story by Mollie Bryant

Jason Ferguson, assistant district attorney of the 31st Judicial District of Texas, filed last Thursday to run for District Attorney of that district, which includes Gray, Hemphill, Lipscomb, Roberts and Wheeler counties. Ferguson, 27, will run against Franklin McDonough, Assistant District Attorney of the 84th District.

Ferguson attended law school at the University of Houston and has been with the 31st District since 2010. During that time, he has tried every kind of felony up to murder. He reached the decision to run for D.A. after much reflection.

“I tried two cases in the last month, both of which had really young defendants who were both probation eligible, and (in) both cases, the jury gave them pen time,” he said. “One was 20 years and one was three years. And after that, I came back and thought about it, and basically decided that the people need another choice. They value that our office is known for being tough on crime, and it just seemed like the right thing to do, to give them an option that keeps being tough on crime.”

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