Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Caught in the Middle

Out of the entire debacle going on over at the Harris County District Attorney's Office with the Grand Jury, the people that most folks are concerned for are the Baby Prosecutors who were having to handle B.A.T. van cases.  Relatively brand new to their jobs, they were put in positions to try cases where they, themselves, might not have even been informed about the swirling controversy surrounding the vans.

Yet, in the District Attorney's Office, the youngest of the prosecutors are the ones who would be trying the vast majority of those cases.  The vast majority of them have probably been out of law school for under two years.

Their direct supervisors run from Deputy Division Chief Rachel Palmer to Misdemeanor Division Chief John Jordan to Professional Development, Community Protection & Ethics Bureau Chief Roger Bridgwater to First Assistant Jim Leitner to Pat Lykos.  They've been doing this a lot longer than the Baby Prosecutors, and they have the D.A.'s Office's General Counsel John Barnhill looking after their best interest.

Want to know whose interest John Barnhill is NOT looking out for?  The Baby Prosecutors.

The Lykos Administration would probably spend asset forfeiture funds on a bus for the sole purpose of throwing the younger prosecutors under it if they thought it would help them with the 185th Grand Jury.  Any young prosecutor, who at this point, still believes that the upper Administration is looking after his or her best interest is not thinking this through.

There are several defense attorneys out in CJC community who will be more than willing to advise and (if need be) represent the young ones if they need it.  If you are involved in this whole mess and need some advice, you should give them a call.

Additionally, if you want to talk to Special Prosecutors Jim Mount or Stephen St. Martin, they are also easily accessible.

Jim can be reached at 713-650-8700 and Stephen can be reached at 713-222-1133.

I have no idea what is going on with the 185th's Grand Jury investigation at the moment.  Quite frankly, I tend to agree with what Rage and some others have said about it most likely leading to no indictments.  However, every matter involving a Grand Jury needs to be taken with the utmost seriousness.

None of the Baby Prosecutors need to get caught in the middle.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe Ted Olberg could welcome Lykos back with another interview today.

Anonymous said...

On Rosenthal's worst day, the District Attorney's Office didn't look this bad.

Anonymous said...

anon 4:16 it is just the beginning. But why is everyone so surprised? Judge Lykos is who she is!

The DA candidate floodgates are fixing to open so let's see who files in the coming weeks. The campaign will be a bloodbath for for sure. I googled Mike Anderson but couldn't find much on him except for the Houston Press praising him 10 years ago as a good judge. Zero name recognition but zero dirt so far. An old photo reminded me of the mustachioed Holmes and Rosenthal and I'll bet team Lykos will have a field day with that. He seems nice but OMG his one for all and all for one judicial races pivoted on the top of the ticket not his personal skills as a campaigner. It's a big jump from high school to the NFL.
Kelly Siegler will be attacked for calling a bunch of odd balls just that and for putting all those killers on death row. Jimmy Leitner will pretend to be relevant. The question remains will Patsy Lykos survive until election time? A Lykos run-off is our only worry if we are to save the office.

Anonymous said...

How is this issue any different than past brady issues or refusal to test DNA?

Y'all don't like the current DA.

That's it. There are more people sitting in jail due to faulty convictions under Holmes and Rosenthal than there will ever be due to BAT vans. But what do y'all say about them?

(Crickets.)

Rage

Anonymous said...

Pat Lykos was ill-thought-of way before she ran for DA. The fact that she is disdained more than ever after being the DA since 01/2009 says a lot more about her than the people who work there. If she was doing a decent job and treating people with any respect at all, she would actually be respected. This has not occurred.

There are plenty of people who don't work for her who feel the same way.

Anonymous said...

Rage,

Become eligible to practice law again and perhaps you could help those wrongfully convicted.

Until then, .......

Anonymous said...

I thought Lykos was well respected. All of her people call her Judge. Isn't that respected?

Oh, just in, she ordered them to call her judge. Well she is not a judge anymore. She is now the elected DA and I will call her unqualified.

Anonymous said...

To Ted Oberg:
Lykos is nowhere to be found around her office last week or this. It's patently obvious why: She is dodging Requests for Media Comment and SUBPOENAS. She didn't want to testify in the DWI trial last week and she certainly doesn't want to be subpoenaed to the 185th Grand Jury. Instead, she's getting her ADA's to act as shills for her so she can throw THEM under the bus. She got back from Hawaii Monday and is now laying low away from the office.

Anonymous said...

Rage, just how many people do you think are sitting in jail for wrongful convictions of DWI charges related to faulty BAT van results? Seriously, this is a community where many time offenders get to plea out to reckless driving or get time served from their arrest where they bonded out the next day.

On that note, the biggest complaint made until very recently was that the BAT vans were so frequently sitting unused but I have yet to see anyone in the media or on this blog put the matter in perspective numerically. And while it is nice to play up the drama in the press, the results of the faultiest readings in those vans were ALWAYS self apparent and only a small part of the evidence, the real issue here being the lack of disclosure by Lykos and company about the mere possibility that on occasion, some readings may have been off a bit (intake has been notorious for denying charges in cases for the slightest of reasons, even those with a perfectly accurate reading over the limit).

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 ...