Kelley Crisp elected Bowie County criminal district attorney
TEXARKANA, Texas — Kelley Crisp was elected Bowie County criminal district attorney on Tuesday. The Republican had no opponent.
Crisp received 16,169 votes, including 13,564 in early voting, 652 by mail and 1,953 on Election Day, according to unofficial results the Bowie County Elections Office released at 9:25 p.m. Tuesday. All 43 precincts had partially reported at that time. The results are unofficial until the county canvasses them.
Crisp, the office’s first assistant, all but settled the race in the March 3 Republican primary, when she defeated her boss, District Attorney Jerry Rochelle, with 8,024 votes to his 4,062, about 66% to 34%, according to the Bowie County Elections Office’s election-night count. Rochelle, who is finishing his fourth four-year term, leaves office Dec. 31. Crisp takes office Jan. 1.
“Tonight, the voters of Bowie County made it official, and I am deeply grateful,” Crisp said in a statement. “Serving as your Criminal District Attorney will be the honor of my career. While I am proud to be the first woman elected to lead this office, I am prouder still of the women and men who have been doing this work alongside me for years.”
“I couldn’t have earned this victory without the law enforcement officers who stood with my campaign from day one, our volunteers and supporters, and my family,” she said. “I’ll be sworn in this January, and I’m ready. There is much work to do to deliver the justice and public safety our communities and our citizens deserve. Thank you for believing in me and giving me this opportunity.”
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Crisp joined the district attorney’s office in 2010, hired by then-District Attorney Bobby Lockhart, and was named first assistant in 2019, the first woman to hold that job in Bowie County. She has been the chief felony prosecutor in the 202nd District Court and has tried more than 135 cases to verdict, most of them violent crimes such as capital murder, murder, aggravated sexual assault and child sexual abuse, according to her campaign announcement. She was part of the team that prosecuted Taylor Parker, sentenced to death in 2022 for the fetal abduction and killing of Reagan Simmons-Hancock and her unborn daughter.
Last week, Crisp and Assistant District Attorney Bradley Akins won a capital murder conviction against Clyde Allen Stephens in the June 2025 killings of Donna Culpepper and Charles Beckham at a De Kalb home. Stephens was sentenced to life without parole.
That case was at the center of the primary fight. In August 2025, relatives of both victims wrote letters questioning whether Rochelle had taken over as lead prosecutor from Crisp for political reasons. Rochelle denied removing her and said his decision “was in no way political or personally motivated.”
“I’ve been blessed to be entrusted with the responsibility to seek justice for the victims and families of victims of the most serious crimes in our county,” Crisp said when she announced her campaign.
Crisp was endorsed in the race by the Texarkana Police Officers Association and the Texarkana Municipal Police Association. She is president of the ArkLaTex 100 Club, which supports the families of first responders, and volunteers with the Texarkana Children’s Advocacy Center.
A native of Booneville, Arkansas, Crisp holds bachelor’s, master’s and law degrees from the University of Arkansas. She practiced civil law for three years before joining the district attorney’s office. She and her husband, John, and their son live in Texarkana, Texas.
The criminal district attorney prosecutes felony and misdemeanor cases in Bowie County. Every county office on Tuesday’s Bowie County ballot had a single candidate. Josh Davis was elected county judge.