In 2012, the Andersons told Harris County voters that they should vote against incumbent District Attorney Pat Lykos because she was under investigation by the Texas Rangers and her pre-trial diversion program was illegal. In 2016, Devon Anderson decided to kick off the official start of campaign season with her own federal investigation. Anderson has expanded use of the diversion program started by Pat Lykos to most misdemeanors and some felonies. Once again, Devon Anderson has demonstrated that she does not have the ability to serve as District Attorney. This time, Devon’s very poor decision making could lead to criminal charges. Today, District Attorney Candidate Kim Ogg will call for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the latest misconduct by Devon Anderson.
The feds are investigating whether or not Devon’s office sent people to prison without evidence. An employee of Precinct Four Constable Mark Herman allegedly destroyed thousands of pieces of evidence in the Precinct Four property room. There is a lot of finger pointing going on right now and it is tough to tell who is telling the truth. The standard defense of “I was ordered by my superior to do it” is being used. The real question is what did Devon know and when did she know it.
Did Devon send folks to prison knowing the evidence had been destroyed? Did Devon’s prosecutors follow the Michael Morton Act? Did Devon’s prosecutors follow Brady? You may be asking yourself why this is important or you may be thinking this is just a technicality. The destruction of evidence is important. Some evidence, like drugs and blood, requires scientific testing. Additionally, a defendant should have the opportunity to test the evidence himself. What if a defendant possessed oregano and not marijuana? What if blood evidence could lead to the right defendant? Think about sexual assault kits. Evidence can inculpate and it can exculpate.
We know that Devon knew that Precinct Four evidence was missing as early as February 2016. At that time, Devon should have stopped pleas on all Precinct Four cases. Instead, Devon limited the awareness of the information to one special division within her office. So, for at least six months, line prosecutors were not telling defendants that evidence was missing.
Devon is now blaming Constable Herman but it was Devon who made the decision to keep this information from defendants and some of her own prosecutors. This is a pattern – blame others, not Devon. She has blamed a judge for jailing a rape victim. She has blamed Sheriff Hickman for the failings of the Goforth investigation. She has blamed a grand jury for indicting David Daleiden. Don’t we want and deserve a chief law enforcement officer who will take responsibility and make good decisions?
At this point, law enforcement and the entire Republican ticket should keep their distance from Devon Anderson.
#NeverDevon
I have done two shows alone on how unfit and unethical Devon is. She is a disgrace.
Strange how the Anderson camp railed against the divert program started by Lykos, yes features it as a effective and cost saving program of her administration. Sadly the DA’s office is a mess.
Ummm………would you seriously prefer Kim Ogg?! That’s the choice. The Constable immediately fired the involved party. Save the drama for Obama.
Chris,
At this point it is a Harris County IQ test. Devon Anderson in just a few short years will go down as the worst District Attorney in Harris County history. She will beat out the former DA who ran a brothel. No one is happier than Chuck Rosenthal who was the lock for this century until Devon.
Yes!
Yes, I’m not corrupt. And I will not hive a pass to corruption because “it’s our guy”.
There is no allegedly about it, even the deputy admits he destroyed evidence under the orders of his now retired supervisor, a suspicious move given the continually expanding investigation now suggests evidence was destroyed at least as far back as 2007, perhaps since 2000 when the deputy started working in the property room. Constable Herman now stops just short of pointing the finger at Ron Hickman for letting it go on for so long.
So this evidence destruction problem has been kicked under the rug since Chuck Rosenthal held the office, then Pat Lykos, then the two Anderson’s. Why wasn’t it uncovered sooner? Was the deputy shielded by Ron Hickman, did no prosecuting attorney’s under any of those regimes have issues with precinct 4’s evidence in cases filed, didn’t a single defense lawyer ask to see the evidence against their client in all those years, and a bunch of other questions also arise out of this. I understand the ongoing sentiments about Anderson here but this is bigger than that, isn’t it?
Ms. Anderson, like her predecessors, has some questions to answer but as long as this problem has been ongoing, I’ll reserve judgement on all those who held the office for this one. As for those in charge of precinct 4, given deputy Hess has been assigned to the property room since 2000 and we now find he has improperly destroyed evidence since at least 2007, I’m less reserved about my disappointment. Mark Herman has been in office for over a year and took four months to fire the at-will deputy after it was clear he was engaged in this action. That all of the deputy’s yearly evaluations are now missing sounds like a page out of the Hillary Clinton handbook, just as the sudden retirement of the supervisor.
I understand that any criminal case rarely relies on a single piece of evidence or a single witness so having to review thousands of cases just isn’t going to happen overnight. I just don’t think cries to immediately release every criminal caught by precinct 4 since the year 2000 based on the mere possibility some piece of evidence was destroyed, nor every criminal conviction before the deputy was fired be dismissed when other evidence or facts might exist to support whatever ultimately happened in those cases. But Ms. Anderson being told some cases were missing evidence doesn’t mean she stop all proceedings that might have nothing to do with specific evidence that could be found later.