Rearranging Deck Chairs on the Titanic

I had a moment of confusion this morning at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center, when I hopped on one of the building's infamous elevators.

The normal, dark wood paneling with the flimsy metal borders and carved graffiti interior had been replaced with shiny metal.  The dark gray flooring had been replaced with a pinkish tile.  It looked space-aged compared to the previous bucket of bolts that had been the trademark of the inefficient transport system that we have all come to know and hate at the CJC.

The little floor monitor thingy that (on days when it was working) told elevator occupants what floor we were stopping on no longer utilized the glowing red, digital numerals found on 1990's-era alarm clocks (and timers for bomb countdowns in spy movies).  It had been replaced by a cool new video monitor that showed the floor we were on, superimposed over an image of the CJC!  

It was all very exciting.  In the two years and five months since Hurricane Harvey, we are finally seeing some exciting signs of improvement!  I almost felt like I was in the elevator of someplace fancy, like a bank or some other place that cares about safety and efficiency.  I wasn't used to such luxuries at the Criminal Justice Center.

Of course, we didn't really need for the repairs on the CJC to make the elevators prettier.  I think that pretty much all of us would settle for an ugly elevator if it, you know, worked.  I've heard many people complain about the number of elevators not running on any given morning, but I've yet to hear someone say: "Sure these elevator work fantastic, but they are so aesthetically hideous that it ruined my entire criminal courthouse experience today."

Making the new elevators pretty and modern is pretty much akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the H.M.S. Titanic.  Two years later and all of the felony courts are still splitting time between the CJC and the Civil Courthouse because many of the courtrooms aren't ready for occupancy.  Absolutely nothing has been done to alleviate the backlog of defendants waiting in lines just to get in the building every morning.  In an obvious gesture of surrender to the masses, the County has constructed some sort of temporary covered walkway for the lines that form outside every morning.  

The building has become the architectural version of a mullet.  Space-age elevators on the inside.  Civil War-era shelters in the front.

I'm trying to figure out how this went down during the construction planning.

Contractor # 1:  I assume our first priority is to get the courtrooms up and running as quickly as possible?  Or maybe restructuring the entry to increase the efficiency of getting people in and out of the building?  Or getting the elevators in working order so that we don't have so many frequent breakdowns?  

Contractor # 2:  No.  First off, we've got to make the elevators look cool as shit. 

I guess I shouldn't be too surprised by the aesthetic elevator improvements.  After all, the first major step they took in the post-Harvey rebuilding efforts was to install a Fuddruckers in the basement of the Civil building.

I've heard from some insanely optimistic people reliable sources that the building is supposed to be back to "normal" by August of this year, but I'll believe it when I see it.

Maybe it would go a little faster if the powers that be realized we don't need a pretty building.

We just need one that works.

By the way, the over/under on when a disgruntled defendant smashes the glass on one of those fancy new floor displays is six business days.   I'm taking the under.

Caseload Overload

Monday's Houston Chronicle had an article from reporters Keri Blakinger and Zach Despart entitled "Harris County judges criticized over pace of court-appointed lawyer reform," detailing Rodney Ellis' and the rest of the Harris County Commissioners' Court's push to have a Managed Assigned Counsel (MAC) Program forced upon the Harris County Criminal District Courts.  (NOTE:  A copy of the article is on the Chronicle's paid content website at this link but I could not locate a copy of it on Chron.com.  If you don't have the paid website, you'll have to get a copy of Monday's paper or just trust me on this one.)

Harris County's felony judges have come under fire from Commissioner's Court members for not moving fast enough to abolish the longstanding practice of judges appointing lawyers to represent poor defendants.

The article details much of what I discussed in this post about the MAC back in July.  As I wrote then, the Harris County Felony District Court Judges by no means have rejected the idea of a MAC, but they have asked for more time to design how it would be implemented.  I also shared my multiple concerns about the initial proposal from the Texas Indigent Defense Counsel.  Several of the Felony Court Judges, as well as representatives of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association (HCCLA), have shared the same concerns.

Apparently, Rodney Ellis is not the patient type and has demanded that the Felony Courts blindly accept his ideas without having any say in how they will work in the years to come.  That's just foolish.  If the program is going to be effective and capable of dealing with the multitude of complex issues that go along with indigent defense in felony cases, then the District Court Judges would be crazy not to carefully evaluate all aspects of it.  Ellis just needs to calm down.

That being said, Ellis' strongest criticism of the current appointment system is that there are many attorneys who are carrying far too large of a docket, and that's fair if you are looking at things from a purely statistical standpoint.  However, it also begs the question: Why would an attorney intentionally overload his or her caseload?  Are these attorneys really just blindly accepting new cases for no reason other than they can?

The answer to that isn't quite so simple, and the reality is that many of these attorneys with overloaded dockets are taking on so many cases because they are trying to manage the archaic payment system put in place by none other than . . . the County Commissioners themselves.

In today's world, when people go to work, they normally get paid for that work.  They also get paid in a time period that is reasonably close to the time the work was done.  If one works a job where he or she is paid by the hour, a paycheck normally is paid at the end of every week or two.  If one works a salaried position, there are obviously scheduled payments for when that salary gets doled out.

In the legal world, attorneys usually charge a retainer that gets drawn on during the course of the representation.  A client may pony up a hefty retainer that gets placed in a trust, but the lawyer or law firm only takes the money out of the trust once that money is earned by working on the case. 

The bottom line is that the vast majority of people who work get paid for that work reasonably quickly.

But that's not the case with those of who do indigent defense in Harris County.

Before I start sounding too critical of the System, I will point out that I think that Harris County pays well for indigent defense.  Although it doesn't quite approach "free world" payment, it isn't too shabby and it does pay you for the work you've done (eventually).

However, the Harris County payment system dictates that an attorney doesn't get paid on a case that he or she is appointed on until that case has been finally disposed of, and that's a problem.

Let's say that tomorrow, I get appointed on a murder case that is extremely complicated.  As a matter of fact, let's just pretend that it is so complicated that I decide not to take any other cases while I deal with this insanely complex case.  Over the next month, I pour over lengthy offense reports, read cell phone data, watch scene videos, meet with my client repeatedly, talk to my investigator, conduct witness interviews, do scene visits, and attend a couple of court settings. 

Let's say that this one case is pretty much my one and only job for the entirety of the month.  By the end of that month, I have billed over $20,000 worth of legitimate, honest, hard work on this murder case.  It is now the end of the month, and I've got to pay my mortgage, credit card bills, child support, utilities, which should be no problem, right? 

Wrong.  That murder case is still easily a year away from going to trial.  With the backlog of cases and the lingering effects of Hurricane Harvey, in reality, it could be much closer to two or three years before going to trial.  In the meantime, that $20,000 worth of payment that I'm owed continues to sit in the Harris County coffers while I try to figure out how I'm going to make my mortgage and feed my kids.  I did my part, but we are going to have to delay payment on that for a significant amount of time.

So, what am I supposed to do?

Well, the answer to that is generally, sign on to take another case.

So, let's say I decide to sign up for a second case.  Fortunately for me, this one is far simpler.  It's just a crack rock case, a simple State Jail felony.  So, on day one, I get my case and I read the three-page offense report in court.  The case is straightforward and can be worked out, except for one thing -- the lab report on the alleged substance isn't in yet.  I can't plead my client out on a drug case if the State hasn't shown me a lab report proving to me that it is actually an illegal drug.

So, I reset it to wait for labs and I don't get paid on that case this month either.

So, I take another case.  And then another.  And then another. And then some more.  I'm loading up my caseload because I need to get to where I'm on a timeline where payments are coming in.  When I first became a defense attorney, I described how the system worked to my dad.  He likened it to a pipeline, noting that failing to keep the pipeline filled can lead to some pretty lean months.

The attorneys who are overloading their dockets are the ones trying to keep that pipeline flowing continuously, as anyone who dislikes being broke would.  They take the next case and then the next.  Most of those cases may need only a lab report.  Others may be as complicated as that hypothetical murder.  Either way, I will agree that an attorney carrying a tremendous caseload does provide for some pretty bad optics.

An exception to the "pay when the case is done" plan is for those attorneys that take "term" assignments.  They agree to be a Court's attorney of the day or the attorney of the week for a daily rate. For a term assignment, an attorney can be paid on the next pay period.  However, when an attorney is an attorney of the day or week, he or she can be assigned up to five new cases a day, and that doesn't help the caseload overload either.

If I need to get a payment and I need it by the end of the month, I could sign up to be the attorney of the week all month.  Let's say hypothetically, I get an assignment for four weeks straight, and I pick up the full five cases every day.  Suddenly, at the end of the month, I have 100 new cases.

Judges have the power on a case-by-case basis to approve interim vouchers.  If an attorney has worked his butt off on a case and it gets set for trial six months down the road, most judges will approve an attorney getting paid for the work done up to that point.  I can honestly say that I have never been turned down by a judge when asking for an interim payment during that time period.

However, it is definitely not the norm.

The solution to this problem is simple: let attorneys get paid for the work that they do as they do it. 

When the system of not-getting-paid-on-a-case-until-it-was-over was developed, payment vouchers and time logs were all handwritten.  Now, it is computerized.  Making sure that lawyers aren't double billing for hours already claimed and identifying time conflicts can be done with decent software.  It is my understanding that attorneys who do appointed CPS work have the ability to "bill as they go," so why can't those of us who practice indigent defense?

It would definitely have a strong and immediate impact on those attorneys who overload their dockets.  There would be a financial motivation to sit down and focus on a case rather than focusing on getting the next case.  The pipeline methodology of managing a law practice would no longer be relevant.  In theory, cases could be resolved more quickly and the quality of representation would improve as a whole.  There wouldn't be pressure to resolve a case for financial reasons.

In short, it would address many (but not all) of the concerns the Commissioners have listed when advocating for the MAC. 

Conversations at the Elevator Bank

While standing at the elevator bank at the CJC this morning, a highly agitated lady waded into the crowd of people waiting, yelling out questions to no one in particular.

LADY:  WHERE IS ANDREWS?!?!  CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHERE ANDREWS IS?!

CROWD:  (SILENCE)

LADY:  THEY SAID SHE'S ON SIX BUT I WAS JUST UP THERE AND SHE AIN'T THERE!  IT'S BULLSHIT!  SOMEBODY AROUND HERE'S GOT TO KNOW!

ME:  Do you mean Judge Kelley Andrews?

LADY (calming down some):  Yeah!  Her!

ME (trying to remember what floor Court 6 is on):  Well, she's Court Six, so . . .

LADY:  I JUST WENT TO SIX AND SHE ISN'T THERE!

ME:  Well, there's a difference between the sixth floor and Court Six, I'm trying to remember . . .

ANOTHER ATTORNEY:  I think Court Six is on the 11th floor.

LADY (to other attorney):  THANK YOU!  That's all you had to say.

LADY (giving me a dirty look):  I DON'T NEED SOME ARROGANT ASS LAWYER TALKING TO ME LIKE I'M STUPID.

ME:  [SPEECHLESS]

NOTE:  This post reminded me of my favorite post that I ever wrote about the CJC Elevator Experience, so I decided I should relink to it here.

Progressive Prosecutors Need Help Too

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg found herself in an unusual position last week when her request for funding 100 new prosecutors was met with harsh criticism from the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, a progressive group that normally is one of her biggest supporters.  As noted in the Houston Chronicle, Ogg's request for additional prosecutors seems to have been interpreted as some sort of act of war by TCJC's Jay Jenkins.

"Simply adding prosecutors is the strategy that got us here in the first place, with this mentality that the only thing we can spend money on is the police and prosecutors," said Jay Jenkins, project attorney with the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition.

Apparently, Jenkins is so concerned that if Kim Ogg were to get a whole bunch of new prosecutors, the D.A.'s Office would just go out and start prosecuting things unnecessarily so that those new prosecutors won't get too bored.  That's a silly notion if you've paid attention to anything that Kim Ogg has done since taking office at the beginning of 2017, and it clearly illustrates that Jenkins hasn't spent much time in the trenches of Harris County criminal justice.

Ogg countered Jenkins' criticism with an editorial in this morning's Chronicle.  In typical Ogg fashion, she demonstrated her flair for the dramatic:

It's the kind of fear that awakens prosecutors in the middle of the night.

What if I help convict the wrong person?  What if I fail to bring a serial murderer to justice and he kills again?  What is the best outcome for a family plagued by domestic violence?  How do we prevent a drunk driver from leaving jail, getting in his car again and killing an entire family?

Prosecutors wrestle with these worries every day. 

Um, calm down, Kim.  Most prosecutors at your office waking up in the middle of the night are mostly worried about what Joanne Musick is retroactively doing with their evaluations.

That being said, Kim is right on this issue.  The District Attorney's Office does need more prosecutors, and contrary to Jay Jenkins' opinion, that doesn't compromise the Ogg Administration's progressive views towards the Criminal Justice System.  Harris County Assistant District Attorneys are overworked and underpaid.  Seriously.  To the point where it is kind of absurd.

Even with Possession of Marijuana cases and trace cases not being filed, there is no shortage of crime in Harris County, Texas.  Overall filings may be way down, but prosecutors still find themselves handling hundreds of cases.  Sure, those cases vary in degrees of seriousness, but each and every one of them still have things that must be done on them.

If Jenkins spent a little more time in the trenches, perhaps he would become more familiar with the extremely common occurrence of a case being reset because an overworked prosecutor didn't get a "To Do" done.  Those resets are (on average) about a month, and in many instances, that's a month of sitting in jail.

That can be an extra month in jail because:

1.  A prosecutor didn't get a final restitution figure on a theft case.

2.  A prosecutor didn't get in touch with the victim of an assault who wanted to drop charges or was okay with probation.

3.  A prosecutor didn't get a copy of the search warrant or the offense report.

4.  A prosecutor didn't have time to look at a search issue.

5.  A prosecutor didn't have time to talk to an alibi witness offered by the defense.

6.  A prosecutor didn't have time to review a DWI video.

The reason these types of To Do's don't get done is NOT because prosecutors are lazy.  Most prosecutors (especially Twos and Threes) are working ten or twelve hour days and on weekends.  The reality is that they are overwhelmed with cases. 

If a prosecutor is in a court that goes to trial frequently, that makes matters even worse.  You know how whenever you go on vacation, all the things that you are supposed to be working on have a tendency to pile up on your desk?  Well, that same phenomenon occurs every time a prosecutor is in trial.

In many instances, a prosecutor won't take a hard look at a case unless it is actually set for trial.  If you're sitting in jail because you can't make bond, that's going to be a really long wait. 

I think that the 2011 William & Mary law review article (written by HCDA Alum Laura Killinger and her husband, Adam Gershowitz) cited in the Chronicle article frames the overall issue best.  They noted both pros and cons to the idea of adding more prosecutors.

. . . adding prosecutors could "result in increased prosecution of low-level drug or prostitution cases without any real reduction in the caseloads of existing prosecutors."

. . . a better-resourced district attorney's office can allow prosecutors to identify and dismiss weak cases more quickly. 

The interesting thing to note about Laura and Adam's article is that it was written in 2011, which was before the "progressive" movement that is currently sweeping major metropolitan areas in the country.  A more hard-core, conservative elected District Attorney might use more prosecutors to file more cases, but that's not Kim Ogg. 

And, quite frankly, I don't think that expansive prosecution of low-level cases is the future of prosecution.  At least, not in the big cities.

Ogg's appeal for more prosecutors is a well-intentioned and necessary request that will help the progressive agenda, not hurt it.  Jenkins should have a little more faith in Ogg.  They both have the same hopes for the future of Criminal Justice. 

If he spent a little more time in the trenches, he might realize that.

The State of the Criminal Justice World

No, I did not quit blogging.  I've just been really lazy busy lately.

It has been over two months since my last blog post and much has changed since I wished all of the candidates well on Election Day.

In all honesty, I kind of wanted to wait for some time to pass after the election before I wrote again.  A lot of good friends lost their benches and it really didn't feel like the right time to point out that I was pretty sure that was going to be what happened.  Couple that with being off on a couple of Cold Justice shoots, a minor non-cancer-related-surgical-procedure-that-we-shall-never-speak-of-again, an increasingly obstinate 5-year-old, an awkward Christmas, and having to put down one of the family dogs, and I just haven't really had the time or energy to write.

So, fast forward to today, and we've got some interesting things to talk about in the Criminal Justice World.

1.  The New Judges 
As of this morning, I've appeared in front of five of the new District Court Judges and four of the new County Court at Law judges.  The experiences have been very positive.  The judges have all been attentive, courteous, and thoughtful.  In my pre-election analysis, I had said that the majority of the races had qualified candidates running against other qualified candidates.  Therefore, it isn't too big of a surprise to see the judges hit the ground running.

I do feel compelled to point out that new 183rd District Court Judge Chuck Silverman (who I was pretty harsh toward in my pre-election write up) showed that he had a sense of humor about my write-up, and he has been very professional and kind to me in my appearances in his court.

2.  A Judicial Scandal Brewing?
One of the new judges is already in the middle of a scandal, apparently.  I'm not naming that judge right now because nothing is official, but I've heard from multiple credible sources that he is under investigation.  The allegations are that, in open court, he grabbed the arm of an attorney's assistant in an attempt to physically remove her from an area of the courtroom.  The assistant felt pain and has lodged a complaint.  Whether or not that complaint will lead to criminal charges remains to be seen, but everyone is talking about the incident.

3.  The HPD Shootout
I was in Idaho when I learned of the five Houston Police Officers who were wounded in a shootout during the execution of a Search Warrant that left two suspects dead.  The search warrant was for a quantity of heroin and the fact that no heroin was found after the smoke cleared has people talking.  While the District Attorney's Office operates as a 24/7 resource for officers seeking search warrants, this particular one was written by the officers and then presented to a city magistrate for a signature.

There's nothing illegal about that, but in my opinion, the search warrant was a little sloppy.  The warrant was a "No Knock" warrant because a Confidential Informant told police that one of the occupants of the house had a 9mm semi-automatic on him.  No 9mm (or any other type of semi-automatic pistol) was recovered during a search of the crime scene, which means the C.I. was pretty much 0 for 2 for things he described to the author of the warrant.

My prediction is that a full-fledged investigation of this case is going to lead to some embarrassment to HPD but probably no criminal ramifications.  It sounds like they may have sent in a questionable Confidential Informant to make a controlled buy and that got five officers injured and two other people killed.  I'm also going to go out on a limb here and predict that some of the injuries to the officers are going to have come from friendly fire.

4.  Joe Gamaldi
I don't know Houston Police Officers' Union President Joe Gamaldi personally, but he is quickly making his predecessor, Ray Hunt, look like an introvert.  Gamaldi has been front and center of all things involving HPD cases and he has been extremely vocal.  In the past year, he's taken on Kim Ogg and the District Attorney's Office, judges who don't set adequately high bonds (in his opinion), HFD, and, as of this afternoon, HPD Police Chief Art Acevedo.

In the wake of the HPD shootout, Gamaldi made the statement that "dirtbags" were being put on notice, as were groups that disparaged police officers:

If you’re the ones that are out there spreading the rhetoric that police officers are the enemy, just know we’ve all got your number now, we’re going to be keeping track of all of y’all, and we’re going to make sure that we hold you accountable every time you stir the pot on our police officers.

I'm not exactly sure what Gamaldi means by "hold you accountable" but some are taking it as a threat to groups like Black Lives Matter.  I understand that HPD and BLM may not be big fans of each other but this seems to be a threat to the 1st Amendment, in my opinion.  Most HPD officers that I know seem to really like what Gamaldi is saying.  Everyone else seems to think that Gamaldi may be the one who is "stirring the pot."

5.  The CJC Building
Nothing has changed here.  I mean nothing.  The building is still a disaster that needs to be demolished.

So, that's all I've got at the moment.  If you have anything else you want to talk about here, let me know.

A Personnel Problem

My, how times have changed.

Back in the summer of 1998, I was between my 2nd and 3rd year of law school at the University of Houston.  That's roughly the academic time in a law student's life when the big law firms start coming to campus to do interviews with students.  Nervous law students hoping and praying to get hired on with one of those White-Shoe firms wear the same damn suit for days in a row as they talk to all of the legal powerhouses from around the city, state or country.  There is a notable increase in the general level of stress around the school.

In many ways, it was like league dating.  If you wanted to even get an interview with one of the top-tier firms, then your grades needed to reflect that you were a top-tier student.  Some of the smaller firms were a little looser with their standards.  I remember hating that time of law school because all of my normally laid-back friends suddenly became hyperactive stress monkeys.

For me, it was a little less stressful.  I didn't want to get on with a big firm (and with my grades, that feeling was mutual).  I had one place and one place only that I wanted to work:

The Harris County District Attorney's Office.

That was it.  No backup plan.  No safety net.  They were the best in the State.  They were the best in the Country.  They were the best in the World.

I applied for one of the coveted "pre-commit" spots with the Office.  If you received one of those, you had a guaranteed job with them that you held while waiting for your Bar Exam results.  It was job security provided that you passed.

My interview was with Julian Ramirez and Donna Goode.  Julian was fresh off of securing the death penalty on a case where a Houston police officer had been murdered, and I felt like I was in the presence of a celebrity.  I interviewed.  I thought it went well.

Back then, after an interview with the Office, you received a letter several days later that told you either: a) congratulations! You're invited to be a Pre-Commit; b) Thanks for your application, but we aren't offering you a Pre-Commit spot, please re-apply once you pass the Bar; and c) Thanks for your interest, but we don't feel you would be a good match for our office.

I got the "b" option.  Although I thought my interview went well, I wasn't entirely surprised that I wasn't getting a Pre-Commit slot.  My grades weren't exactly terrific.  Although I was mildly disappointed, I wasn't deterred.  I wasn't giving up.

I finished school a semester early (shocking, I know).  It was by design.  I wanted to take the February 1999 Bar Exam because it was the last one before the State Bar was adding the dreaded "Federal Income Tax" portion to the exam.  The prospect of dealing with that scared the hell out of me.   I spent all of January and February of 1999 at every bar preparation class that BARBRI had to offer.  In retrospect, if I had studied as hard during the rest of law school as I did during those two months, those White-Shoe firms might have actually been interested.

The last day of the bar exam was February 25, 1999.  I finished and drove straight home to Bryan.  The lease on my apartment ran out three days later, and for the next three to four months, I was a 26-year-old, engaged, law school graduate, living with his mommy and daddy.  It paints an attractive picture, I know.

But I still had my eye on that prize.  I was just biding my time and waiting for that second shot at applying with Harris County.  I worked as a law clerk for the Brazos County Attorney's Office for five (count 'em, 5) dollars an hour, trying cases and waiting on those Bar Results.  When I learned I passed, I applied again within the next business day.

I had my (second) first interview with Maria McAnulty at 201 Fannin.  She told me at the end of the interview that she would be referring me to the full Hiring Committee.  I was giddy.  A few weeks later, I was grilled by the grumpy old men of the hiring committee, and I couldn't have been more nervous.

Much to my relief, a week or so later I received a phone call from then-1st Assistant-later-Judge Don Stricklin, offering me the job.  I accepted on the spot and told him I'd be there in two weeks.  He told me that I didn't have to be there that quickly, but I assured him that it was no problem.  I'd been waiting for so long to work at that Office that I didn't want to wait an unnecessary moment.

Honestly, I don't know that I ever worked so hard to achieve something in my entire life.

I bring all of this up now in response to seeing this today on Twitter.

The job that aspiring prosecutors once had to work so hard to get is now actively seeking new employees.  Apparently, so many prosecutors are leaving the Office now that they are beginning to find themselves in a bit of a desperate situation.  They can't say that I didn't warn them.  The problem remains personnel and internal politics.

Over the course of the summer, three highly respected and senior Felony District Court Chiefs departed the Office for the Feds.  Off the top of my head, I can think of at least two other District Court Chiefs who departed earlier in the year.  For those of you unfamiliar with the hierarchy of the Office, a District Court Chief is someone who has attained the level of experience within the Office to manage a felony court.  They are the ones who have the experience to try death penalty cases.  It is a reward position that honors experience and hard work.  Most prosecutors who achieve that position are considered to be career prosecutors.

Senior Felony Twos (those who are on the cusp of becoming chief) are leaving as well.  One departing Two told me that she was leaving because she was a lawyer and an adult and wasn't going to spend her career being treated the way the Office was currently treating prosecutors.  

Earlier this week, a recently promoted Felony Chief turned in her two-week notice, leaving Harris County to go work for the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office as a Felony Two.  To put this in perspective, pretend that you are in the Army and you just got promoted to General.  You then resign from the Army to go work for the Marines as a Sergeant.  It's kind of like that and with an accompanying pay cut.

I have to admit that I'm not all that surprised by this current rate of attrition.  When Kim Ogg took over as D.A. and immediately fired 38 senior prosecutors, she pretty much made it clear that she valued loyalty to her over experience.  Is she starting to realize what a mistake that was?

From what I've heard, the Office is trying to offer some incentives to get people to stay.  They are now giving badges to prosecutors on their 3-year-anniversary with the Office (it was four years back in my day).  I've also heard that they are looking into providing free parking for people who have been there for three years (as opposed to when you make Chief).  

Those are nice gestures, but I remain convinced that if the Ogg Administration truly wants to stop losing experienced prosecutors, Kim needs to restructure her upper-echelons.  The current situation that her rank and file are working in is miserable enough post-Hurricane Harvey.  She can still make a change in the way she treats her people.  Being a Harris County Prosecutor is still something that can be one of the best jobs on Earth.  Retaining good, experienced prosecutors drastically reduces your chances of hiring a convicted felon as a new recruit.

I remain hopeful that Kim Ogg will realize that it isn't too late for her to turn this bus around.  She can still have an office that upholds the platform that she wants as District Attorney and back it up with a formidable squad of experienced trial prosecutors.  She just has to stop running off good people.

The Powder Keg

Prior to the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey, each court in the Harris County Criminal Justice Center held a docket every day of the work week.  These dockets were (obviously) held in normal courtrooms, where there were holdover cells for the incarcerated defendants.  Attorneys who were speaking with their "in custody" clients, did so through glass partitions.  If a defendant was brought out of the holdover into the courtroom, they were handcuffed.  If a defendant had acted with particular aggressiveness, they might find themselves in leg restraints before being allowed outside of the holdover.

After Hurricane Harvey rendered the CJC unusable (yet again), one of the biggest challenges facing the Harris County Criminal Justice System was determining how to get incarcerated inmates their day in court.  There were rules and regulations that had to be followed.  Locations had to be secure and there had to be adequate personnel to guard the inmates.  The Civil Courthouse was fine for defendants who were out on bond, but it was not equipped to handle inmates.  There are no holdover cells attached to a civil courtroom.

Ultimately, it was decided that the vast majority of the "in custody" cases would have to be held at the actual jail.  The female felony jail docket is held daily on the 4th floor of the Harris County Jail located at 1200 Baker Street.  The misdemeanor jail docket is held across the street in "Little Baker."  The felony dockets for incarcerated males are held in the basement of the Harris County Jail located at 701 N. San Jacinto.  While the female and misdemeanor dockets are generally pretty safe occasions, the felony male dockets are a completely different story.

The felony male dockets are a disaster waiting to happen, and lawyers who practice there got a small taste of that danger this morning.

To understand what happened today, one must understand the layout of the basement of 701 N. San Jacinto, as well as the procedures followed for each docket.  Each weekday, the 22 District Courts, as well as the Reintegration Court, take turns having a jail docket for male inmates with charges pending out of the respective courts.  Two courts will hold a docket in the morning and two will hold a docket in the afternoon.  Based on the normal cycle, this allows each court to have a jail docket every six business days.

In the basement, there are essentially four rooms used by the lawyers and court personnel.  Two of those rooms function as actual courtrooms, where lawyers can approach the judge, and defendants can be brought for pleas (or any other matter requiring judicial attention).  The third room, held in 701's infamous law library,  is where prosecutors bring their files and meet with the defense attorneys.  This place can look like Grand Central Station during a busy docket.

Attorney Vic Wisner, exercising in the Law Library.

The fourth room is where attorneys and their clients meet to discuss cases, and that's where things get dangerous.

The attorney-client meeting room holds roughly around thirty male inmates.  It is actually a converted "pod" with two tables placed inside of it so that inmates can do paperwork, if need be.  Around the perimeter of the room are plastic chairs for the inmates to sit in while they wait to talk to their attorneys.  The room is extremely overcrowded.

None of the inmates in the room are secured by handcuffs or leg restraints.  Although they are all told to sit down and wait for their attorneys to come speak with them, there are no physical restraints on them.  There is nothing there that would prevent them from getting up and walking across the room.

There is nothing there to prevent them from fighting with each other.

There is nothing there to prevent them from attacking one of the lawyers who enters the room.

The deputies who are in charge of securing the inmates, sit in chairs outside of the meeting room.  In short, it is a windowless room with one door for an entryway.  It is filled to capacity with inmates charged with felonies ranging from theft to drugs to sexual assault to murder.  And every day, civilian attorneys wade into this room, filled with inmates, with the hope that none of the inmates feel like attacking anyone.

The potential for something terrible happening is tremendous.  It only continues to operate under the optimistic belief that each and every one of the inmates will follow all of the rules and not lose their temper.

But, here's one thing you quickly realize when you become a defense attorney -- you often find yourself being the messenger of very bad news.  Whether it is telling the client what the evidence is against him or just conveying the plea bargain offer from the prosecutor, defense attorneys have the unpleasant duty of upsetting their clients on a daily basis.  The vast majority of those clients take the news in stride and understand that is how the System works.  

Others don't.  Some will become quite angry over the news they receive.  Some will lose their minds simply over the length of a reset.

Oh, and did I mention that a decent amount of the inmate population in the meeting room has some level of mental illness?

Today, a mentally ill inmate attacked Public Defender Danny Lacayo in the holdover.  Danny had just told his client that his case was going to be reset and placed a pen on the table for the client to sign his paperwork.  The client became very agitated and Danny quickly picked up the pen, moving it from his client's reach.  The client then punched Danny in the face.

Danilo "Danny" Lacayo

Fortunately, Danny is a pretty stout guy.  He stood up and walked out of the room before the situation escalated further.  He said the punch hurt, but mostly he was relieved that he had the wherewithal to move the pen. Ultimately, someone told the deputies outside the room what had happened and they removed the defendant from the meeting room.

The situation could have been far more tragic.

To my knowledge, this is the first physical assault on an attorney in the meeting room, but there have been several close calls.  Earlier this week, a male inmate began losing his temper with his female attorney.  She was able to escape the room before it turned physical.  Every lawyer that works a jail docket worries about what would happen if the situation truly got out of control.  

It will get out of control one day.  It isn't a matter of "if."  It's a matter of "when." The quarters are too close.  There are no safety protocols.  The jail is understaffed.  The inmates are angry.

The whole situation is a powder keg, waiting to explode.

Kim Ogg's War with HPD

I'm really beginning to think that Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg skipped the day they taught diplomacy at politician school.  KPRC Channel Two is reporting this evening that the D.A.'s Office suddenly revoked the City of Houston Police Department's access to the Consolidated Criminal History Database (CCHD) without warning.

The database is an extremely handy website available to all prosecutors and apparently, all (but one, now) law enforcement agencies in Harris County.  The way it works is that it gives the user the ability to enter the name of person and that person's entire Harris County criminal history pops up.  It shows every case the person was ever charged with, as well as the outcome of those cases.  That information is something that is readily available via a standard NCIC/TCIC criminal history check, but the CCHD gives much more detailed information.

Each listing of a criminal case provides links to a tremendous amount of additional information.  In most cases, each case is linked to the offense report.  It may also link to all the persons involved.  It can provide information on where the crime happened and past known addresses of a suspect.  In many cases, it even has digital downloads of audio and video recordings.  It is a valuable asset for prosecutors and police agencies.  Here's why.

Let's say that the Houston Police Department is working on a case and they are looking for a suspect.  They enter his name into the CCHD and it shows that he's had several cases filed on him by the Harris County Sheriff's Office, the Constables, or Pasadena.  The CCHD provides an easy click to read the offense reports from those other agencies.

It allows the multiple police agencies within Harris County to quickly access each other's relevant information, without having to go through the (sometimes painfully slow) process of reaching out to each other and asking for that same information to be shared.  It puts local criminal history at an officer's fingertips.

Defense attorneys even have (a very limited) access to it for their clients.  When I have signed on as attorney of record to a case, I can use the CCHD to look up my client's criminal history and have access to all of the old offense reports related to it.  It is an amazing website that makes my job so much easier.  I can see the related offense reports, get interviews, and see evidence on cases where my client was charged.  It saves the prosecutors an immeasurable amount of time because they don't have to make copies of everything and provide it to me.

But the irony is that now I have access to something that the freaking City of Houston Police Department does not.  HPD.  The biggest law enforcement agency in the county.

It's hard to decide where to begin with this, but I'll give it a shot.

When Kim Ogg fired decided not to renew the contracts of approximately 40 senior prosecutors in her new regime, she sent a very loud message that she was not to be trifled with.  She clearly had her own vision of the direction she wanted to take the Office and she wasn't really too bothered by the opinions of those who disagreed with her.

Ogg was more than happy to take on the ire of the police agencies when she decided to stop taking felony charges on residue or "trace cases" or small amounts of marijuana.  Those criticisms were to be expected for a "progressive" District Attorney.

But recent public complaints from HPD to the media have apparently pushed Ogg over the edge.  Some members of HPD have been complaining of prosecutors pleading out cases for too little punishment.  Ogg's way of dealing with the criticism was to simply ban her prosecutors from talking to the police about what was happening.

This memo in and of itself is pretty telling about the deteriorating relationship between the Ogg Administration and surrounding police agencies.  The very idea that police officers who worked on cases aren't allowed to speak to the prosecutors who handled those cases is absurd.

I'm not saying that a police officer's opinion of a case should be the controlling factor on how that case is handled -- prosecutors are trained to spot issues and make judgment calls on cases that a police officer may not see -- but that doesn't mean officers should get the silent treatment on the cases they work on.  Imagine a scenario like this:

OFFICER:  Hey, are you the prosecutor that handled that Agg Assault on a Public Servant case where the suspect shot at me?

ADA:  I'm sorry, sir.  I can neither confirm nor deny that.

OFFICER:  He got probation.  What the hell happened?

ADA:  Sir, you may speak to my supervisor if you are displeased.

OFFICER:  Aren't you the prosecutor who handled it?

ADA:  I can neither confirm nor deny that.  Would you like my supervisor's name and number?

But even that pales in comparison to the idea of shutting the county's largest police force out of a shared database.  In essence, Ogg has responded to the criticisms by withdrawing access to an investigative tool.   That could be construed as a declaration of war.

And that probably wasn't the best decision she could have made.  This war is not one that Ogg can win.

Suppose HPD decides to retaliate by blocking access to their databases to all HCDA personnel?  Prosecutors who want an offense report will have to request a printed version that is copied and turned over to them.  What would happen if every name an HCDA investigator wanted to look up was no longer available at the push of a button?  

It would bring the D.A.'s Office to a standstill.  What would the D.A.'s Office do then?  Stop filing all HPD cases?  Good luck with that.  What Ogg is withholding from HPD will inconvenience them.  If they retaliate, they could devastate a D.A.'s Office that is already reeling from the side effects of Hurricane Harvey.

I'm sure there is more to the story than is currently in the media.  Ogg giving a comment might help enlighten us.  The fact that she isn't in front of a camera, sharing her side of things is telling.  It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.  If we know nothing else about Kim Ogg, we know that she doesn't back down from challenges very often. 

No matter how devastating the repercussions.   

An Open Letter to Kim Ogg About Her Prosecutors

Hi Kim,

Long time, no talk.

I heard that your upper admin recently started some new thingy called "Selfies and Plans for Success" or something like that.  If I understand it correctly, the "Selfies" component is for each prosecutor to keep a file on his or her computer of all the professional accolades accumulated over the years.

I'll be honest with you -- it seems a little silly to me.  Prosecutors are too busy working their butts off these days to take time for patting themselves on the back.  Self-aggrandizing is really more of a sport for the politicians.  Not to sound too much like a grumpy ex-prosecutor, but back in my day, the upper admin knew the difference between the great, good, average and bad prosecutors.  They watched them in trial.  They read their evaluations.  They didn't ask them to make a "sizzle reel" as if they were trying out for American Idol.

Real prosecutors ain't got time for that.  But if you are keeping tabs on the compliments that the prosecutors in your office receive, let me pass one along:

Harris County prosecutors are the best in the business.

Now, I know I'm biased since I'm a former Harris County prosecutor and all, but over the past nine years I've spent in private practice and the last five years I've spent consulting on other projects, I've had the chance to see quite a few more jurisdictions than I had before 2009.  I've dealt with prosecutors in numerous other counties and numerous other states.  I'm not saying anything negative about the ADAs in those other locales, but there are few that can compare to a seasoned Harris County prosecutor.

Harris County prosecutors have seen every type of case and prosecuted it.  They know the rules of evidence like the backs of their hands because they've gone to trial so many times that procedure is ingrained in them.  They know the value of the case.  They respect their adversaries.  They honor their word.  They know what in the hell they are doing in ways that too many other jurisdictions miss the boat on.

And since Hurricane Harvey, your prosecutors have been absolutely killing it.

I'm not just talking about keeping intake up and running through the storm.  I'm talking about the aftermath.  The past five or six months where they have had to drag buckets of cases to various and sundry makeshift courtrooms across the county.  They have had to keep up with their Discovery obligations and learn a little bit of eFiling in the middle of all this too.  They literally work around the clock on their jobs.

It has not been unusual during post-flood conditions for prosecutors to answer texts, emails and phone calls late into the evening.  I got a (timely) Discovery notice the other night from a prosecutor at 11:45 p.m.  I've seen prosecutors lug additional files to court so some defense attorneys who really really really hate driving in the Galleria area wouldn't have to come to your Office.  I've had two prosecutors drop Discovery off at my house.  I've had another let me come talk to her about a case at her house.

For a displaced group of prosecutors, they couldn't be more accommodating or professional.  They do their jobs and do them well because they love what they do.

You should be proud.  Actually, you should be honored to lead such a group.

But I kind of get the impression that you aren't honored.  I keep seeing and hearing more and more horror stories about folks in your upper admin who treat your rank and file prosecutors like untrustworthy idiots with bad judgment.  I keep seeing more and more outstanding prosecutors leaving Harris County to go to Fort Bend or Montgomery or Travis County.  I know of others praying to get on with the Feds.

They don't want to leave the prosecutorial profession.  They just want to leave you.  That's a shame, because I'm really a big fan of your outlook on the Criminal Justice System.  That's why I voted for you.  That's why I normally defend you when the media is looking for somebody to give a negative sound byte about you.  I know we had our differences on the whole David Temple thing, but on the whole, I still like your policies.

But dammit, Kim.  You have got to start treating your prosecutors better.  They've been through a lot and they've made you look good in the process.  It's time you started treating them like the highly skilled professionals that they are.

And the first thing you need to do to make that happen is have a little chat with JoAnne Musick, your trial bureau chief.

I've known JoAnne since I was a baby prosecutor back in 1999.  She was the misdemeanor chief of Court Six (I believe) back then and we were friends.  It's a good thing we were friends back then, because I saw the way she treated people she didn't like.  She was one of those chiefs who picked a favorite in her court, and God save you if you weren't it.  I watched her nitpick the living hell out of prosecutors she supervised and then share her scathing reviews with all who wanted to hear.

She was a career prosecutor back then.  She bragged about how she was "raised on the knee of Johnny Holmes" and she acted as though she was heir to the throne.  Don't get me wrong.  JoAnne was good at her job.  She was smart and she liked to teach.  But that mean streak, man.  You didn't want to run afoul of that.

When plans changed for JoAnne, she moved to the defense bar.  Now, as someone who initially believed himself to be a career prosecutor, I can tell you that the change to the defense attorney can sometimes be a little awkward at first.  It wan't for JoAnne.  Within the space of one job change, JoAnne's D.A. "family" became known as the vilest group of liars and unethical cheats known to mankind.  The razor sharp tongue and opinions that she once used only on confused Misdemeanor Threes suddenly were being applied to the entirety of the Office.  She was so angry towards the Harris County District Attorney's Office that her former co-workers honestly didn't know what to make of it.

I remember one very senior chief dryly remarking, "I don't know why y'all are so surprised that JoAnne is just as big of a [expletive deleted, but you can probably guess] for the defense bar as she was for us."

And of course, the Defense Bar just ate that up.  They loved JoAnne and her insightful hatred of where she used to work.  To date, she's the only person to serve as President of the Harris County Criminal Lawyer's Association twice.

In the spirit of full disclosure (and in case you haven't guessed already), JoAnne and I aren't exactly buddies.  We got crossways when I was still with the Office after she left.  That got magnified greatly during the whole David Temple case reversal.  She was blasting me on Twitter from the HCCLA account.  It probably had something to do with the fact that one of her law partners at the time was Temple Defense Team Member John Denholm.  Those were good times.

Many of us were stunned when JoAnne took a job with your Administration, Kim.  After all of the things she had said about prosecutors, cops and victims of crime, we all thought those bridges had been burned, nuked, and spat upon.

But all we really needed to do to understand why JoAnne went back to an Office she hated so much was remember what she truly loves:

Power.

JoAnne loves being the person in charge and belittling those beneath her.  It's like, her thing.

Her move to Felony Trial Bureau Chief (replacing the far more respected and liked John Jordan) was right up her alley.  She's been going to town ever since she took over her spot, too.  Calling out prosecutor after prosecutor over long-disposed cases and demanding explanations as if she were addressing a renegade pre-commit.  You can call Harris County prosecutors many things, but "soft on crime" has never been one of them.

JoAnne clearly still has the same enthusiasm for belittling those under her as she did when she was a misdemeanor chief.  I've heard the way she talks to prosecutors.  I've heard about her memos. It is so very very vintage JoAnne.

JoAnne isn't talking to renegade pre-commits, Kim.  She's talking to seasoned, trained, ethical, professional, stand up prosecutors.  Prosecutors who have somehow managed to remain upbeat and together despite all they've gone through after Hurricane Harvey.  I wouldn't talk to my dog the way JoAnne talks to prosecutors.

And I don't really like my dog that much.

In short, Hurricane JoAnne is having a far more detrimental effect on your prosecutors than Harvey ever did.  I hope that you'll do something about it.

Many moons ago, when you were working for the D.A.'s Office under Pat Lykos, I ran into you at the elevator bank of the CJC.  It was in the middle of all that crazy Grand Jury surveillance-era and you shook your head and said, "We really need to go grab a beer and catch up on what is happening around here."  Over the months and years that followed, when you and I saw each other around the building and always noted how we still needed to have that beer.

We never did have it, and I'm guessing you probably wouldn't want to have one with me now.  I understand. But all of this is what I would tell you if we were to have that beer today.

You have some of the best prosecutors in the world working for you right now. Treat them with the respect that they have earned and deserve, and they will help you accomplish all of those things that you want and need to do.

A Lack of Civility

It isn't difficult to empathize with the Civil Judges and lawyers who regularly practice at the the Civil Justice Center located at 201 Caroline.

When Hurricane Harvey wiped out the Harris County Criminal Justice Center (for the third time), the Criminal Bar showed up at the Civils' doorstep like Cousin Eddie at the Griswolds'.  We had no place else to go and the Civil Court judges welcomed us in.  That couldn't have been easy.  Imagine if someone came to you and asked you to vacate your office for a group of relative strangers.

The vast majority of the Civil Judges have been more than gracious hosts.  For those that didn't outright give up their courtrooms to bunk up with other judges, the rest have been very generous in sharing their space with criminal court dockets.  On those occasions when the Civils have needed their courtrooms back for their own trials and hearings, they have been pretty accepting of the Criminal Courts working their dockets in the front foyer.

I'm sure news that the CJC would be closed for six months, wait, I mean a year, no two years, make that two years at a minimum, didn't help the Civils maintain a cheery outlook about the current situation.  For two of the Civil Court judges, things reached a boiling point today.

Judge Kyle Carter

125th Civil District Court Judge Kyle Carter has been sharing his courtroom with the 208th and 209th Criminal District Courts since the flood.  This week, the 208th was in trial, so the prosecutors and defense attorneys with cases in the 209th relocated to the kitchen area behind the courtroom.  On Monday, when Judge Carter's staff came to use the kitchen area, they were apparently none too pleased to find the area occupied.

Shortly after this, Judge Carter (who, keep in mind, was not the Judge in trial) appeared and wanted to speak to the prosecutor in charge.  When the Felony Two responded to the Judge that he was a prosecutor, Carter is reported to have dressed him down in front of his court staff, admonishing him that the next person who was "loud" in the area would be held in contempt.

I'm not exactly sure what the grounds would be for holding a prosecutor in contempt.  There was no indication that the prosecutors were disturbing any court proceedings.  It sounds much more like Judge Carter was just appeasing his staff who wasn't happy about having their lunch space invaded.  Apparently, Carter lost sight of the fact that these are taxpayer-funded public buildings, not personal property belonging solely to him and his staff.

The prosecutors of the 209th made the decision that discretion was the better part of valor, however.  Rather than inform Judge Carter that his threats of contempt weren't, shall we say, legal, they elected to move today's docket to a spot in front of the windows at the end of the hallway.

For those of you unfamiliar with the layout of the floors of the Civil Building, please be aware that this is a small alcove at the end of the hallway.  It blocks no doors or elevators.  There are no violations of the Fire Code.  It is simply a table and chairs set up in an area where people are free to congregate in hopes of not offending the delicate ears of Judge Carter.

Problem solved, right?  Not so fast.

Enter, Judge Ravi K. Sandill of the 127th Civil District Court . . .

Judge Ravi K. Sandill

This morning, Judge Sandill was walking down the halls of Civil Building and saw the 209th's set up in the hallway.  Apparently, it didn't sit well with him.  He inquired as to what exactly the prosecutors were doing in the hallway.  They explained the situation to him and he left.

He returned a short time later and began taking pictures of the prosecutors. Shortly thereafter, Clay Bowman, the District Courts Administrator showed up to express his displeasure.

So, to recap, the 209th can't be in the courtroom because there is a trial going on.  They can't be in Judge Kyle Carter's break room because he will hold them in contempt.  They can't be in the hallway because it makes Judge Sandill uncomfortable.  I'm genuinely curious to see where the Fighting 209th will be tomorrow.  Perhaps District Attorney Kim Ogg can requisition a Justice Trolley that just slowly makes circles around the Civil Building.

Again, I'd like to point out that the vast majority of the Civil Judges have been nothing less than completely welcoming and cognizant of the fact that the Criminal Justice System is currently operating under emergency conditions.  

By the way, it is also worth noting that the Judge of the 209th District Court is Judge Michael McSpadden, who has been on the bench for over 35 years.  That's longer than Judges Sandhill and Carter have even been attorneys . . . combined.

The 2018 Finalized Election Field

As many of you know, the filing deadline for candidates running for office in the 2018 Election ended at 6 p.m. on Monday, December 11th.

Without commentary from me (at this point),  below is the finalized field of candidates running for Harris County judgeships.  It is complete to the best of my knowledge, after looking at the Harris County Democrat and Republican websites, the Secretary of State's website, and running it by candidates on both sides.  If I inadvertently left anyone off, it is unintentional and I'll fix it if you let me know.  Also, if you are missing a link to your campaign website, let me know and I'll add it.


The 180th District Court
REP:  Catherine Evans (I)         
DEM:  DaSean Jones

182nd Distrct Court
REP:  Jesse McClure                 
DEM:  Danilo "Danny" Lacayo

183rd District Court
REP:  Vanessa Velasquez (I)     
DEM:  Chuck Silverman

184th District Court
REP:  Renee Magee  vs. Antonio Benavides               
DEM:  Abigail Anastasio
         
185th District Court
REP:  Stacey Bond vs. Maritza Antu             
DEM:  Jason Luong vs. Brennen Dunn

208th District Court
REP:  Denise Collins (I)              
DEM:  Greg Glass

209th District Court
REP:  Michael McSpadden (I)   
DEM:  Brian Warren

228th District Court
REP:  Marc Carter  (I)               
DEM:  Frank Aguilar     

230th  District Court
REP:  Brad Hart (I)                   
DEM:   Chris Morton

232nd District Court
REP:  Kristin Guiney  (I)           
DEM:  Josh Hill

248th District Court
REP:  Katherine Cabaniss (I)   
DEM:  Hilary Unger

262nd District Court
REP:  Tammy Thomas             
DEM:  Lori Chambers Gray

263rd District Court
REP:  Justin Keiter vs. Charles Johnson             
DEM:  Amy Martin
         
313th District Court (Juvenile)
REP:  Glenn Devlin (I)           
DEM:  John Stephen Liles vs. Natalia Oakes vs. Tracy D. Good

314th District Court (Juvenile)
REP:  John Phillips (I)                 
DEM:  Michelle Moore

315th District Court (Juvenile)
REP:  Mike Schneider (I)       
DEM:  Leah Shapiro

County Court at Law # 1
REP:  Paula Goodhart (I)             
DEM:  Alex Salgado

County Court at Law # 2
REP:  Bill Harmon (I)                 
DEM:  Harold Landreneau vs. Ronnisha Bowman

County Court at Law # 3
REP:  Natalie Flemming (I)           
DEM:  Erica Hughes

County Court at Law # 4
REP:  John Clinton (I)                 
DEM:  Shannon Baldwin

County Court at Law # 5
REP:  Xavier Alfaro                   
DEM:    David Fleischer vs. Armen Merjanian vs. Aaron Saldana

County Court at Law # 6
REP:  Linda Garcia                     
DEM:  KelleyAndrews

County Court at Law # 7
REP:  Pam Derbyshire (I)           
DEM:  Andrew A. Wright vs. Danval Scarbrough

County Court at Law # 8
REP:   Jay Karahan  (I) vs. Dan Simons       
DEM:  Franklin Bynum
         

County Court at Law # 9
REP:  John Wakefield                 
DEM:  Toria Finch

County Court at Law # 10
REP:  Dan Spjut (I)                     
DEM:  Lee Harper Wilson

County Court at Law # 11
REP:  Aaron Burdette vs.  Lori Botello                 
DEM:  Gus Saper vs. Sedrick T Walker II 

County Court at Law # 12
REP:  John Spjut                         
DEM:  Juan Aguirre vs. Cassandra Y. Holleman

County Court at Law # 13
REP:  Jessica Padilla                   
DEM:  Raul Rodriguez vs. Mike Renfro

County Court at Law # 14
REP:  Mike Fields                       
DEM:  David Singer

County Court at Law # 15
REP:  Roger Bridgwater           
DEM:  Kris Ougrah vs. Tonya Jones

Additionally, I wanted to point out that there are a few races involving some Harris County folks who are running for some other additional benches.

339th District Court Judge Maria T. Jackson is running as a Democrat for Presiding Judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals. (Statewide Race)

338th District Court Judge Ramona Franklin is running as a Democrat for the Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 7. (Statewide Race)

Assistant District Attorney Beth Barron is running as a Democrat for the 280th District Court (Family Law).

Assistant District Attorney Lauren Reeder is running as a Democrat for the 234th District Court (Civil Bench).

Former Assistant Public Defender Frances Bourliot is running as a Democrat for the 14th Court of Appeals.

Assistant Public Defender Sarah "Sorcha" Landau is also running for the First Court of Appeals, Position 6.