The Harris County District Attorney's Office continues its loss of prosecutors this month with the departures of two District Court Chiefs and a senior Felony Three. Kevin Petroff, Darin Darby and Jamie Collier Burns have all announced this month that they will be moving on to greener pastures.
Back in the olden days, a felony chief leaving the office was an occurrence that happened maybe once or twice a year. It is kind of interesting to see that two are leaving in the same week now.
I'm not sure what Darin and Jamie will be doing with their future careers, but Kevin is headed down to Galveston County to be a Felony Division chief. It is a good match for both him, and District Attorney Jack Roady. I spoke with Jack on the phone today, and he is very excited to be getting Kevin.
I mean no disrespect to Darin or Jamie, but Kevin's departure from Harris County is a particularly significant loss for the Office. Despite his uncanny resemblance to Howdy Doody, Kevin was a leader within the Office and his diplomatic abilities had earned him the position of Legislative Liaison under Rosenthal, Magidson, and Lykos. He was a good chief and a good representative of the Office. He was a teaching chief who backed up his people -- a character trait that is no longer highly valued there.
This is clearly one of those situations where we can all agree to say that Harris County's loss is Galveston's gain. I'm sure, as per usual circumstances, the general population will not pay any attention to what members of the rank and file are leaving the D.A.'s Office.
But they should.
15 comments:
Anon 10:19 p.m.,
Why do you care that I care?
Seriously, I posted that column three minutes ago and you've taken the time out to alert yourself and comment already.
Did you think your anonymous peer pressure would lead me to scrap the blog?
Hopefully a voter or two might read it and realize what a disgrace Lykos is and it will cost her a vote or two.
"Anonymous peer pressure"? That is hilarious coming from you - the same person that started the blog anonymously (obviously for good reason). I understand why people post anonymously, but it should be far from you to comment on it.
What does the post being up for 3 minutes have to do with anything? You posted it; you wanted people to read and potentially comment. Ergo, here I am. I have read this same blog a lot. Everyone will comment on their personal experience with one or more of the aforementioned lawyers. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Why do you care that I care that you care? (I can do that too.)
Maybe '10:19 pm' should return to their drink and simmer down... that was just odd.
Anon 10:19 you missed the point of the blog and had to have Murray tell you the point. Makes me think you are a Lykos hire. That said you do have one valid idea, put up a list of all the people who retired rather than work one day for Lykos, the people who retired after Lykos took over, the people who escaped after Lykos took over and those that just quit rather than work or Lykos but instead of the date of exit, put the years of experience that went out the door when they left. Oh, don't forget a list of the people she did not renew (they were not fired, they never worked for Lykos so she could never fire them) and the years of experience lost. The next time Brian Rogers talks to Lykos, he could refer to the list and experience when she claims usual turnover.
I for one have made up cards with the internet address of this blog and I give it out to as many people as I can. I urge people to read about the courthouse and learn how the election of Lykos has impacted the DA's Office.
So Murray, keep on. I could probably count 50 life long Republicans who will vote against Lykos in a primary and, gasp, in a general election.
The departure of Petroff is a crushing blow. He is perhaps in the top two or three most universally respected prosecutors in the HCDAO. He is a leader who has the courage to stand up for his people. I'm happy for him and for Galveston. And I don't think this will be the last we hear of Petroff.
Some of the recent exits have been real shockers, including a couple you never actually named. Some of these people are lifers who could put up with just about anything. Even they had enough.
The truly amazing part is complete lack of damage control! Do they think we're blind?
This is Anon 10:19 again. Why'd you remove my comment? Just because you had the power to do so and didn't like it. You should have removed your response and my 10:44 reply then cause now it makes no sense.
Anon 10:19,
I didn't pull it. I don't know where it went. If I had pulled it, there would be a marker saying it had been removed by a blog administrator. That is strange.
With certain over-the-top exceptions, I have no problem posting comments I disagree with.
The odd comments aside, I was more surprised to hear Darin Darby is leaving. He practiced civil law for years before coming to the DA's office to do what he always wanted to do: prosecute. He spent a longer than usual amount of time in the crimes against children bureau, which is a very taxing (emotionally) and difficult job. I'm sad to see him go. I thought he was a "lifer." But Lykos has run off more than what some would dub the former regime. She's run off people who do the job because it's what they're called to do. I wasn't close to Darin, but I thought he was a real asset to the office too.
I'm really sad to see Kevin go but I'm very happey he's going to work in an office that'll value his worth.
I was lucky enough to work for Kevin and it was a blast, he's funny and relaxed and whether he knew what he was doing or not he always seemed like he did and that's what matters.
Good luck Kevin!
Kevin was my deputy chief when I was the misdemeanor division chief. He did a truly awesome job and made the misdemeanor division a lot of fun. Harris County's loss is Galveston County's gain. Congratulations, ERIC!! You are going to be great.
Luci Davidson
Of course the 'Administration' will never concede that top shelf people leave because of Lykos incompetence. They'll spin it as leaving for 'greener pastures'!
Talk about a bunch of ostriches...
Three more seasoned prosecutors gone in one fell swoop. I'm sure Lykos and Company are celebrating.
Now she can replace them with a couple more sorely needed "Community Liaison Officers" to help make sure Lykos gets re-elected.
Wasn't Darin just promoted to District Court Chief?
Kevin was the president of our service fraternity in college when I was a freshman and he was a senior. (I doubt he remembers me.) He was well-respected then, too, although someone once described his leadership style as "motivation through bribery with personal humiliation" -- "I'll dye my hair green if the fraternity does 1000 service hours this semester" and things like that.
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