District Attorney Sonny McAfee named Prosecutor of the Year
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission named 33rd and 424th District Attorney Wiley ‘Sonny’ McAfee the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Prosecutor of the Year. He and wife Jill McAfee were recognized during a commission meeting August 22. Pictured are TPWC Chairman Reed Morian, Sonny McAfee, Jill McAfee, Texas Game Warden Colonel Grahame Jones, and TPWD Executive Director Carter Smith. Courtesy photo
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission recognized District Attorney Wiley “Sonny” McAfee on August 22 for his efforts in prosecuting natural and cultural resource violations as well as environmental crimes.
The commission named the 33rd and 424th district attorney the 2019 Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Prosecutor of the Year. McAfee serves Burnet, Llano, Blanco, and San Saba counties.
Elected in November 2012 and taking office on January 1, 2013, he has been instrumental in a number of high-profile cases involving Texas game wardens and Texas State Park police officers.
One of those cases involved a 2002 hit-and-run boating accident on Lake Buchanan that killed an 18-year-old man and injured two others. The case was cold until game wardens received a tip that led investigators to a Bertram-area farm in December 2010, where they located the boat involved in the collision.
Travis Marburger was arrested and eventually pleaded guilty in January 2012 to failing to stop and render aid. He was sentenced to 10 years’ probation.
McAfee wasn’t the district attorney at the time of the case, but he was when Marburger sought an early release from probation.
According to a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department media release: “McAfee worked alongside game wardens, the victims and their families, and witnesses in the 17-year-old case and defeated a motion to grant early release from the conviction secured by the previous district attorney.”
In 2016, McAfee was instrumental in the successful prosecution of an intoxicated boater who crashed into a Marble Falls Police Department patrol boat on July 4, 2015, injuring a department captain.
Also in 2016, the district attorney prosecuted two people involved in vandalizing rock formations at Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. The vandals spray painted the phrase “CA$H TRUCK” on a rock in the popular park.
editor@thepicayune.com