W. David Friesenhahn, a criminal trial lawyer with 36 years experience as both a prosecutor and criminal defense attorney, announced his candidacy to become the judge of the Hays County Court-at-Law No. 2.
The current judge of the Hays County Court-at-Law No. 2 is Republican Chris Johnson, who has twice been elected to office.
“Our slogan is ‘Let’s Get Real,’ because I’m a real Democrat, with real experience, who is fighting for real change,” said Friesenhahn.
As a former Hays County Democratic Party precinct chair and former member of the Hays County Democratic Party Executive Committee, Friesenhahn is seeking the Democratic nomination for the office. The Democratic primary is scheduled for March of 2026.
Friesenhahn owns a private law practice in San Marcos and is board certified as a specialist in criminal law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.
Friesenhahn began his legal career in 1989, working as an Assistant Texas Attorney General in that agency’s Criminal Law Enforcement Division during the Jim Mattox Administration. He then served as a trial prosecutor, first at the Guadalupe County Attorney’s Office, followed by five years as the First Assistant County Attorney of Comal County.
Friesenhahn began his defense practice in 1995. As an attorney, he has been involved with several thousand criminal cases, has litigated over 100 jury trials and has delivered oral argument before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
“The most important skill for a lawyer, and a judge, is to listen. As a prosecutor, I’ve listened to survivors of physical sexual abuse tell me about their struggles to break free from their abusers. As a defense lawyer, I’ve heard my clients and their families tell me of their struggles with alcohol and drug addiction, as well as mental illness. I’ve listened to cops, probation officers and social workers tell me of their frustrations with working in a system that is often overwhelmed. I have spent my legal career trying to make sure that people are heard.”
Friesenhahn advocates: -Imposing deadlines on resolving cases in order to help clear court backlogs.
-Using pretrial bonds and court hearings to make sure that defendants with alcohol and drug problems are receiving the help they need, as well as to make sure that victims of domestic violence are adequately protected.
-Providing more information to defendants, and more training for lawyers, concerning the possible immigration consequences of criminal cases.
-Giving more information to people who are eligible to erase or seal their records and how to do so.
-Making himself available to law enforcement on busy holiday weekends so that law enforcement has the option of using no-refusal policies in Driving While Intoxicated cases during those times.
Friesenhahn graduated from Rice University in 1986, with a bachelor’s degree in American Studies and received a law degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1989. He met his wife, Tara, 34 years ago, and they have a teenage daughter. He and his family have resided in Hays County for more than thirteen years.
