By RAY QUIROGA
publisher@sbnewspaper.com
Cameron County Pct. 3-1 Justice of the Peace, Jesus T. “Chuy” Garcia, Jr. knows who he is, what he does and does not like, and what we wants and does not want out of his career and life.
A child of educators, Jesus Tomas Garcia, Sr. and Nora Belinda Garcia, who spent majority of their careers teaching in San Benito schools, Garcia recalled how, early on, he noticed his parents grading papers late into the evening. It was those long evenings grading papers that led Garcia to realize that teaching wasn’t a career path that he wanted to pursue.
“I know it’s been said many times before, but teaching is one of the most underpaid and under-appreciated professions there is,” Garcia said with great appreciation and admiration for the profession and for his parents.
He also knows that politics, at certain levels, is a game he has no interest in playing. After a failed bid for judgeship earlier in his career, he received encouragement to run for other offices, but he knew then that he was best suited to serve the community in a legal capacity.
Similarly, Garcia knows between all his professional roles, which include prosecutor for the Cameron County DA’s office, and defense attorney in private practice, he’s most satisfied and most at home on the bench, serving the community in which he was raised.
Maybe a bit surprisingly, Garcia said that the aspect of his job he does the most is not handing down judgement, or even signing warrants, but educating many of the individuals who come through his office. He went on to explain that as Justice of the Peace, he cannot issue legal advice. “Honestly, the thing that I do the most is explain to people what I can and cannot do in terms of my digression,” Garcia said.
But long before Garcia was appointed, then elected Justice of the Peace, and long before he was with the DA’s office or even was in law school, he was an active member of the community, something he learned the value of from his parents. These days, he’s known for volunteering, supporting, attending and participating in a number of community events, and it’s for that reason Judge Garcia was named the 2022 San Benito News Citizen of the Year.
Garcia, a San Benito High School Class of 1994 graduate who ranked 10th in his class, went on to attend Texas A&M University–College Station where he graduated with a degree in Food Science and Technology. He was then employed by Texas Workforce Center, but he always had an itch for law. It was at that point he decided to attend law school at Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law in Houston. He graduated in 2006 and joined the Cameron County DA’s office as a prosecutor from 2006-09, before moving onto private practice, all the while remaining active in the community.
To this day, Garcia represents the county’s mental health defendants. “For the county, I represent all the patients when an incident happens or they are taken to the hospital for a screening. They are required to have a hearing before the judge within 72 hours, so I represent all the patients in Cameron County that get admitted to a mental health facility,” Garcia explained.
Want the story in its entirety? Pick up a copy of the San Benito News, or subscribe to our e-Edition by clicking HERE!
Recent Comments