So You Got Arrested
The Texas justice system can be messy- we talk to the key players to uncover what really happens. Hosted by BRCK Criminal Defense Attorneys, this podcast dives into real stories and hard truths from inside the Texas criminal courts.
We explore what happens after an arrest, how charges are fought, and what it's like to face the court system in places like San Antonio, South Texas, Austin and the Texas Hill Country.
Whether you’ve been arrested, have a loved one in jail, or just want to understand the criminal defense process in Texas, this show gives you raw, unfiltered insight from criminal lawyers, legal experts, and those directly impacted by the system.
So You Got Arrested
Inside the DA's Office: Oscar Salinas on Morale, Mentorship, and a Vision for Bexar County
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The journey to justice in the Texas legal system is fraught with challenges. On this candid episode of So You Got Arrested, criminal defense attorneys welcome Oscar Salinas, a Democratic candidate for Bexar County District Attorney, to discuss his platform for change.
Salinas, who honed his skills as a line prosecutor under former DA Nico LaHood and served in Denton County, stresses the urgent need for internal reform. He proposes bringing back robust training programs and the sister court mentorship system to support the many new prosecutors who often leave the job prematurely due to a lack of guidance.
The conversation covers:
- The Backlog's Root Cause: Why poor morale and inadequate training are key contributors to the massive case backlog, rather than just case volume.
- The 'Just' Decision: Salinas’ philosophy on empowering prosecutors to dismiss or reject cases when evidence is weak, regardless of pressure from media or "trolls."
- Growing Population vs. Stagnant Resources: How the DA's office is struggling to keep pace with Bexar County's growth, including the need for more Victim Advocates and additional district courts.
Salinas offers a prosecutor's perspective on how confidence, mentorship, and a commitment to justice—not pleasing public opinion—are essential to leading an effective and fair DA's office.
Meet Oscar Salinas
SPEAKER_04Scott, so uh once again, we're very fortunate and blessed to have one of our candidates for Bear County DA coming in to speak with us on the podcast today. We have Mr. Oscar Salinas.
SPEAKER_01How's it going? He's looking sharp today. I love it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, he's the only one wearing a tie. So he's the most professional out of the three of us.
SPEAKER_01This is as casual as I've ever been on the podcast. I mean getting ready for the holidays, the cold seasons.
SPEAKER_04So we're excited to have you on. Uh if you would just kind of tell me a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? So originally I'm from Brownsville, Texas.
SPEAKER_03Oh, the Valley. Yeah, I'm from the Valley. I still actually have a 956 phone number. Uh in Uz Valley, people keep our 956 phone number. Keeping it real. The 956. Uh moved up to uh Corpus Christi, where I did my undergrad at AM Corpus Christi. Um The Islanders. The Islanders, yes. Uh law school at the University of Texas School of Law. Um, see, growing up, uh, I was a competitive Golden Gloves boxer. Did that really 22 years old? Yeah. Was there a specific weight class you were in? So when I first started, I was 112 pounds. Okay. Uh then I fought all the way up to 152. Yeah. Uh I met my wife uh while I was still competing as a boxer. So, you know, it's always funny because you know we're still we're obviously we're together still with two kids, uh Giovanni and Camila. And uh it's interesting because she met me as a competitive golden gloss boxer, right, 19 years old, walking around 146 pounds, and now she knows me as uh you know a prosecutor, an ABA who's not 146 pounds walking around.
SPEAKER_01She went to the ring parking girl affair. Scott used to be uh a wrestling similar things about wrestling and boxing.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, the two of you can like duke it out. Yeah, we can see what happens with that.
SPEAKER_01I'm not a striker, my hands are too delicate.
From Boxing To Law
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you know, and it but it it's one of those sports, and you know, much like wrestling, that it kind of shapes kind of your outlook on life and it teaches you a lot of of things, and it's helped me along the way through this process, not only through law school, but also my decision, you know, to run. Sure. Um, and how it's impacted me. And and so, you know, I went to the University of Texas uh school law, I got out in 2014, um, applied actually a few different DA's offices because I wanted to be a prosecutor. Um, and the first one that called me back and gave me an interview was Denton County. Okay so I was up in Denton County for a year, yeah, uh because I guess there were no openings back then here in Bear County. My cousin uh Monica Carala was up in Denton County. Her and I were there together at the same time. Yeah, that's a small world. Fantastic. And then she ended up uh going into defense practice with uh with a man named uh uh Tim Powers up there. He had a firm and still has a firm up there, yeah. And then so she uh she stayed up there when I moved back down to uh San Antonio because my wife is from here, and so we were like, well, we want to start a family, and you know, San Antonio is probably the place to be. And um, you know, eventually Monica came down. So it's it's an interesting kind of you know how everything how that all that works out. Right, right. But which DA here in Bear County hired you? Uh Nico, Nico Lahood did. You weren't under I could have sworn you were in there. No, no, I was uh under under Nico. Yeah. So were you in the office when Scott was in the office? I was. Did you ever have a chance to work with Scott? Did we ever try a case together, Scott? No, I don't think we did, but I did go up to him and ask him questions because he was one of the more uh senior prosecutors out there, and he's always you know, he's been uh you know with a lot of knowledge and and a lot of trial experience.
SPEAKER_01And I wasn't snobby like some of the other veterans, I was always willing to talk to anybody about it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's very true. You know, he you know, no matter as a misdemeanor or third chair, you know, um, I'm sure your your guests know the distinction there, but um, he would he was always willing to help and and I've always appreciated that Scott uh you know, like you say, and he was never intimidating to go up to and he was always very passionate about everything in the case he had. So yeah.
SPEAKER_04Um so when you were in Denton uh over at the DA's office there, how how long were you in that position? I was there for a year. And uh I'm I'm imagining during the time that you were there, um, was there you were a misdemeanor prosecutor doing specific types of cases?
SPEAKER_03It was misdemeanors, it was mostly DWIs, a few assault cases and an evading. But we tried uh I think I tried about 20 cases up there in the course of a year. In the course of a year. Wow. We're going all the time. Yeah. Yeah. Um is you know, it's it was a smaller office than the the Bear County DA's office, obviously. Uh there were about 50 uh prosecutors. Our office has about 250, I believe. Yeah, it's about right. Um, and you know, uh so it's a much different, you know, type of so Denton was was county attorney and district attorney together, they handled both.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes, yes, they were together.
SPEAKER_04Um, like ours. And so at at some point you said uh because your wife's from Barrett County, you all decided, hey, we're gonna go ahead and relocate to Bear County.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so it's one of those things every uh every valley kid always wants to come to San Antonio because you know you see kind of a similarity to the culture. Sure. Uh so ever since I was a kid, you know, I always wanted to be an attorney because my grandma she used to watch uh Matt Lock and uh Perry Perry Mason. Yeah, yeah. And so I used to always watch those things as a little kid because uh she was the one that would take care of me uh after school. And you know, I I was the first one in in my family to go to college. So, you know, it's kind of one of those things of you know, when you're growing up, you're like, oh, is this even possible for me? And you know, all those things. And um, you know, eventually kind of going through through undergrad, and you know, I met my wife and she was always very encouraging, and so I decided to take that path and and eventually became an attorney and got to UT.
SPEAKER_04And so one of the things that I have to ask you, you you know, that's gonna affect the way that I treat you the rest of this podcast, is you went to AM Corpus Christi and then you went to UT for law school. So do you root more for the Aggies or for the Longhorns? Longhorns.
SPEAKER_01Okay, the right answer. Uh, you know, um there's a reason why our our scroll is orange along the right there.
Denton Vs Bexar: Trial Culture
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I've got a son there on campus right now. Oh, nice over here. So um, so then you relocate over here to the Bear County DA's office, and what are you doing when you get to the DA's office?
SPEAKER_03Oh, I get I get thrown into uh County Court 9. Uh it was the misdemeanor trial court division. Okay. So mostly back then, because you couldn't get deferred on DWI back then. Uh we were trying DWI's pretty much all the time. Who's the judge then? Um Walton Shelton. Walton Shelton. Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And then I got moved to County Court uh 14 under Judge Susan Skinner.
SPEAKER_04So when you first arrived at the Bear County DA's office, I mean you you've indicated, look, the Bear County DA's office is a much larger office. Um what other differences were there differences that you noticed between Denton County and Bear County?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so I would say uh the dockets were much different in uh Denton County versus Bear County. How so? So in Denton County, um you know how in Bear County, obviously you're familiar with Bear County, we our dockets, especially back then, we had just a lot of cases, you know, and and there was an expectation that you could call the jury almost every day of the week, you know, as opposed to Denton County, where we had a real understanding of which cases were going to be called to trial weeks out in advance because you couldn't get a jury as often, right?
SPEAKER_01As opposed to so do they call it jurors like once a week or just once a month?
SPEAKER_03It was twice a month. It was once a week, but up there it was the standard practice to have um actual jury trial um call settings, right? So it would be two weeks prior where you would confer and say, okay, this is the last, your last attempt to try to get uh a plea negotiated, and after that, the court's not accepting any other pleas. So everything worked out on that day. And if that one case didn't, well, you knew it was gonna be tried two weeks from now. So it was a kind of a different type of yeah. So for us as the state, as the prosecutors, we had you know much more time to kind of prepare and get ready for those cases that were coming up.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, whereas Bear County, you kind of just have to be ready to go.
SPEAKER_03You gotta be ready because there might be 20 cases on the docket, and number 19 is gonna be the one, the lucky one that gets called, right?
SPEAKER_01So yeah, it's that's a little advocates making sure that the officer who did the stop is actually working this week. Right.
SPEAKER_03They're not on vacation or in service and all that. So, you know.
SPEAKER_04Well, I would imagine that handling uh cases, you know under both systems in those different types of way make you pretty versatile in terms of being able to get a case prepared and get ready for trial.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think it was a good experience. Um, I think every experience that I've had, not only here in Denton County, I was also an intern in Williamson County. I actually tried my first case in Williamson County.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_03Uh as a prosecutor, I got I got um sworn in, and then that afternoon, um good friend of mine who was my um mentor as a prosecutor, his name is Joffrey Perrier, and uh he mentored me in Travis County, and then he went to work in Williamson County, and so UT had this uh this deal where while you were waiting for bar results, you could work at a public service uh job, and the university would be paying you while you're waiting for those bar results.
SPEAKER_02Oh, nice.
SPEAKER_03And so it worked out. Yeah, it was actually and actually ended up getting paid a little more than I got paid when I started working at Denton County, which is just yeah, oh there I took a paypad when I when I got my NIL for the athletes today, you took a paycheck to go pro. Yeah, and so you know I get I get news that I passed the bar, they swear me in that uh that same day, try our first case. Uh I forgot the guy's name. Uh oh, Pedro Elizondo. And it was a DWI. He had already been to prison once before for DWI.
SPEAKER_01So you did by felony?
SPEAKER_03It was, it was. And um crashed out on 35 and beer cans went all over the highway, and you know, he was of course stumbling out. Obviously, that's why they you know let me try that case with with Joffrey and went to come getting back a guilty and um pretty quick.
SPEAKER_04And so kind of that experience the beer cans means that he you know drank a lot.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Fresh beer can.
SPEAKER_01Well, it means he's constantly drinking.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. But you know, it it's you know, I've been at at a few different offices, so it's giving me kind of a perspective and and also across two different administrations to take a look at how things are different across different counties and sure.
SPEAKER_04How how different administrations handle different things, different structures, the way things are set up.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and then also I think especially at least it seems you know more recently, like um there's more um, which is good. You know, the media follows cases much more, um, and then there's more in in the courts, and I think that's you know helpful so that the general public understands kind of what's going on at the courthouse.
Early Trials And Lessons Learned
SPEAKER_01Well, you bring up a good point though, because uh I think whoever the DA, we've discussed this before, is a thankless job in Big City. Okay. And so the this and Nico was good about handling the administration. This administration currently has kind of got into a battle with some of the media people. What are you gonna do to to foster uh to make it so you guys aren't getting because I think they sometimes to some extent the DA's office has gotten unfairly treated by the media this one?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so I'll go into kind of when when there was all these rumors that that Run Hill was gonna be the one that was gonna run, and there was all that going out there, and and then eventually it was like he's not gonna do it. And I had some you know close close friends of mine that were like, You gotta do it. You gotta do it, because I think you'd be great at it. And you know, it's something that I had talked about for quite some time. Uh, you know, on the fourth floor, there's all those pictures of the DAs, and and I look them up and I'm like, what were the things that they were going through at the time, right? And it's interesting, right? And and because you can read about all those articles, and you know, they have some even from the 19 uh 17s uh about cattle rustling problem we had in Bear County, and people are complaining about it and they're blaming the DA, he's not doing enough. And so what he ends up doing is he tries the case himself, right? Yeah, and so I say that right to to you know, all these people were telling me, and I'm in the course I'm thinking, well, I gotta wait because I'm maybe I'm not old enough, right? I'm not old.
SPEAKER_01That's the question you're gonna get.
SPEAKER_03I'm gonna get that question. I was expecting you guys to ask me to ask me. Well, we were about to, I'm gonna. Yeah, yeah, I bet I saw the notes. Um, so so but but but you know, a lot of people were telling me, and and and and when I was really thinking it over about okay, what's the next step in my life? And and um, you know, I I thought about my grandfather, you know, and and he used to tell us this story. Um, my cousin and I, you know, he was 16 years old when he crossed the river uh from Mexico into the United States. And he used to tell us he's like, I came over with only two pants, two shirts, and two watermelons. Right. And then he goes up to Colorado, does some farming work, and then gets my grandmother eventually. And you know, because of him, that's the reason why I'm sitting here with y'all, right? And so I thought about it and um I was like, you know, there's so many people that are encouraging me to do this, and I know I could be good at this. Uh I'm confident in myself. But if I don't do this now, is that me looking at that river and saying, maybe next year, maybe sometime in the future, maybe when I feel ready, you know? And this is kind of the step, and I have much better options than he ever had, right? And so to answer your question right about about the media, I think a lot of it has to do with us as prosecutors, we need to know that the case that's in front of us, right? We need to make sure that we're doing the right thing on that case. Can we prove it beyond a reasonable doubt? And what is the just outcome? Outside of that, they're all just opinions. And it's okay for people to disagree with what the outcome was of a case. That's perfectly within everybody's right. That's perfectly acceptable with the media's right. The duty that we have is to make sure that justice happens on each and every case, to inform our victims about what's happening, making sure our witnesses know when to show up to court. Um, but we should never be in a position to, oh, well, I don't know if I should dismiss this case because what if what's the media gonna say or what they're gonna say out there, right? And and I think it's perfect, you know, if it is me, right? Uh I'm perfectly fine to sit down and have conversations with people about certain decisions. Um, but at the end of the day, I I hope that the people understand that I think everyone at the DA's office would function better if we just know that we have as long as we're doing the right thing on each and every case, what we believe in our hearts of hearts is the right thing, then it's okay. It's okay.
Media Pressure And Doing Justice
SPEAKER_04Well, and and it can be difficult because um, you know, especially nowadays with social media, um, you see a lot of people weighing in on cases that are pending and giving their opinions. And I know one of the things that's frustrating, because you know, I've had cases I've been involved in that get posted about on social media, and you know, maybe they're criticizing, you know, the prosecutors or whatever it is. And in my head, I'm thinking, well, wait a minute, these people don't know that, you know, maybe one of the investigators didn't do a very good job, or, you know, maybe the one one of the witnesses was reluctant, or maybe that lab technician lost something, or whatever it is, but everything's falling squarely on the prosecutor on the DA's office. Hey, they're they're not, you know, doing their work. I I think a lot of criticism comes from just a misunderstanding of how cases work, how the criminal justice system operates, and you know, and what happens once you get in front of that jury and you're forced to prove things beyond a reasonable doubt.
SPEAKER_03Right. I think one of those things that's important for the public to understand, and I and I think uh maybe we as prosecutors or as an office need to do better about explaining is that, you know, just because an arrest is made or a case is filed doesn't mean that game over, all right, we got them. You know, that there's more that goes into that process. That not only is it making sure that each and every witness is credible, but can we prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt? Is there enough? What is the actual just result? Um, but you know, as far as you know, you bring up a good point, you know, you get uh outside opinions about cases that are pending or or bits and pieces. I think that what's important is that the prosecutors that are in the office need to understand that there's an administration, there's a uh a level of you know higher-ups that respect the decisions that are being made right by the people below. And I think I think you know, we a lot of times we hear about this backlog um issue that's in the news, right? It's kind of a big thing, right? Yeah, but I I think so much of that is is we need to look at kind of what is the the root cause of that, right? Do you know the internal health of the office? And in my opinion, a lot of that has to do with the office morale, it's got to do with uh training of the prosecutors, especially our newer ones and and mentoring.
SPEAKER_01But to your point also, it's uh the prosecutors need to know that you trust their judgment.
SPEAKER_03Right, right. Because the prosecutors at the uh you know, especially at the line level, are the ones that know the facts the best out of anyone else, you know, in in the office.
SPEAKER_01If you have if you're an intake prosecutor, you got 300 files in your office, and you feel like any kind of close call you need to run up the chain before you make a decision, you ain't gonna get caught up on that backlog.
SPEAKER_03Right, right. That's that that creates that that that backlog. And and you obviously know it pretty well, you know, Scott, is you know, um back in the day, uh say it that way, is you know, I had to go to Denton County because there weren't enough, you know, there weren't openings, you know, they didn't have a spot for me. Yeah, you're right. And nowadays it's a little different. And and so we need to kind of understand, well, what is the reason behind that and how do we fix that? And I truly believe once you start fixing that, kind of dominoes start to fall, and we can sort of address these backlog issues and making sure that, you know, most importantly, we need to make sure that you know the victims and witnesses are are informed about what's going on at the courthouse and the case is pending. You know, I also think that it would be important for us to um add, you know, additional advocates at the office.
SPEAKER_04Um if you could just explain um, you know, for the audience, what's an advocate?
SPEAKER_03So a victim's advocate is a person at the office or work in uh in a trial team or an intake, and their job is to make sure that they go and contact the witnesses and victims and inform them about settings, let them know about um possible resolutions and keep them engaged throughout the process. Uh we have a lot of advocates in the office. We have great advocates in the office, but we could probably use a few more because of how many cases we have. One of the things that I think is is not stated enough, right? Is um so we're in 2025, and the most recent district court that got added was which one? The 437th?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yes. And so when way overdue.
SPEAKER_03Right. When did that get added?
SPEAKER_01Oh, I can't remember. It was Louis Venezuela got appointed to it, I know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so that's been about 15 years.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's been a while.
SPEAKER_03And so what's the population of San Antonio done in 15 years? Well, it's grown a lot, and I guess is it's a great place to live. You know, I'm you know, I'm raising two kids here.
SPEAKER_01Um I heard we were supposed to be advocating for two new district courts in Baird County like like two legislative sessions ago. And then all of a sudden nothing's happening with it. I don't know what's going on with that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And I think once we we start kind of addressing some of those issues, and I and I so I go back to what I talked about earlier was uh when I was kind of thinking about running and people were telling me you should do that. And I go back to the wall of all the DAs and you look at kind of what their issues were. Uh, I think, you know, if it is me, um, and my picture's on their wall, and someone looks in the future, they'd say his issue at the time was a growing population with limited resources and how do we make sure that the system continues to work, you know, effectively and efficiently. Um, I think that's the issue of of of our time, of my time. And it's a matter of like how how what what do we do? And I think it's it's you know, there's a lot of different things that we can do immediately, but there are some things that are going to take time. And I don't, you know, I hope that no one expects, you know, January 2nd of 2027, TA's office, you know, is fixed and the backlog's done and everything.
SPEAKER_04No, voters are known for being very patient and not being unreasonable in their expectations.
Backlog Roots: Morale And Training
SPEAKER_01But it's the interesting thing about so so when we're talking about community expectations, a lot of the people on social media media are always saying, give everybody the max, give everybody the max, and they're disqualified from sitting on the jury. Yeah. Because they're sitting there in jury selection and saying, Well, I would give everybody the max, and then so they're they can't be on the jury. And so that's the problem, the disconnect between these the patrols who are always saying all this stuff about let them let them go, Joe, or anything like that, which is ridiculous. Um and the the they don't ever show up for jury duty, they they just lob hand grenades in from afar. But but do you have a specific vision of anything you would remodel or realign in terms of if you were the elected?
SPEAKER_03Oh man. Um, so I think right off the bat, what we we have to do is we have to bring back a training um course that every new prosecutor has to go through. And I think we need to communicate with uh misdemeanor court judges that hey, certain days or certain weeks we need to make sure that we get our prosecutors effectively trained. I think we need to go back to at least some form of maybe sister courts or maybe many chiefs. Like the sister court idea. You know, so that this way that there's some sort of So what is a sister court?
SPEAKER_01So so right now what's happening at the DA's office is um they have a deputy, uh chief of misdemeanor and a deputy chief of misdemeanor. And so all the DAs in the 12, 14, 12, I think. 12 county courts, they need to like run stuff by those those two chiefs.
SPEAKER_04So it's just two people that they have to run things by.
SPEAKER_01Right. Okay. So with the sister court system, which we've used in a couple different administrations, each county court is attached to a felony court, and they just need to talk to the their higher ups in the sister felony court.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Much more. So they're they're more, I guess, supervisors, points of contact, things can be mentoring. Mentoring, more efficient.
SPEAKER_01So the first chair in each district court would maybe maybe maybe they're gonna take responsibility for their misdemeanor prosecutors, or maybe they're gonna say, they're you third chair, go check and see how they're doing.
SPEAKER_04And and just so people know that the first chair is kind of the lead prosecutor in that court, and then the second chair is the next in line, and then the third chair.
SPEAKER_03Right. Yeah, and I think you know, a lot of those issues when when they start getting addressed, and and so we we get so many, you know, new prosecutors coming in, uh, they're not effectively trained, and then we wonder why they're leaving six months to a year later. That's right. And it's because no one wants to come into a job where you know you're you gotta go into court and you're gonna be facing off of a you know may a very experienced defense attorney who's just Scott Simpson.
SPEAKER_01He's gonna bean to them all the time, you know, just bullying. Back in my day, we didn't do it like this.
SPEAKER_03But but then after a while, you're like, well, I mean, every day I'm coming in here and I'm getting beat up. I you know, I could go, and you know, the pay is not the greatest. I mean, again, don't get me wrong, I think the pay is fine. I'm doing fine. But but eventually people start looking for for other things. Whereas we probably are losing some very good prosecutors who could have made bin come career prosecutors at the office because they just weren't effectively trained at the beginning, didn't have that mentorship like we we had back when we were coming up, and you know, you could go and ask someone like Scott, like, hey, I got this issue, can you help me out? Because you've probably done this, you know, a few more years than me.
SPEAKER_04Well, you don't want to feel like you're kind of left all alone, right? Like you don't want to feel like you're on an island and you're you're kind of drowning and there's nobody there. You want to feel like, hey, I've got somebody.
SPEAKER_01Now, I I do think in mentorship, though, when somebody would come to me with a question about a case, I would always want to know what they want to do with the case. I don't want to just tell them what my opinion is without hearing what their opinion is. Right, right. Um, and so I think that's the proper way to mentor is like, so what are you looking to do with the case? And that I've had younger prosecutors who felt like they could prove a DWI and knew I knew damn well they weren't gonna be able to get a guilty on that. But if I told them just to dismiss it, they wouldn't have learned from it. And they tried it and got a not guilty. You may disagree with that act idea. Yeah, but but but you're supposed to make your mistakes and misdemeanor. So by the time you get promoted into felony, you're not making mistakes anymore. Nothing not that.
SPEAKER_04Where the stakes are higher.
Trusting Line Prosecutors
SPEAKER_03Where the stakes are higher, right? And that that's that's that's the thing is that eventually if you don't adequately and effectively train the younger prosecutors, then they get promoted into felony, they get promoted to that second first chair, and we're all wondering, well, why are some things not getting prosecuted effectively or efficiently? Well, it's because it started at the beginning. Um, I think another thing that needs to maybe be improved upon is that, you know, like we were talking about right now, is that everyone needs to feel like our decisions will be backed and that we don't need to run everything up by the chain. If a case needs to be rejected or dismissed because we can't prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, then guess what? That's okay. That's that's the job of the district attorney's office. We shouldn't be worrying about numbers and things like that.
SPEAKER_01As long as you feel like you can go explain why you did it, you should feel good about it.
SPEAKER_03Because the danger, of course, right, is let's say you have five cases in front of you, and last week you had to dismiss a few cases uh because you couldn't prove them beyond a reasonable doubt. And you're looking at these five in front of you, and you say, you know what, I can't prove these beyond a reasonable doubt. The just thing is to dismiss them, to reject them. The danger of focusing something on numbers is, well, I dismissed you know a few last roots, so I gotta wait till I make the decision on these, and you know, things like that. And that's that's the danger, right?
SPEAKER_01And I think those are the things. But I did used to do that when I was a misdemeanor prosecutor. Like, I've already dismissed two cases this month. Let's reset it. That's my limit for this month. Because you don't want to look look like like an idiot, though. It's hard.
SPEAKER_04But but again, like I But Scott, what what do you always say? What is the prosecutor's obligation to see that justice is done, right?
SPEAKER_03But they could get justice next month, right? But but but again, it goes to that issue of like, you know, what we're talking about, the issues of our time, right? Is we have an expanding population, limited resources, those cases they keep coming, and that's kind of the the intake monster that we have is that cases will always keep coming. And so we have to focus and make the most efficient and effective decision that we can today. Sure.
SPEAKER_01One of the things you like I used to tell my my younger prosecutors is so when when they would complain about a the DA uh kowtowing towards public perception, right? And they say, Well, we shouldn't care what the public thinks. I'm like, yeah, but if if if if our boss doesn't get re-elected, then we're somebody else comes in that's not as as willing to work with us as they are, then then that didn't help the situation, did it? So we we can't pretend that public perception isn't one of the most important things to an elected DA.
SPEAKER_03Right. But I think what we were talking about uh is there's public perception and then there's troll perception. Yeah, right. That's I guess that's the important distinction, right? Right. And so can the public, can can we as an office, uh, you know, if it is me, and as an elected official, be able to convey to the public that look, you're not gonna agree with every decision that we make at the office. That's just the reality. It's a tough position. Right. You're never gonna make everybody happy. Right. And and we as a as a office myself, I have to be okay with that. And and I am, because as long as I can, you know, go to sleep every night and think I tried to do the best that I can with each and every case, then it's okay. You know, um, I think that's kind of the important thing that I that I want to make sure that we convey, because if we're trying to make sure that we we please the trolls, well, you're never gonna please the trolls, you know.
SPEAKER_01You're right, yeah, 100%.
SPEAKER_03And and that's the the interesting thing about it. Um, you know, I I think that, you know, like I said, our community is is a great community. You know, I'm here and I plan to stay here. You know, my two kids uh you know go to school here and and do great things. And um, I hope to make the office the best that it can be, you know, not only for them, but but for everyone.
SPEAKER_01And you're challenging all the other candidates to a boxing match. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03I think I told someone today, I said, man, I wish this was a real foot race because then I I think I could beat every single one of them, unless unless you know Shannon's a little faster than me, but I'm not sure. Or Melly or someone.
SPEAKER_01We're coming up on the end. So uh what did you want out there? What what do you want to the public to know about you that that hasn't been said so far today?
Courts, Population Growth, And Resources
SPEAKER_03You know, I I think I hope that the public knows that what we need at the office is someone that's been a line prosecutor and that's been a line prosecutor for for over a decade and has been one recently that understands the challenges of the office, the issues that each and every prosecutor goes through, uh understands uh the way the court system works, uh, has an idea of where the office should be, not only uh today but for the future, uh, has the ability to not only um accept criticism and and and appreciate it, because that that's the point of a you know a functioning democracy, right? Um but also be able to work with not only the people that work in the district attorney's office, but also other outside agencies, law enforcement, the county commissioners, to make sure that that this office can be the most uh effective office that it can be. Um you know, like I said, I I you know I'm not saying uh I'm I'm perfect, um, but I and I and I understand that I hope to surround myself with chiefs that can tell me when I'm wrong. Um, because that's also the point of this is that this is a a collective effort. Uh it requires the entire community to make sure that because we all want the same thing. Right.
SPEAKER_04Which you're only going to be as good as the people that you surround yourself with.
SPEAKER_03Right, right. And and we are we are only uh we all want the same thing, you know, all of us in this room. And that's to make sure that we have a safe Bear County, an effective district attorney, and one that the public can look at and say they're doing the best that they can. They're not perfect, but they're doing the best that they can because they're looking and pursuing justice.
SPEAKER_04And if they ever have a cure for male pattern baldness, I wouldn't mind that either. But may not be in my lifetime.
SPEAKER_01All right. Thank you so much for coming. Oscar, yeah, I appreciate you coming on. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_04I appreciate it so much. It was nice meeting you and good luck on your candidacy. Do you have a website? Do you have any kind of social media too?
SPEAKER_03Do you want to promote? Do you want to I have a TikTok? I have my my let's go through it. Uh, what is your TikTok so that the people can find you? I think it's Oscar Salinas for D A. Okay. Uh my wife is my campaign manager, so she handles all that stuff. Uh I think I have an Instagram, Oscar Salinas for D A for Bear County D A. And I have a website, Oscar Salinas for D A.
SPEAKER_04And if people want to donate, they can just go to the website.
SPEAKER_03They go to the website and there's a you know uh S-A-L-I-N-A-S.
SPEAKER_01S-A-L-I-N A. Period is Oscar Salinas, okay.
SPEAKER_03Four D A more time for Oscar Salinas for D A. Four written out, not the number four. Uh four D uh written out. Yeah. Okay. And then D A.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Yeah. Fantastic. Uh people go uh look him up. You've uh heard his take on some issues, go do your research, find out more about him, and visit his website. And we we thank you for coming on.
SPEAKER_03Thank you. Yeah, and if anyone else wants to reach out and email me um about a question, I'm more than happy to answer those questions too. It's is there an email address? OscarSilinas for D A at Gmail.com. There's a recurring theme here. It works. Thank you. Thank you guys. I appreciate it. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for listening to Don't You Got Arrested. If you found this podcast helpful, share it with someone who needs to hear it. For more legal insights and real time from the front lines.