Life at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center

Back in September of 2013, when Kim Ogg announced her candidacy for Harris County District Attorney , I made the statement "I'm just happy that we have two candidates in the race who actually care about Criminal Justice."  I'd known Kim for years and thought highly of her and her no-nonsense approach to her job.  She was certainly a better candidate than the moronic Lloyd Oliver (whom she easily defeated in the Democratic primary) and she certainly wasn't as mean-spirited and incompetent as Pat Lykos. Although I still planned on supporting Devon Anderson for District Attorney, I didn't think there would be too much negative to say about Kim.  I was actually looking forward to the debating of the issues the affected Harris County Criminal Justice. There was a warning sign (at the time of Kim's announcement) that foreshadowed a dirty campaign, unfortunately.  Photos published by Dave "Big Jolly" Jennings on his website here   showed Ogg shaking

Like most of you, I was genuinely surprised to learn of the death of Robin Williams yesterday. Although I make no claims of being his "biggest" fan, I grew up watching him.  His career coincided with my childhood and I can remember finding him wildly hysterical when I was younger.  As I grew older, I found him much more compelling as a dramatic actor than as a comedian and I rank "Dead Poets Society" as one of my all-time favorite movies. Even though I may not have enjoyed many of his zanier roles as much as his more sedate ones, I liked Robin Williams.  I thought he busted his butt to use his celebrity to help good causes.  He had his personal demons, but at the end of the day there was something about him that conveyed he was a decent person.  More so than most celebrities in Hollywood, there was something about Robin Williams that made me, and many others, feel like we knew him. I think that's why learning that he took his own life yesterday feels so sh

In the Spring of 2009, I met my friend and mentor, Pat McCann, for a drink at Char Bar.  We talked about all of those things going on in our lives, and he was genuinely interested in what changes in perspective I had now that I had left the District Attorney's Office. "I think you need to do a blog on the differences between being a prosecutor and being a defense attorney," he told me. "I've been a defense attorney for about five minutes," I replied.  "I don't really think I've got the depth of experience on this side to do that blog post quite yet." Over the past five years, I've revisited that conversation frequently.  There have been times that I thought I could write a big, overarching blog post that could point out the minutia of differences in the job of a defense attorney versus that of a prosecutor.  It could even be humorous.  I've started THAT blog post several times, but the end product was so cheesy that I couldn&#

My thoughts and prayers are with my friend and fellow attorney, Kent Schaffer, on the loss of his daughter, Max , who passed away last week at the age of 28. Although I don't know Kent as well as I know some other attorneys at the CJC, my wife and I had the opportunity to meet Max one time when she was at dinner with Kent.  The pride and love that Kent had and continues to have for her was very evident as he introduced us. As a parent, I don't even want to begin to imagine all that he and his family are having to come to terms with. I wish that there was something more that I could say that was more eloquent than this, but I hope that Kent knows that everyone in our criminal law community's heart is aching for his loss. Please keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers.