Sutton attended UT on a baseball scholarship and played for the Texas Longhorns,[3] where he was a two-year letterman under coach Cliff Gustafson.

In 1994, Sutton obtained the death penalty against Raul Villareal in the rape and murder of two teenage girls, Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena.

[1] Upon Bush's election as president in 2000, Sutton became coordinator for the Bush-Cheney transition team assigned to the Department of Justice where he served as associate deputy attorney general, initially advising on U.S.-Mexico border issues.

On October 25, 2001, Bush nominated Sutton for U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, one of the nation's busiest criminal dockets, known for its high percentage of drug and immigration crimes and covering 68 counties including Austin, San Antonio, El Paso, and 660 miles of border.

[13] In this role, Sutton frequently traveled to Washington to advise the Department of Justice on border-related issues and testify before Congress.

[18] Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, asked in 2007 whether Sutton's job was in danger over controversy associated with the case, said "No.

"[19] Sutton told the Texas Monthly: "All people have heard is that two American heroes are in prison for doing their job and that a drug dealer has been set free.

"[18] On January 19, 2009, President Bush commuted the sentences of both Compean and Ramos, effectively ending their prison term on March 20, 2009.

This was not the first narco-cemetery to be discovered in Mexico, but due to the number of bodies and the controversy surrounding ICE knowledge of cartel operations, the event became publicized and known as the "House of Death" case.

Sutton was criticized afterward by some observers, including University of Texas-El Paso law professor Bill Weaver, for not taking action to shut down the operation earlier and recommending the DoJ refrain from commenting to the media about the case.

[23] Other widely covered prosecutions included an El Paso counterfeiting ring,[24] a Permian Basin heroin and cocaine operation,[25] the leader of an Austin-based illegal immigrant smuggling organization,[26] and Kickapoo tribal leaders accused of embezzling $900,000 in casino and health-care revenues for personal and political use.