The Harris County District Attorney’s office has a dilemma, compounded by a conflict, in search of a guy name Brady. A month or so ago, there were rumblings around town that a Houston Police Department homicide detective was under investigation. On Friday, Houston Police Chief Charles A. McClelland, Jr. called this (former) police officer a liar and announced that the officer was fired. Of course, bad news always hits on a Friday.
Back on March 5, Jeremy Rogalski from Channel 11 reported that the homicide detective accused of sloppy work, Ryan Chandler, had received identical performance reviews. All four of Chandler’s performance reviews from 2011 and 2012 were “virtually identical.” They even included the same misspelling: “investigattions.”
On Friday, James Pinkerton reported in the Houston Chronicle that at least 24 homicide cases in the city of Houston were not investigated. Houston City Councilman Ed Gonzalez, a former HPD homicide detective, was recently in possession of pending homicide files. He told Pinkerton that he took the files with him when he left HPD for Houston City Council in 2009. Now we know that seven other officers from the homicide division have been disciplined for playing a role in the failure to investigate murder cases in Houston, Texas.
There is no question that, even at the outset, this was obviously a huge scandal. The actions of local law enforcement and a shared political consultant, Allen Blakemore, have turned the scandal into actions that require investigations by the Texas Rangers and a special prosecutor. It is not surprising that Allen Blakemore is at the center of anything related to the Harris County District Attorney’s office.
Unsolved homicide cases leave unidentified murderers on our streets and families without answers. So, who is investigating the actions (or inactions) of the Houston Police Department? Typically, the Harris County District Attorney’s office would investigate HPD’s behavior. Instead, the investigation was forwarded to the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office at the request of the Harris County DA. This may have been done because Chandler is engaged to a Chief Prosecutor in charge of conviction review at the Harris County District Attorney’s office.
The new Harris County District Attorney, Devon Anderson, forwarded the investigation to Montgomery County District Attorney, Brett Ligon. Brett Ligon, an Allen Blakemore client, is also a former union attorney for the Houston Police Officers’ Union. So, now we know that Brett shares a political consultant with Devon Anderson. And they share their political consultant with the Houston Police Officers’ Union. And, before Brett was the Montgomery County District Attorney, he represented HPD officers on a full-time basis for almost ten years. Let me be clear, Brett Ligon represented HPD officers who were disciplined by the department or in trouble with the law. And, of course, Mike Anderson was endorsed by the HPOU. I did contact Jeff McShan, the spokesman for the Harris County District Attorney’s office on Friday and asked for an opportunity to speak with Devon about these issues. I have yet to hear back.
Mike Anderson campaigned on the restoration of integrity to the Harris County District Attorney’s office. After Devon was appointed by Governor Perry, her mouthpiece at the time, Chip Lewis, said that she would “continue the good work” done by Mike. So, wouldn’t you think that Devon would want to avoid even the appearance of impropriety? Why would she forward an investigation of Houston Police Department officers to a former HPOU lawyer? Did Brett Ligon ever represent any of the officers currently under investigation?
Do these disciplined officers continue to work in the homicide division? Do they continue to testify? Has the defense bar been notified about these problems and conflicts? Are these un-investigated murder cases being reviewed and properly investigated? Are murderers roaming our streets because of law enforcement’s incompetence? Will these murder victims ever be acknowledged? If any of these cases ever go to trial, how will this situation be handled? Were officers paid to not investigate cases? Is that a crime?
The people of Houston deserve a truly independent investigation by the Texas Rangers and a neutral special prosecutor.
Jim B. says
Here’s hoping KHOU’s Rogalski will ask and get answers for exactly the questions made in this post.
texaswoman says
Great Job Don! Now how do we embarrass them in to doing what’s right?
tired dog says
One fired, others handed inconsequential ‘discipline’. There is something rotten in HPD and if Chiefie McClelland won’t deal with it he should be fired with prejudice. I will not comment on the referral to Ligon, that’s over the top….
tired dog says
Mike Anderson ran under false pretenses, most likely knowing his days were counted but wanting the tax serf paid insurance. The widow Anderson will now either prove herself a public servant or define herself as an apologist for the corrupt HPD regime.
Don Hooper says
Great reporting by Mike Morris and James Pinkerton, now we know one of the cases! http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Councilman-suspends-himself-over-homicide-case-5389658.php
Devon, you really need to call the Texas Rangers!
Fool Me says
more to come…….about 4 times more!
Don Hooper says
Now, the Chronicle is calling for an independent investigation. Kudos to ace reporter James Pinkerton who has known for several days that the murderer escaped justice, likely because Gonzalez withheld the files in his possession. The questions are what did District Attorney Devon Anderson know and when did she know it?
http://m.chron.com/opinion/editorials/article/Investigate-the-Houston-Police-Department-5393679.php
Steven Houston says
The 24 cases were all investigated, just not as fully as they should have been. A detailed look into the case shows that the weak reporting by the media leaves a lot of doubts out there, almost all the cases tied to sergeant Chandler, who was fired. That was the biggest punishment the Chief could give him but in a department as large as Houston’s, a few dozen cases out of 10+ years of assault, homicide, and related types of cases getting some corners cut is hardly the scandal you make it out to be. We’re talking thousands of cases and in most of these incidents, the biggest wrongdoing was not adding a supplemental report of minor consequence, the suspect fleeing to Honduras likely did so long before he would have been caught locally though I suppose reporting it honestly downplays how it sounds.
As far as the DA connection, the sergeant was romantically involved with a Harris County ADA so had Devon not passed the case on to the other DA, you’d be screaming how tainted the investigation was. Still, the fired sergeant did not do anything illegal for the DA to act upon so calling for the Texas Rangers to waste valuable and limited resources seems pointless. As far as the lazy lieutenant supervisors that gave Chandler high ratings on yearly reviews, it could well be that he worked hundreds or thousands of cases really well and these few dozen poorly, the missing context information all too important for the media to skip unless it didn’t serve their agenda.
Don Hooper says
And, thank you, Allen Blakemore. Nothing to see here. There are lots of reporters looking at all sorts of issues.
Paul Kubosh says
He worrked hungreds or thousands of cases. LOL