DALLAS – Governor Greg Abbott has appointed Faith Simmons Johnson as Dallas County’s new district attorney to fulfill the remaining term of Susan Hawk who resigned to improve her mental health.
Johnson, 65, is a former state district judge, who has spent the last decade as an attorney in private practice. A press release from Abbott states that she will be in office until Dec. 31, 2018, "or until a successor shall be duly elected and qualified."
“Throughout her career, Faith has proven herself a dedicated public servant, most notably as a criminal prosecutor where she attained the status of chief felony prosecutor during her time in the Dallas County District Attorney's Office,” said Governor Abbott. “As a former prosecutor, district judge, and while serving on the Department of Public Safety Commission, Faith has shown a commitment to law enforcement and the rule of law. She has devoted herself to defending some of our most vulnerable Texans, and I am confident that in her new role as district attorney, Faith will continue to fight for the people of Dallas County and ensure that justice is served.”
She was one of 11 applicants who asked Abbott to be considered for the county’s top prosecutor job.
“After 17 years on the trial bench I know what it takes to manage an efficient docket and as district attorney, I will do everything feasible to assist our district and county judges to efficiently manage their dockets by instructing my assistants to plead those cases that do not need to be tried and reserving trials for the most serious cases,” she wrote in her application to Gov. Abbott this year.
For 17 years, Johnson served as a state district judge at Dallas’s 363rd District Court. Johnson was re-elected four times but lost her seat in 2006 when Democrats swept the county. Judge Tracy Holmes defeated Johnson and still holds the seat today.
During most of the 1980s, Johnson served as an assistant district attorney in Dallas County. She was the first African-American female to become the chief felony prosecutor in the Dallas Co. D.A.’s Office.
“I left because I was appointed judge of the 363rd District Court,” she wrote in her application to Abbott.
Politically, the governor wanted to find a Republican who can get re-elected to the seat in a heavily Democratic county.
As a woman and a minority with deep ties to southern Dallas and several influential black churches, Republicans hope Johnson can help the GOP keep the seat when her term is up in 2018. She told WFAA she intends to run vigorously for it in two years.
Johnson replaces Hawk – the first Republican in years to get elected to a countywide seat in Dallas. Hawk resigned in September after several secretive and extended leaves of absence for mental health treatment.
Because of the federal privacy law and like all 11 applicants, Johnson’s health information in her application was redacted.
She listed Bishop T.D. Jakes and former Dallas County Commissioner Maurine Dickey among others as references on her applications to the governor.
Johnson said she most admired Judge Carolyn Wright, Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals for the Fifth District in Dallas.
“She is not result-oriented and I consider her one of the most careful judges in the state,” Johnson wrote in her application.
It’s uncertain what priorities Johnson will set as district attorney, but insiders say the office needs a morale boost after the controversial terms of District Attorneys Susan Hawk and Craig Watkins.
Johnson, the youngest of 13 children, is originally from Atlanta but moved to Texas to attend law school at Texas Southern University in Houston in 1977.
She is currently the managing attorney at her own firm in Irving which practices civil, criminal probate, federal and family law.
Johnson said she has represented 19 churches, she explained in her application, including The Potter’s House Church, Concord Church and Friendship West Baptist Church – three large and influential congregations in southern Dallas.
In 2009, Governor Perry appointed her as a committee member for the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute. In 2014, Perry selected Johnson as one of the five commissioners of the Texas Public Safety Commission where she continues to serve.