Child Rapist Walks: Soros-Backed DA Jose Garza Trades 9 Felonies for Probation
Richard Leigh Bell, 37, should be staring at a minimum 25-to-life sentence. Instead, he’s walking free on five years’ probation after Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza quietly dropped nine child-sex felonies in exchange for a guilty plea to the watered-down charge of injury to a child.
The original 2023 indictment was airtight:
• 1 count continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14
• 6 counts aggravated sexual assault of a child
• 2 counts indecency with a child by contact
Each aggravated count alone carries a mandatory 25-year minimum under Texas law. Conviction on the full slate would have meant life behind bars.
Yet on November 10, Bell stood before Judge David Crump, admitted to the single third-degree felony, and was handed deferred adjudication—no final conviction, no prison cell, just a sex-offender registry form and a promise to “be good.”
Victim’s Father: “We Were Blindsided”
The victim’s father told reporters outside the courthouse:
“We trusted the system to protect our daughter. It protected him instead.
The family says Garza’s office never consulted them on the deal. No victim-impact statement. No heads-up. Just a last-minute courtroom ambush.
Garza’s Playbook: Felonies for Probation
This isn’t an anomaly—it’s the Garza standard.
• 2023: Serial assaulter gets probation after 11 felony counts dismissed.
• 2024: 260+ cases tossed because Garza’s team missed indictment deadlines.
• 2025: Child predator walks.
KXAN data shows felony dismissals in Travis County jumped from 15% in 2019 to over 25% in 2024 under Garza. Child-sex cases? Same pattern: plea down, walk out.
The Soros Pipeline
Garza’s 2020 campaign was bankrolled by George Soros’ Texas Justice Fund—over $1 million funneled through PACs to install a “reform” prosecutor who promised to “end mass incarceration.”
Translation: Empty the docket, empty the cells.
Critics call it predator protection. Supporters call it “progress.”
The eight-year-old girl who was allegedly groomed and raped for two years? She doesn’t get a vote.
What Now?
Bell is banned from contact with minors and must attend “treatment.” If he violates probation, the original charges could resurface.
Could.
Meanwhile, Governor Abbott and AG Paxton are under fire to invoke Texas’s 2023 “rogue prosecutor” law. No action yet.
Bottom Line
A monster faced life in prison.
A Soros-backed DA handed him a second chance.
A little girl—and her family—got a lifetime sentence of trauma.