Assistant DA sues County of El Paso over wrongful termination by “colossal disaster” DA Rosales

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- An assistant district attorney is suing the County of El Paso for wrongful termination.

ABC-7 obtained a copy of the federal civil lawsuit John Briggs filed against the county.

ADA Briggs was publicly fired by former, disgraced district attorney Yvonne Rosales in August of 2022, and was rehired in February 2023 by current DA Bill Hicks.

In his lawsuit, Briggs said Rosales was, "a colossal disaster" whose nearly two-year tenure was "indelibly marred by incompetence and scandal."

Briggs said Rosales and her "inner circle of advisors forced Briggs out of the El Paso County District Attorney's Office after he refused to cooperate with an illegal scheme she and her advisors had conducted."

ABC-7 reported on the unearthing of that incident that occurred on Aug. 4, 2022, when Rosales and her associates were accused of violating a court-issued gag order in the Walmart massacre case by impersonating and threatening family members of victims.

According to the lawsuit, Briggs said former ADA Curtis Cox approached him on Aug. 18, 2022, and instructed Briggs to sign an affidavit that stated Briggs had not informed the family of Walmart shooting victim Alexander Hoffmann of the gag order, which Briggs said was false.

The day after he refused to sign the affidavit, the lawsuit states that the DA Division Chief Scott Ferguson drafted Briggs' performance evaluation, and despite "consistently" receiving favorable evaluations over his 25-year tenure, Briggs said Furguson "tanked" Briggs and emailed the draft to Cox, Rosales and First Assistant District Attorney George Al-Hanna. Briggs also said Al-Hanna intentionally lowered Briggs' score and made the criticism harsher.

Briggs said on Aug. 22, 2022, he was terminated and escorted out of the office.

Briggs said in the lawsuit he received the evaluation draft and final evaluation in an open records request.

ABC-7 left a voicemail with Al-Hanna asking if he would comment on the lawsuit, and we are awaiting a response.

Briggs is seeking damages and back pay, as well as lost wages, saying he had to take a job outside of El Paso County that paid half of the salary in the D.A.'s office. He is seeking damages for the harm done to his reputation and for the mental anguish, physical and emotional pain and suffering, humiliation and other factors.

Briggs is also asking for a federal jury trial.