The following are the complete and unedited responses submitted by the candidate listed below to the Amarillo Pioneer’s Candidate Questionnaire.

Name: Lesli Fitzpatrick

Office Sought: Court of Criminal Appeals Place 3

Party Affiliation: Republican

Age: 62

What is your educational background? Please list any degrees or certificates earned and any institutions attended.

Bachelor of Arts, Major in Sociology, Minor in Business Management, 1994, University of Texas of the Permian Basin, Cum Laude, Master of Arts, Sociology, 1997, Baylor University, Juris Doctorate, 2000, South Texas College of Law, licensed to practice in all Texas Courts, and licensed to practice in the U.S. District Courts for the Western District of Texas.

What is your occupation?

Attorney, I currently serve as the Director of Special Litigation for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Please list any civic boards or commissions (non-profit, government, union, religious, political, etc.) on which you have served as a board member or equivalent.

Austin Bar Association, State Bar of Texas, College of the State Bar of Texas - Fellow, Collaborative Council Member for the Texas Judicial Commission on Mental Health since its inception in 2018, Former Board Member for the Texas Association of Specialty Courts, current primary member of the Northwest Austin Republican Women's Club, the Texas Federation of Republican Women and the National Federation of Republican Women.

Have you previously held or do you currently hold any elected office? If so, what office(s)?

Former Williamson County Precinct Chair from 2013 through 2020.

If your campaign has any online campaign resources where voters can learn more about you, such as social media accounts or a website, please list them below.

https://lesliforjudge.com/; https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61575512064610; https://www.instagram.com/lesligordonfitzpatrick/; https://x.com/LesliFitzpatri9; https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesli-fitzpatrick-00243b26/

Why did you decide to run for this office in 2026?

I ran in 2022 for the Texas Third Court of Appeals after being asked to do so by the former Chief of this Court. I nearly won this twenty-four-county race only losing by two percent and with over 500,000 Republican voters voting for me. I was contacted by a former campaign employee from that race in March of 2025 and he told me that God had brought my name to his remembrance to run for judge. I am a strong Christian and believe in the power of prophecy. I filed to run in April of 2025 long before anyone else in this race.

If elected, what will be your top priority?

I want to make the time for releasing opinions go from its current state of over 500 days back down to a more reasonable time frame like it has been in the past. I also want to ensure that this Court follows the rule of law and constitution and does not legislate from the bench.

Please describe your legal career experience and discuss any career highlights you would like to share.

I have been licensed for nearly twenty-five years. My first legal job was as an intern at the First Court of Appeals my second year of law school. I spent over twenty years as a felony prosecutor and felony defense attorney handling the type of criminal cases that this appellate court reviews regularly. My crowning achievement as a felony prosecutor was when I prosecuted a first-degree felony of Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child in 2005. Unbeknownst to me, this Defendant had been molesting little boys for over thirty years. I got a guilty verdict, and the jury gave him life in prison. The day after the trial ended in Odessa, Texas, I received a call from a woman whose sons had been molested by this man in the early seventies and law enforcement did not pursue the case. I have the great satisfaction of knowing that I stopped a really bad individual from harming anymore children. Including this trial, I have tried many criminal cases to a jury. I have been licensed to practice in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit where I wrote briefs and did motion practice before that appellate bench. I currently work as the Director of Special Litigation for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. I provide litigation support to the Texas Office of Attorney General's Law Enforcement Defense Division. I oversee inmate cases including appeals. I believe this current job along with my twenty years in the courtroom makes me the most qualified candidate for this bench. I am the only candidate that has practiced law as a prosecutor and criminal defense lawyer. Therefore, I have a balanced perspective of the law like the scales of justice.

During your time in law school, what was the most profound lesson you learned that continues to play a role in your career and/or your life?

I did not do debate or pre-law before I entered law school. I had a very difficult time my first semester. I was not certain if I had made the right choice. The second semester of law school, I wrote my first appellate brief and did my first appellate oral argument. My law school set up a round robin type of competition. The Judge of my round was an Associate Dean of my law school known as the "mean dean." One of my classmates was the Petitioner and I was the Respondent. We both presented our oral arguments and were critiqued by the Dean. After she critiqued my classmate, the Dean looked at me and told me that I was a natural. I was thirty-three years old at the time, and no one had ever told me I was a natural at anything. The Dean went on about my mastery of the law and how well I wrote and argued my brief. I left law school that day on a pink cloud. I have never forgotten this event and believe that God has used it to get me to run in 2022 and now.

What fictional lawyer do you most identify with? Please explain.

Perry Mason or Aticus Finch because they both fought for justice and the rule of law.

Do you have any notable endorsements you would like to highlight for voters? If this question is not applicable, please write N/A.

I am the law-and-order judicial candidate in the race. So far, I have already been endorsed by the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, the Texas Municipal Police Association, the Houston Police Officer's Union, the Sheriffs of Lubbock, Ector, Midland, Tom Green, Denton, Williamson, Goliad and Galveston Counties and all three Republican Constables for Williamson County. I have also been endorsed by Texas Senators Kevin Sparks, Charles Schwertner and Pete Flores. I have been endorsed by Texas State Representatives Terry Wilson, Carrie Isaacs, Ben Bumgarner, Brad Buckley and Richard Hays.

Why are you the best candidate for voters to support for this position?

I have the perfect legal and political resume for this position. I have over twenty years of criminal law practice in the courtroom. None of my opponents have this type of experience. I have sufficient appellate experience too. I haven't just written about criminal cases; I have actively engaged in the legal issues that come before this appellate court. I am the only candidate that has been an active member of the Republican Party of Texas for over thirty years. I have served as a Delegate to the State Convention and have helped many Republican candidates get elected, especially when I served as a Precinct Chair in Williamson County for eight years.