Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Good Additions to the Ogg Administration

The Ogg Administration has continued to make some positive additions in the personnel department over the past two weeks.

On January 11th, Ogg announced that retired-178th District Court Judge David Mendoza was joining the Administration as the head of the newly created Office of Professional Integrity.  As regular readers of this blog know, I'm a big fan of Judge Mendoza.  Although he had previously been a judge, I had never met him before he won the 178th bench in 2008.  I quickly developed a strong respect for him after appearing before him in his court.

Judge Mendoza is a quiet and thoughtful man who will be a tremendous asset to the Office in the days to come.  I'm glad to see that he'll remain a regular in the CJC as well.

Today, the Office announced two other solid additions to the CJC team with the addition of veteran defense attorney (and actual veteran) Tom Berg. As noted in Ogg's e-mail to the staff, Tom is a defense attorney and former Federal Public Defender, as well a retired colonel in the United States Army reserve.  He is joining the office as "First Assistant over the Trial, Appellate, and Special Crimes Bureaus."

Based on the specific title, I'm not certain if this means he will be the First Assistant in the same role that previous First Assistants have held.  Either way, he's a good choice.  He is highly respected by his peers and he is passionate about the Criminal Justice System.  He's also an experienced leader who will do well with the troops.

The other addition is Ruben Perez, a former Harris County and Federal prosecutor.  I don't know Ruben personally, but we seem to have a lot of friends in common.  Everything I've heard about him has been extremely positive.  His resume is impressive.  He is a 25 year veteran with the Feds who headed Human Trafficking, Civil Rights, and the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.

He is taking over as head of Special Crimes and his resume seems to indicate that this will be a great match for him.

As I've written before, the personnel choices made by Ogg thus far are actually pretty strong (with three notable exceptions).  Hopefully the Office continues in this positive trajectory.

92 comments:

Anonymous said...

From the bunker: Ogg & Co. don't communicate with us except through the accidental emails of her lackey Eakins. No org chart for weeks, so the only way to know where anyone is assigned is to ask around. Denholm is taking a ridiculously large role in intake decisions, though nothing is written or communicated to the rest of us. Ogg sent out an email announcing she wouldn't meet with anyone without first receiving a memo from the person seeking the meeting. And Vivian King sent out an email last week saying what a great job everyone was doing, but several people were fired that day and literally EVERYONE expects more firings in the future.

Bute hey, she appointed a defense attorney who has been practicing in federal court for decades to run the day to day operations of the office. So #hotdamn.

Thanks for your vote, Murray.

Anonymous said...

Anon 11:40p what email are you talking about? Where Ogg supposedly won't meet with people without a memo first? If you don't like it, leave. Things won't get any better with your attitude. You're dragging us all down.

Murray Newman said...

I get that there is still a high level of disarray with the Igg Administration, but these are good choices. If you look at the dead weight that Lykos brought in (Leitner, Bridgwater, Chow, Shadwick, etc.) compared to who Ogg has brought in, there is no comparison.

I gave credit to Lykos when I thought she did something right and I'll do the same for Ogg.

Thr meeting request thing is kind of funny. Sounds like you could probably schedule a meeting with the Pope more easily than Kim at the moment. Probably because she is busy reading all of the Temple information by herself.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone else find it troubling that Vivian King, who is the Chief of Staff for the Harris County District Attorney's Office, is congratulating Mark Thiessen on Facebook on "another great victory" for a not guilty verdict yesterday against a misdemeanor prosecutor in Harris County?

Murray Newman said...

Okay, so Vivian is still working on personal transitioning . . .

Anonymous said...

Wait wait- the Ogg administration doesn't respect and support their own prosecutors!? Shocking. It's everyone for themselves there. If they feel like throwing you under the bus will help them, expect it to happen.

Anonymous said...

But are you really shocked? ^

Anonymous said...

You are obviously one who was brought in by Ogg. You are the ones dragging the office down. Get your shit together.

Anonymous said...

Alright Mr. Bunker, your schtick is getting old. I assume you're the same Mr. Bunker who complained throughout the Lykos administration, in which case it seems to me that you simply don't like being able to run roughshod over defendants without any oversight whatsoever (this is not to be seen as an endorsement of Lykos). All that says to me, and anyone else reading your whiny posts, is that it's time for you to stop living off the taxpayers' dime and go get a job you won't cry in your milk over every single day.

You'll be a happier person for it, and so will we.

Anonymous said...

Prosecutors have been buzzing about Vivian's comment on that trial all morning. How terrible of her. I'm sure the prosecutor that tried the case isn't feeling too great about him/herself.

Anonymous said...

and you think Jimmy Turpin and Doug Osterberg were good selections for Investigator Captains
What a JOKE
she is going to need strong attorney's with the investigative staff she has brought on
from the top.....no leadership or knowledge for the JOB

Anonymous said...

It's so inappropriate and shows terrible judgment. I guess it's telling in a lot of ways though...

Anonymous said...

Durfee needs to put his big boy pants on and have a discussion with Vivian and Kim about it. She also needs to remove the comment, but I doubt she's smart enough to figure out how to do that.

Anonymous said...

Truitt: I'm 10:40pm, and I don't know what you're talking about. I never posted here during Lykos. I never complained about my job until Ogg. I love my job, I'm well-regarded, I'm not a grumbler. I'm just noting that most in the office have hunkered down for a long seige, and the rest are considering other careers.

Please accept that, so far, Ogg is terrible. Can you find an ADA who says otherwise? I've yet to find a prosecutor who doesn't think she hates us.

Anonymous said...

Durfee has NEVER worn big boy pants. Come on.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry, but Vivian's "apology" she posted on Facebook falls a bit short. I'm not sure what a "Fantasize ADA" is, but I can assure you that the ADA who handled that case is a very real person. I can only imagine what he or she thought when Vivian posted, not just "liked" but actually posted, a congratulatory comment on Thiessen's post. That comment coupled with Vivian calling the misdemeanor prosecutors cheaters and liars on her first day shows us exactly where her loyalties lie. Now Nathan Beedle is telling prosecutors that on certain cases, they should ask the judge to revisit PC and leave out some of the facts so that a judge will find no PC. I certainly hope that directive isn't coming from Ogg, and I certainly hope that she knows better than to tell her prosecutors that they should lie to judges. I can't wait until the media gets this.

Anonymous said...

10:21, I'll accept you at your word on what ADAs think Ogg thinks.

She came in with a mission, and is shaping the office the way she saw fit. That is her prerogative. It was Anderson's, Rosenthal's, and Holmes's too.

I don't know what to tell you about having a boss you don't like, except welcome to the real world. Bosses frequently suck. They use lower employees for their own benefit, take the credit, and spread the blame. That is no different from almost any other law firm or corporate job. The current climate at the DAO is a direct reaction to the climate of the past. Y'all (the royal y'all, not the individual you, maybe) got away with a lot of bullshit for a lot of years, and people like me hope that is changing. If the change is for the better, and policy-wise I think it is (this is not a comment on individual hires or fires), then anyone who does not like the policy is not someone who needs to be there.

Follow the law. If you get fired for it you get fired for it. That's the same as any job. Nothing about being a government employee should insulate you from that.

Anonymous said...

Not just media... let MADD or other victim's rights groups. And yah- what is a fantasize ADA? I figure it's an autocorrect but nothing really makes sense.

Anonymous said...

It probably made sense to her after she'd had several glasses of wine. Don't drink and try to post things on Facebook.

Anonymous said...

To me that screams conflict of interest and where her ties and loyalty really lie. That is unacceptable now that she is at and representing the HCDAO and everyone in that office. But I guess that is what happens when you get a bunch of career defense lawyers representing the office. Granted defense lawyers are not all this way but everyone knows they all do have different goals and outcomes they are trying for than the prosecution side.

Unknown said...

Anonymous...YOU ARE A JOKE!!!

Unknown said...

Anonymous...YOU ARE A JOKE!!! YOU GUTLESS,UNFAIR,DISGRUNTLE,COWARD!!! EVERYONE CAN SEE YOU HAVE A HIDDEN AGENDA. SINCE YOU CAN'T SHOW YOURSELF,AND WANT TO HIDE AND BE ANONYMOUS...WHO CARES WHAT YOU SAY OR THINK. YOU DON'T BELIEVE IT YOUR DAMN SELF.
BY THE WAY...MY NAME IS CHRIS JUSTICE!!! SEE...I'M NOT HIDING.
AND THE LAST TIME I CHECKED,THE ELECTION WAS NOVEMBER 8,2016. THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN LOUD AND CLEAR WITH THEIR VOTES!!! IN OTHER WORDS IDIOT...Y'ALL LOSS!!! GET OVER IT.

Unknown said...

Anonymous...YOU ARE A JOKE!!!

Anonymous said...

Welcome back, Hooper...er...I mean, Chris Justice.

Anonymous said...

"Now Nathan Beedle is telling prosecutors that on certain cases, they should ask the judge to revisit PC and leave out some of the facts so that a judge will find no PC. "

More than a little surprised and disappointed this isn't getting more coverage. Even if you're pro-Ogg, this sort of dishonesty has no place in a regime supposedly focused on "evidence based prosecution." Why not just dismiss the damn case, Beedle?

Anonymous said...

For the rational people among us (bunker buddies) we know that an election is not the be all end all. Our elected officials are accountable to the citizens, and to some extent, the employees. They should, and will be, criticized when they fall short of expectations.

Anonymous said...

More news from the bunker:
It seems that Vivian King, Assistant District Attorney, Chief of Staff of the Harris County District Attorney's Office, and top Lieutenant of Dear Leader Kim Ogg, is still engaged in the private practice of criminal defense in federal court. Of course no one else at the Office is allowed to practice outside of being a full-time prosecutor, since it is completely prohibited by the Employee Handbook. This begs the question for Kim Ogg: did you approve this? If so, are the rest of your employees allowed to be part-time criminal defense attorneys? Sure could use the money since you have been cutting salaries and intake shifts.

Anonymous said...

Chris, take your meds, man! I know you like you Interwebz bullying, but anybody can make a Google account and just slap a name on there. And just to be clear, are you ranting for Ogg or Trump? Not that it really matters; the adults in the room are trying to discuss actual issues in the HCDA, not just chest beat for an election result. You do know that the winner doesn't always do a great job, right?

Anonymous said...

Anon 4:43 uh what? That cannot be true. That would likely be a criminal act.
Under the Texas Government Code Sec. 43.180. HARRIS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
(g) The district attorney may not engage in the private practice of law whether or not he is compensated for his services.

This language has been held to apply to assistant prosecutors as well, in the non Harris County context. See AG Opinions

Further under chapter 41 of the Government Code, if Vivian has more than 4 years combined service as a prosecutor, then she is EXPRESSLY prohibited by statute as an ADA from engaging in private practice.

Either of these violations probably constitute the Unauthorized Practice of Law which is a third degree felony.

So again, I know that this could not be true with such an ethical and transparent administration. Surely, the Ethics Czar would have told them this. Surely the all knowing general counsel and perhaps the last remaining bit of institutional knowledge in HCDAO told them this was illegal.

Further if it violates the operations manual, then the disciplinary committee must be convened, unless it has been abandoned.

Anonymous said...

Has anyone looked up what cases Vivian is still on? That needs to be posted.

Anonymous said...

Looks like Durfee is going to be very busy these next few years.

Anonymous said...

If what Anon 6:03 says is true, then maybe Ogg will get to go in front of a grand jury even quicker than Team Lykos. Good Lord. Would the supervisor who approved this be a party to the offense?

Maybe Vivian can hire Rachel Palmer when she is inevitably called before a grand jury. They can "high five" each other. Maybe Mitcham can represent Vivian the same way he represented Rachel. Apparently he would not be prohibited from doing so in this administration.

Really, you cannot make this shit up.

Anonymous said...

Agree

Anonymous said...

Durfee is going to earn every last penny of his pay raise. I can't imagine he would ever think he would actually have to tell an ADA that he can't tell misdemeanor prosecutors to lie to the court. Well, that's assuming he grew a pair and took care of that issue.

Anonymous said...

Where's the proof?

Anonymous said...

You're grumbling here... so...

Anonymous said...

It seems like it would be easy enough to verify. Somebody with a PACER account in the Federal system can log in and see if Vivian has any active cases. That way it could be disproven right away.

Anonymous said...

Murray what are your thoughts?

Anonymous said...

Ms. Ogg... Ted Obeg for you on line one.

Anonymous said...

If anyone with PACER access wished to perform a cursory search, they would find the following:

1) ADA Vivian King is the defense attorney on several pending criminal cases in the Southern District of Texas despite being sworn in as an assistant district attorney in Harris County, Texas on or about January 1, 2017.

2) She was subbed out on January 12, 2017 on one of these cases by Kent Schaffer who wrote in his motion to sub: "Attorney Vivian R. King is no longer able to represent Defendant. On January 1, 2017, Vivian King accepted a position as an Assistant District Attorney with the Harris County District Attorney's Office. Accordingly she is now prohibited from representing individuals charged with criminal cases, as it poses a conflict of interest." Kent is correct about this. (see case 4:15-cr-00115).

3) However, ADA King has continued to represent criminal clients in other cases. For instance, she is still attorney of record on a case set for sentencing on April 3, 2017. (see case 4:16-cr-00089).

4) ADA King is still actively practicing criminal defense in federal court. In case 4:15-cr-00344, she filed a motion for her client to remove her ankle monitor on January 16, 2017. On January 21, 2017, she filed an amended motion for the same purpose.

The documents are there for anyone who wants to look for them.

Anonymous said...

Surely someone has logged into PACER by now....

Anonymous said...

I wonder if she worked on these motions and/or filed them without claiming comp time or vacation time at the office. Oh wait--she would have to earn vacation time first and she probably doesn't have the comp time banked.

When does the attorney general step in??

Anonymous said...

Vivian also continues to host a You Tube channel. She has hosted at least one show while an ADA. Kim, please tell Vivian to cut all this stuff out. She is embarrassing the office -- and you.

Anonymous said...

Kim, you also might want to remind your new hires that they now work for the government. That means they should be in their offices by 8:00 am, and not rolling in around 10:00-10:30. I know they all thought prosecutors didn't really do anything all day and had a lax schedule. If your people want flexible hours, perhaps they should go back into the private sector where they also have a more flexible paycheck.

Anonymous said...

http://youtu.be/e3JLgIn2bQE

You mean this one a few nights ago where she bemoans the difficulty that sex offender regulations cause for the poor sex offenders?

Anonymous said...

If Vivian King is prohibited from representing defendants, why isn't Diepraam? At least King's cases are with a different sovereign.

Anonymous said...

Warren got to do that because his much smaller county has a different statute. If such activity wasn't prohibited in Harris County, Warren could very well be working in the Ogg administration as was well rumored.

Anonymous said...

Anon 6:55, because bright boy Warren is not an ADA in Harris County. The statutory prohibitions in the Government Code are specific to either counties or Judicial Districts.

Anonymous said...

I heard the new administration missed the deadline on some grant dealing with human trafficking. Can anyone confirm that?

Anonymous said...

Can't confirm it, but given the complete incompetence of this group, I'm sure it's true.

Anonymous said...

Any word on whether or not the Vivian issue was taken care of today?

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:13 unless someone wrote a letter to a grand jury asking for an investigation, then no. Who is in charge of grand jury now anyway? No org chart you know?

Anonymous said...

I see that JoAnne is posting about office policy on Facebook. I wonder if Durfee has had a chance to explain to her that the operations manual says that's a big no-no and that only the office will discuss office policy.

Perhaps if she would stop posting so much on Facebook and trying to kiss everyone's ass, she could focus on not missing deadlines for grants. Isn't Human Trafficking part of her section?

Attorney said...

Wow, JoAnne really is posting a lot on facebook about her work. Pending cases, even. Can I do that? I'd love to post about my pending cases.

Anonymous said...

It's "her" policy. Which is funny because it's the status quo. Detectives have always been advised to attempt to talk to the suspect first, and on every felony, the office has presented defense packets to grand jury if so desired. It's written in the operations manual.

Anonymous said...

Rules only apply to pre-Ogg employees. You should know that by now. The Ogg hires are free to do whatever they want with no consequences.

Anonymous said...

I love that they are either trying to pretend or actually believe they've created any new policy. These policies have always been in place! Just because you haven't read the employee manual doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Like someone said earlier- with this administration, Durfee may have to actually earn that promotion he got.

Anonymous said...

OMG, today is the day! Three months after the election we are getting a flow chart in a series of meetings this afternoon!

Anonymous said...

Hold your horses. The email said we would be discussing the org chart, not getting one. I'm not holding my breath.

Anonymous said...

Anon: 11:47 used the right term, "flow chart." It is all flowing down the drain. BTW, nothing boosts morale more than Friday afternoon meetings.

Anonymous said...

Especially that meeting. Waiting for the bunker to weigh in. We all probably need to go to happy hour first and let the alternative facts sink in.

Anonymous said...

Wow. Can you say "buzzkill?"

Anonymous said...

Did anyone count how many times Vivian called Kim "DA Kim Ogg" or "DA Ogg"? I certainly hope Kim doesn't expect to be called anything other than "Kim."

Anonymous said...

If only we could have made it a drinking game...

Anonymous said...

Petty and insecure people often demand to be addressed by honorifics. Remember Judge Lykos, Judge Bridgwater, and Judge Chow who all demanded to be called Judge, despite not being a current Judge. Devon and Belinda while both previously Judges were just Devon and Belinda to everyone at the Office. These things tell you something about these people.

DA Ogg and the Honorable (traffic ticket) Judges she has working for her want to be addressed with their right and proper honorifics. This certainly tells you something about them.

Anonymous said...

I love that she threatened to fire the misdemeanor ppl hired in the last year right to our faces or cut our pay! What a great "leader"

Anonymous said...

I love how she blamed the last administration for the budget problem. The only person to blame is Ogg. How much is coming out of our budget to pay the 40+ prosecutors who were either fired or retired or just quit? How much is coming out of our budget to pay for the special prosecutors on the cases the office has to recuse itself from because she's hired the defense attorneys who previously handled those cases? What large salaries is she giving the team of idiots she's hired? There's where that additional $5 million we have to come up with comes from. Don't blame the last admin--take a long hard look at what you've done and take some responsibility.

Anonymous said...

We are the "factory", so we are easily replaced.

Anonymous said...

10:10, If you continue doing what? Why did you not say the reason given for the threat. She is trying to clean up a culture of win at all cost. She fired the 20 plus year proponents of skirting Brady and MMA and protecting state witnesses who have low credibility. Have been there less time than those fired, she is giving you an opportunity to buy into ethical prosecution and due process which has been being systematically denied until the transition began; a transitional in which, Ms. Anderson refused to help the DA elect or even meet with her to assure no crucial matters fell through the cracks. Buy in to the new culture or quit and come back when the good ol' guys network gets back in power. You may learn a bit working on the defense side for awhile.

Anonymous said...

9:32,: How do you know that every grand jury packet submitted by defense was actually presented. What about one that points out unfair tactics and prejudicial conduct showing the prosecutor has not been seeking justice in the case? How would you know that every packet was presented. I strongly suspect my packet was withheld from the Grand Jury. I cannot get the presenter or former prosecutor involved in that case to give me an answer to that question. You are naive regarding some of your coworkers and former coworkers. If you feel threatened by Ogg, that is probably a good thing. Maybe it will enhance your efforts to seek justice, not convictions.

Anonymous said...

Oh, sorry. Because the prior administration was sooo over budget she has to cut costs somewhere. Nothing to do with our performance. Since Ms. king gets to do side work how about we cut her salary? Seems fair.

But she eased our fears a bit and said to "save" our jobs she would cut somewhere at the intake level. How sweet of her. i can't wait to work an extra 9 hour intake shift for nothing!

Anonymous said...

And I'm so tired of being called unethical. Please take your generalizations elsewhere. I've always done what is right. Nathan Beedle has been a great chief to us. He supports us and helps us get to the right decision. It's great to be able to be open and honest with him and him actually backing us when we feel a case needs to be dismissed. So, its not about that.

I think defense attorneys need to remember we don't work for them. We have to hand over what we have and make sure we can prove our case. But we don't have to do their work for them. And just because I won't help them get motion to get their own lab results independently tested does not mean I'm unethical (this happened a few weeks ago, really).

Anonymous said...

Calling us the "factory" was beyond offensive.

Anonymous said...

Why is Vivian's firm web site still live? Why is she still allowed to maintain her private practice and You Tube show?

Anonymous said...

A few thoughts:

The transition continues to be a joke primarily because of the egos involved. Devon should have reached out to Kim right after the election but she didn’t. Kim should have not refused to meet with senior members of the administration who reached out to her shortly after the election. Both acted like middle school prom queen candidates and the office suffered.

Let’s have a grown up discussion about the budget. Kim doesn’t want to use asset forfeiture to pay for office supplies and other things like Devon did. She wants the budget to cover everything. That’s fine but the change should be more gradual. I’m not sure of the exact number but I know there are millions of dollars from asset forfeitures sitting in a bank account. Approval for use of the money isn’t very difficult. Use that money for shortfalls instead of punishing the employees. My understanding of the raises last year were that many were for individuals who had not seen a raise for a while or people who were promised raises for moving into a non trial bureau position and passing up the opportunity to advance with their peers. I don’t think getting rid of intake will save money but that is much less detrimental than threatening current employees’ livelihood.

Office culture.
(1) There have been prosecutors that have skirted the Brady and MMA rules in the past; primarily before MMA was passed and before the Andersons and Lycos. To paint everyone with a broad stroke is like saying all defense attorneys encourage their witnesses to lie or that all cops are bad. A minority are bad and the rest are left to deal with their mess. If you want to make accusations, be specific so it can be addressed.
(2) Trying cases that don’t need to be tried continues to be an issue because the promotion wheel demands trial wins. I’ve seen several trials that went solely because the prosecutor wanted trial numbers. Many of those people left the office soon after being eligible to do felony appointments. That needs to change. First of all it’s unethical to clog the court system with cases that can be plead for what you will get at trial. Trial lawyers are hunters in the open range, not drunk morons shooting a caged animal. I would encourage the new administration to change the trial numbers system by not counting any trials that don’t beat the last offer made to the defense. Some cases (capital murders, high profile crimes, etc.) need to be tried. A first time drunk stumbling on video that blew a 0.35 that wants probation shouldn’t have to go to trial to get it.
(3) I’m not seeing how John Jordan as felony division chief and head of the promotion committee will change anything. Many people agree that John is a fantastic trial prosecutor but I haven’t heard a single compliment about his supervisory skills. I’ve had few dealings with him and wish him no ill will. For the sake of the office I hope he does a great job.

That’s all I have. PS. I post anonymously because I have to deal with the idiots on both sides.

Anonymous said...

Misdemeanor prosecutor--you have probably been at the office for maybe 6 months, so you don't really know anything different. So, just stop. Really.

Anonymous said...

Archie Bunker says:
Anon: 10:10 and all of the rest of you holier than thou clowns. I am sick and tired of the newbies and certain members of the defense bar crying unethical every time the state wins a tough case. It's a crock! The job description is to seek justice. The job is not to do both sides work for them. Seeking justice does not mean cheating and it does not mean withholding exculpatory evidence. I have never done either. Let me give you a little advice to you newbies. If you do not like or trust prosecutors or police, you are in the wrong line of work.

Regarding changing culture, lets look at the newbie culture. We have a chief of staff who still has a private law practice and who has personally lobbied judges not to appoint former prosecutors as pro tems on cases with her former state clients. Yes! Can we all do these things? We have a chief of misdemeanor who told the ADAs to only try cases they can win and to withhold information from judges regarding pc and priors when discussing bonds at the bench. We have a DA who we hear has agreed not to seek the death penalty in exchange for Soros money. Anon 10:10 what kind of culture would you call that?

As for yesterday, either the newbies are really stupid or they think we are really stupid. The "budget crisis" is either a lie or it is limited to HCDAO because of newbie incompetence. People, there is no county wide budget crisis. If there was, it would be all over the news affecting every department. If there is a budget problem at HCDAO, it is because of the newbies. Kim (that is her name) got elected in November and promptly left town. Not to worry though she brought in the former first assistant who knows how and when budgets work for the county. Even if Devon ordered her entire staff to not speak to Kim and company, Leitner knew the score and the budget players. If the newbies had any sense of leadership about them they would have gone to work the day after the election.

There may be a budgetary issue because of Kim's mass firings. Everyone who got fired was entitled to pay for all of their vacation and half of their comp time. Additionally many qualified for unemployment. Guess whose budget that came from. That's right HCDAO.

Hey newbies, we have friends outside the office who will be making PIA requests on a regular basis for salaries for all of you. I am sure that if salaries need to be cut, it will be across the board so that the pain is evenly felt. After all, the best form of leadership is by example. Remember what a fellow bunker poster said. We have always been around. We are not going anywhere.

PS. Mid-year budget review is in September. Maybe you newbies can get it together by then.

Anonymous said...

You mean I don't know anything different than the people around me being ethical? This isn't 1960 anymore it's okay to move out of your old ways.

Anonymous said...

At least now when someone gets out of prison for an agg rob, he can celebrate in style without worrying about the pesky drug laws. Thanks George.

Anonymous said...

Ok Beedle. If you believe ethical means being told to withhold information from judges, then we have a problem. In my years, yes, years, as a prosecutor, I have never been told to lie or hide evidence. I'm saying that you are talking out of turn because you have no idea about what has previously happened (or not happened) in this office. I'm beginning to think the defense bar is right about misdemeanor prosecutors--you are just a bunch of arrogant little pricks.

Anonymous said...

Without class: attacking Devon and Belinda. Also, inviting a round of applause for Tammy whIle also passing out an org chart that shows Tammy's obvious replacement. (I appreciate that for fun they sent around an email today pretending to conduct a background check on someone that the new org chart says begins next Monday. Still classless, but at least funny.)

I talked with Belinda about next year's budget and the planning they did before hiring people and giving raises last year. Any problems are on Kim. The county commissioners didn't take away slots, and they didn't cut the budget.

Can someone please do a PIA on salaries already?

Anonymous said...

"This is how we roll"???? That's what you are putting on Facebook, Kimbra?

Anonymous said...

Would someone tell JoAnne to get off of Facebook? She seems to think she is the spokesperson for the office. And please tell her to stop telling people that all of the prosecutors in the office before Jan 1 were unethical, but now, since Kim Ogg, who she seems to believe is the second coming of Jesus Christ, is going to teach us to be ethical. We were ethical before and we are ethical now. The only people who have ethical issues are the new Oggdolytes. So, shut the fuck up, JoAnne.

Anonymous said...

No, 12:14. What is all this "we" stuff? Speak for yourself. You were not all acting ethically before January 1. That is why some of you had to go. Senior level ADA'S were instructing courtroom ADA'S to ignore 39.14 MMA requests until ordered to comply. This was occuring in misdemeanor and felony courts and did not stop in spite of Dick Bax acknowledging problem when confronted with evidence of it which he confirmed. In spite of his memo it continued to occur through the remainder of the previous administration. I will get back to you next time I find someone purposefully delaying disclosure of statutorily required discovery instead of rendering it as soon as practicable. Hopefully the purge got the attention of all of the Brady and 39.14 hides among you. Time will tell. In the mean time, Speak for yourself, because you are wrong about ethics being followed in the previous administration. They were being actively violated with impunity, because of aack of statutory sanctions and judges who have the backs of their former colleagues who fail to sanction the abuses.

Anonymous said...

How about sanctions when all defense attorneys give their clients copies of the offense reports without redacting personal information since the law says it is incumbent upon the defense attorney to do that?

Oh wait-you don't like that I said all defense attorneys do this? Well, we don't like it when you say all prosecutors are unethical. Stop speaking in such general terms. Call out the specific problem and stop lumping all us into the same category with the bad eggs.

Anonymous said...

I am still shocked that defense attorneys aren't more upset that Nathan Beedle told misdemeanor prosecutors to lie to the courts. I can only assume that is because his lying benefits defense attorneys' clients. What defense attorneys fail to realize is that if someone is willing to lie about one thing, they are willing to lie about other things as well. You are a fool to think otherwise.

Anonymous said...

Jesus Christo, it is already late February and some of you are still crying?

Is this the first time you changed bosses?

Move on or move out, those are your choices.

Anonymous said...

Hey anon 9:26,

Yawn...

Anonymous said...

anon 9:26- Bradley W. is that you again?

Anyways did Ogg decide to focus on her work a little bit now instead of her personal vendettas? Or should we still give it time?

Anonymous said...

I was just thinking the other day about how much I missed 2009, when this was a sounding board for the crybabies in the Lykos administration. Hell, Murray got fired twice by her, and he didn't gripe near as much as you clowns do.

Nobody cares what JoAnne does or says. Nobody cares what the complainers who stayed behind (of their own free will, mind you) have to say. Just do your damn jobs. And nobody has said "all prosecutors are unethical", no matter how much people like 11:38 need to learn to read.

Move on already.

Anonymous said...

The only thing more edifying than anonymous people bitching on the internet is anonymous people bitching about anonymous people bitching on the internet.

Anonymous said...

Edifying 2:26PM?

Well, then...glad we could help?

Episode Seven: The Voters Awaken - A One Act -Sci-Fi Play

SCENE:  The Death Star orbits over Downtown Houston. [INTERIOR] The Imperial Council Chambers. EMPRESS OGG sits at the head of a long table ...