Integrity in Dallas

Three of the top administrators in Dallas are leaving the District Attorney's office.

http://www.law.com/jsp/tx/PubArticleTX.jsp?id=1202496736775&Three_Prosecutors_Leaving_Dallas_District_Attorneys_Office&slreturn=1&hbxlogin=1&slreturn=1

What I find interesting in this article (and yes, I'm totally ripping off another attorney's comments from our email chat group) is:

“The good thing about all three of them is they knew this time would come. They groomed folks to take their place, and we have a wealth of talent,” Watkins says. “I hoped this day wouldn’t come, but it did. And we have to move forward.”

and

Watkins says he has not yet decided on who will take over for Moore as his first assistant. “That’s going to be a hard decision. I’m still trying to make that decision,” he says.

So they groomed people for their spots, but Watkins doesn't think the chosen groomed are the right folks. Maybe they should look back at the five or so prosecutors that have "left" in the last two months. One or two of them were excellent at their positions.

Also, Ware claims he came to the DA's office with Watkins so he could start the "Conviction Integrity Unit".

Ware oversaw the creation of the Conviction Integrity Unit, a first-of-its-kind division within the DA’s office that worked with the Innocence Project to review cases of convicted defendants from Dallas County.

However, this work has been going on in Dallas since 2001. ( http://www.txcn.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/tv/stories/DN-dnaexonerees_23met.ART.State.Edition2.192fe4ce.html) Watkins was elected in 2007. He and Ware named the unit and made alot of press with that name, especially after partnering with the Innocence Project and seeking national attention and speaking opportunities. Never mind that the work had been going on for 6 years without demanding accolades or praise.

The longer I work in Dallas County, the more I think the wrong candidate won the election last November.

No Appeal on Capital Punishment.

Convicted Sex Offender, on Parole for Aggravated Sexual Assault, dies while raping an elderly woman.

http://www.kltv.com/story/14902912/man-dies-while-raping-elderly-south-texas-woman?redirected=true

I've learned in the past 10 years or so that the press get details and facts completely wrong all the time. But this one seems straight forward enough to say: sometimes, Capital Punishment is just.

Rusty Duncan and the San Antonio Convention.

The TCDLA held its annual convention last week. (http://www.tcdla.com/rusty/rustyduncan.htm) I attended with two other members of my office. I should thank the Tarrant County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. I was a thankful recipient of one of their scholarships. (Which prompted my colleagues to volunteer me driving.)

The materials provided were excellent. The papers were well researched and documented, but I thought that a few of the speakers came off a little on the kooky side. I guess that's to be expected. The majority of criminal defense attorneys practice in solo or small firms without the benefit of interaction with different viewpoints. Several speakers could have used a common chisel of conversation to break off the rough and superfluous parts of their opinions the better to fit the topics to universal use. I really don't need to know your opinion of the President or Congress. I need to hear the case law update.

I also thought that a Legislative update before the Legislation is signed seemed useless. If I wanted to know what didn't pass and what was a great idea that died in committee, I'd go read about it online.

I did like meeting several of the speakers who have offered to assist me as a sounding board on an appellate case I'm working on now. As well as meeting the IPad app speaker who has convinced me that getting one will increase my organization for my office.

Summary: Worth attending. Good networking opportunities. Interesting materials. Take opinions with a grain or hunk of salt.

Heavy Breathing

Defense Counsel in Dallas won a breath test case today:

Defendant was clocked at over 105 MPH on the Tollway.
Charged with DWI with a .117 Breath Test. 
A Jury in Dallas CCC 9, Judge Peggy Hoffman's Court acquitted the 19 year old defendant.

Not every breath test case should automatically be a plea.

Make sure your lawyer has experience and knows what they are doing.

The Dallas Dilemma

When I moved to Dallas in December of 2010, I wondered what it would be like to leave prosecution and begin defending people. I'd always known that I was a little too reasonable as a prosecutor. I took more time than others with the victims. I'd spend time talking to the defendant's family. I'd talk to the friends of the witnesses in the cases. I actually was accused of being "too fair" by a District Attorney.

In fact, some of the endorsements I've received on my Avvo site reflect those sentiments. (http://www.avvo.com/attorneys/75204-tx-philip-ray-3343333.html?ref=header)

I loved being a prosecutor. I liked doing the right thing for the right reasons. Most of the time, the elected officials I worked for didn't stand in the way of my beliefs. I didn't know how that would translate ethically into defending people in Dallas.

Then I went into the Crowley Courthouse.

Let me be clear: There are good people in the DA's office in Dallas. Fair prosecutors who understand the value of a case. Felony prosecutors who will sit with you and talk through the facts of your client's problems and come up with what they believe is a resonable response to the actions the defendant took that landed them in court.

But this system is stacked against them. The court attorneys don't get the file until it is indicted. They don't get discretion over how the cases are charged until after the client is facing the District Court. The Trial Court prosecutors only have jurisdiction over the cases that are assigned to them. The special topic prosecutors have too many cases on too many floors to make them effective at managing their docket. Files can't be found for MONTHS in the misdemeanor courts. (One client was charged as a felony; the intake prosecutor recognized that the evidence wouldn't sustain a felony conviction and kicked it down to a misdemeanor court. The misdemeanor prosecutor still hasn't seen anything on the case two months later. - Keep in mind this is supposed to be a 'paperless system'.)

Doing the right thing in Dallas means keeping your client from being lost in the shuffle, bullied by lack of information, and transferred down the road into a corner where their version of what happened is never heard. Defending in Dallas is having a voice loud enough to be heard over the bureaucratic capriciousness that is the logistical nightmare of the Frank Crowley building.

Defending in Dallas is a little like screaming at a hurricane to stop for a minute and listen.

I think I'm going to like it here. As a prosecutor I was always looking out for the vicitms, standing up to the bullies that have commited crimes against their fellow citizens. Here in Dallas, the bully isn't the individual prosecutors, it's the broken system that takes cases from Garland and Irving with little discretion and understanding. It's too many files piled on one desk for thoughtful intake. It's taking your qualified leaders and demoting them or running them off. It's watching all the defendants in the hall way wonder what the hell is happening without a single person to explain, "It will be ok. We'll figure this out."

Yeah, there's a place for me here. One case at a time.