well, not everything, but most of the things I've tried to do as district attorney, especially the most progressive and innovative things that we have done in this office. And the reason is because the law doesn't teach you how to act. ... What I have come to call the 'ethics infrastructure' teaches you how to act. And that is in that work of mommas and daddies and aunts and uncles and teachers and preachers and neighbors and cousins and friends – that's where you learn how to act, not from the law."

Earle was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and raised on a cattle ranch in Birdville, Texas.

He achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, earned money working as a lifeguard, played football, and was president of his high school student council.

Earle moved to Austin when he was 19 to attend the University of Texas and the University of Texas School of Law.