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Texas Prosecutor 2017 Redesign

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Texas Prosecutor 2017 Redesign TheThe TexasTexas The official journal of the Texas District and County Attorneys Association ProsecutorProsecutor January–February 2021 • Volume 51, Number 1 “It shall be the primary duty of all prosecuting attorneys … not to convict, but to see that justice is done.” Art. 2.01, Texas Code of Criminal Procedure How prosecutors are making it work If anything is true about people who Compiled by Sarah Halverson work in a Texas prosecutor office, it’s TDCAA Communications Director in Austin that y’all are a resourceful lot. Prosecutors and staff are accustomed to making the most of what they have, whether it’s limited time, personnel, or funds, and those limitations often lead to remarkable creativ- ity and smart solutions to pesky problems. Erica Morgan We wanted to find out how everyone is operating amidst Assistant District Attorney in Bell County the still-raging pandemic, and it’s been no small feat as some We have not conducted any trials. We had two scheduled be- counties are changing course week by week. To bring this in- fore the court, but each fell through due to concerns about formation to our entire service group, we asked several pros- adequate representation in the remote process. Specifically, ecutors across the state the same series of questions: how the defendant was to appear remotely from the jail, and their jurisdictions are conducting trials (or not conducting there was not a way for his attorney to be with him in the jail trials), what the biggest difficulties are, whether pleas are facility. Others in my office have conducted suppression moving forward, how the shutdown is affecting defendants hearings and outcry hearings remotely. We have a death on bond, and whether anything good has come from this penalty case pending, and there have been many hearings whole crisis. We share their answers here so that everyone on pretrial motions conducted remotely for that case. might benefit from their setbacks and successes—and there We’ve thought through the logistics of having a trial and have been successes. Prosecutor office personnel, after all, examined how that would look procedurally, and if com- are a resourceful bunch. pleted, would the constitutional rights of the accused re- main protected? We do not believe we can safely hold a trial Has your office conducted any trials since the and address the health concerns of the participants and pub- COVID-19 shutdown? lic at the same time. We have serious concerns about select- Benjamin I. Kaminar ing a jury of one’s peers if we are automatically excusing Assistant County & District Attorney in Lamar County prospective jurors who are older, who have health concerns, Yes, we conducted a felony jury trial in mid-November. None or who live or work with such a person. Once those individ- of the trial was conducted remotely; however, our defense at- uals are excused, is the remaining panel really a representa- torneys have been using Zoom to meet with defendants in tive cross-section of our community from which to select a jail, including with this trial. fair and impartial jury? Continued on page 16 TDCAF News TEXAS And another joins the D ISTRICT AND COUNTY Texas Prosecutors Society A TTORNEYS FOUNDATION Like ships passing in the night, 505 W. 12th St., our September-October 2020 Ste. 100 issue of The Texas Prosecutor Austin, TX 78701 www.tdcaf.org was going to print just as BOARD OF Donna Hawkins accepted our TRUSTEES Bobby Bland invitation to join the Texas Kathleen A. Braddock Prosecutors Society. Thomas L. Bridges Kenda Culpepper By Rob Kepple Donna is a respected former prosecutor from Yolanda de Leon Harris County and has had a great career in the TDCAF & TDCAA Executive Director in Austin David A. Escamilla profession. Donna, we are honored to place your Knox Fitzpatrick name with the others for our Class of 2020! Tony Fidelie H.E.Bert Graham The “Machine Gun Mike” Harris County DA and Foundation Advisory Russell Hardin, Jr. Scholarship Fund Board member, quickly organized an effort to Helen Jackson In the last edition of this journal, I reported on memorialize Mike with a scholarship fund. That Tom Krampitz the passing of legendary Houston prosecutor and took off, and within weeks it had accumulated Barry L. Macha defense attorney Mike “Machine Gun” Hinton. $5,950 in donations. The list of donors to the Ken Magidson (He might have been best known for prosecuting fund reads like a “who’s who” in Texas criminal Mindy Montford the “Candyman”—search for “the man who killed law. Thanks to the following individuals who gave Johnny Keane Sutton Halloween” to read all about it.) Mike, who was a substantial gifts in Mike’s name so that his legacy Greg Willis member of the TDCAF Board at his passing, had would be preserved: Mark Yarbrough a lot of friends. Indeed, Chuck Rosenthal, former ADVISORY COMMITTEE Kathy Braddock Jerry Gross Maria McAnulty James L. Chapman Vic Driscoll C. Hamel Mary Beeler Meadows Troy Cotton Lawrence Finder Keno Henderson Jr. Charles Rosenthal Ashton Cumberbatch, Jr. Jack Frels Helen Jackson Ken Sparks Norma Davenport Leon Frels Timothy Johnson Larry Urquhart Dean Robert S. Fertitta Mary Flood Rob Kepple Carol Vance Gerald R. Flatten Bert Graham Chip Lewis Ron Woods Jack C. Frels Michael J. Guarino Tom Hanna Bill Hill W.C. “Bud” Kirkendall Oliver Kitzman James E. “Pete” Laney Michael J. McCormick John T. Montford Kimbra Kathryn Ogg Charles A. Rosenthal, Jr. Joe Shannon, Jr. Carol S. Vance 2 The Texas Prosecutor • January–February 2021 issue • www.tdcaa.com TEXAS DISTRICT AND COUNTY TABLE OF CONTENTS A TTORNEYS ASSOCIATION COVER STORY: How prosecutors are making it work 505 W. 12th St., Ste. 100 By Sarah Halverson, TDCAA Communications Director in Austin Austin, TX 78701 • www.tdcaa.com 2 TDCAF News By Rob Kepple, TDCAF & TDCAA Executive Director in Austin BOARD OF DIRECTORS 4 Executive Director’s Report Executive Committee By Rob Kepple, TDCAA Executive Director in Austin President John Dodson, Uvalde Chairperson Kenda Culpepper, Rockwall 6 The President’s Column President-Elect Jack Roady, Galveston By John Dodson, TDCAA President & County Attorney in Uvalde County Secretary-Treasurer Bill Helwig, Plains 8 Training predictions for 2021 Regional Directors By Brian Klas, TDCAA Training Director in Austin Region 1: Randall Coleman Sims, Amarillo 10 A new statewide PO registry Region 2: Philip Mack Furlow, Lamesa By Jalayne Robinson, LMSW, TDCAA Victim Services Director Region 3: Ricky Thompson, Sweetwater 13 As The Judges Saw It: Can there be a ‘false testimony’ claim Region 4: John Hubert, Kingsville without testimony or falsity? Region 5: Bob Wortham, Beaumont By Clinton Morgan, Assistant District Attorney in Harris County Region 6: Greg Willis, McKinney Region 7: Kriste Burnett, Palo Pinto 23 Recent gifts to the Foundation Region 8: Natalie Koehler Denbow, Meridian Board Representatives 24 Buying back time with technology District Attorney Julie Renken By Todd Smith, Chief CDA Investigator in Lubbock County Criminal District Attorney Erleigh Wiley 27 What every prosecutor should know about human County Attorney Leslie Standerfer trafficking Assistant Prosecutor Tiana Sanford By Brooke Grona-Robb, Assistant Attorney General, and Cara Foos Pierce, Training Committee Chair Tiana Sanford Human Trafficking Section Chief, Office of the Attorney General, both in Civil Committee Chair John Dodson Austin TAC Representative Laurie English 33 The sudden interest in mail theft Investigator Board Chair vacant By James Hu, Assistant District Attorney in Harris County Key Personnel & Victim Services Board Chair Amber Dunn 37 Specialty court leaves no veteran behind By Paul Love, Assistant Criminal District Attorney in Galveston County, and STAFF Patrick Gurski, Criminal Defense Attorney and former ACDA in Galveston Robert Kepple, Executive Director • W. Clay County Abbott, DWI Resource Prosecutor • Diane 41 Communicating with witnesses during COVID Beckham, Senior Staff Counsel • Kaylene Braden, By Maritza Sifuentez-Chavarria, Assistant District Attorney in Brazos County Membership Director & Assistant Database Manager • William Calem, Director of Operations 46 A plea negotiation primer & Chief Financial Officer • Shannon Edmonds, By Zack Wavrusa, Assistant County & District Attorney in Rusk County Director of Governmental Relations • Sarah 51 Navigating juvenile justice during the pandemic Halverson, Communications Director • Jordan By Ellen Wheeler-Walter and Joshua Luke Sandoval, Assistant Criminal Kazmann, Sales Manager • Brian Klas, Training District Attorneys in Bexar County Director • Andie Peters, Assistant Meeting 57 Leading up: a guide for leaders who are not in charge Planner • Jalayne Robinson, Victim Services By Mike Holley, First Assistant District Attorney in Montgomery County Director • Dayatra Rogers, Database Manager & Registrar • LaToya Scott, Meeting Planner • 63 Keeping personal info confidential Andrew Smith, Financial Officer • Amber Styers, By Monica Mendoza, Assistant District Attorney in Brazos County Reimbursement Clerk ABOUT THE TEXAS PROSECUTOR Published bimonthly by TDCAA through legislative appropri- ation to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Subscriptions are free to Texas prosecutors, staff, and TDCAA members. Ar- ticles not otherwise copyrighted may be reprinted with attri- bution as follows: “Reprinted from The Texas Prosecutor journal with permission of the Texas District and County At- torneys Association.” Views expressed are solely those of the authors. We retain the right to edit material. Executive Director’s Report Congratulations to our newly elected prosecutors Congratulations to the prose- cutors who took office on Jan- uary 1—they’re listed in the box below. Even for those who have been experienced assis- tant prosecutors, we know that the “corner of- fice” comes with a whole different set of challenges. We hope you will rely on TDCAA and on your neighboring county and district attor- By Rob Kepple neys for guidance and assistance. For you expe- TDCAF & TDCAA Executive Director in Austin rienced hands, think about reaching to our new folks.
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