Monty Bennett

But, um, the Travis County District Attorney was able to eventually, um-- The Travis County District Attorney made efforts to exonerate him, didn't quite make it that far, but ultimately got, um, a shorter sentence and a $2.5 million payout to, to the man who was convicted.

And so we heard from the family member of the victim of this crime who testified, um, and some other testimony from organizations representing law enforcement officers, um, Daniel Perry's attorney, um, Monty Bennett at one point, and generally, you know, s- laser focused on Travis County, but also, you know, in the background is lurking this proposal by some top Republicans for a statewide prosecutor.

And so in response to Travis County and some other counties using prosecutorial discretion to decline to prosecute certain violent cases, there are some top Republicans who have called for a statewide prosecutor that could take on those cases.

And so this committee might have been laying the groundwork for that, but we'll have to see.

He's the guy behind the Hero Amendments.

He's, he's a known entity around here, Monte Bennett.

Uh, just a few months ago, he did a, an interview online where he pointed out, "Hey, you ever notice how, uh, when you pull off the freeway and someone's panhandling, it might be a white guy, it might be a Black guy, but it's almost never a Hispanic guy?" And you're like, "You're right.

[laughs] Why is that?" And well, they have a stronger family structure.