Big Jolly Politics

politics in Harris County and Texas

Judge Mary Lou Keel Revisited

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Mary Lou Keel

Judge Mary Lou Keel appeared at the Downtown Pachyderm on February 25, 2016, to promote her candidacy for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the highest criminal court in our state. This court reviews death penalty cases along with all other criminal appeals and makes decisions on important issues like prosecutorial misconduct.

Judge Keel is the current judge of the 232nd Criminal District Court. In October 2015, Keel impaneled the grand jury that indicted pro-life activists David Daleiden and Sandra Merrick and failed to act against Planned Parenthood.

The indictments have been controversial to say the least and few, if any, questions have been answered. One of the biggest questions – who was on Keel’s grand jury?  During Keel’s appearance at the Downtown Pachyderm, I asked her if she would release the names of her grand jurors and she responded that it was illegal to release these names. I found this response curious because, during the 83rd Legislative Session, I successfully campaigned to kill a bill that would make the names of grand jurors secret.

Keel returned to the Downtown Pachyderm on St. Patrick’s Day. Again, I asked Keel about the names of her grand jurors. This time I was ready for her predictably dismissive response. I then asked Keel why she had an order on file with the Harris County District Clerk to protect the names of her grand jurors if it was illegal to release these names. According to Keel’s position, didn’t existing law already protect her position of secrecy? There is only one answer –Keel, running for the top appellate criminal court in Texas, wants to hide the names of her grand jurors.

Listen to Jim Leitner describe the problem of secret grand jurors.

On May 13, 2013, Jim Leitner and I traveled to Austin to lobby the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee on SB 834. Jim Leitner is the former First Assistant in the Harris County District Attorney’s Office – the number two in command. He also has experience as a criminal defense attorney and grand juror. Leitner told the legislators that the ability to get the names of grand jurors acts as a deterrent to inappropriate actions by grand jurors. This concept is crucial when grand juries are involved in political cases or those with political implications, such as the Planned Parenthood investigation. Leitner emphasized that our country has never benefited from secret tribunals.

Three different Texas Attorney General opinions have been written on this subject and all three opinions state that no law precludes the release of grand juror names. One opinion is from Governor Greg Abbott and another is from Senator John Cornyn, both former justices on the Texas Supreme Court.

Grand juries are secret tribunals. The evidence presented to grand juries is one-sided as the prosecutors are the only attorneys permitted to attend the sessions. Witnesses enter the grand jury room without counsel by their side. The check and balance to these secret proceedings is the ability to release the names of grand jurors once their term has ended.

At this point, how do we know that the president of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast was not Keel’s grand jury foreman? The only check we have against a political conflict is the ability to see and understand the identities of these grand jurors. The concept of this check and balance is fundamental to our system of justice and is as important as the grand jury itself. It is basic and understood. Now we have a Judge who apparently has something to hide about the make up of her grand juries. What is Mary Lou Keel hiding?

Keel’s candidacy for the Court of Criminal Appeals is a flawed one. Fundamental to an appellate court judge is the recognition of important legal concepts involving grand juries. The concept of checks and balances is crucial to our justice system and our government. Transparency is the key. Keel likes to hide things and this type of thinking is not what we need on the state’s highest criminal court. Please vote for Ray Wheless.

Will Devon Anderson vote for Patricia "Trisha" Pollard?

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Judge Devon Anderson swears in Patricia Pollard to the Texas State University System Board of Regents
Judge Devon Anderson swears in Patricia Pollard to the Texas State University System Board of Regents

Notorious grand jury foreman Patricia “Trisha” Pollard is seeking office in the City of Bellaire. She recently sent an intermediary to ask that I not tell the truth about her; but, I owe it to the people of Bellaire to tell this story.

Some people ask, “How do you know that Trisha Pollard is bad?” Well, the answer is simple. Do you remember what happened to the BAT van controversy? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Trisha Pollard and her merry band of misfits used this fake scandal to get the now deceased Mike Anderson elected meanwhile using lies to besmirch the character of good people.

May 2003 Grand Jury Foreman 262nd District Court – Mike Anderson
August 2005 Grand Jury Foreman 262nd District Court – Mike Anderson
February 2007 Grand Jury Foreman 177th District Court – Devon Anderson
November 2009 Grand Jury Foreman 262nd District Court – Mike Anderson
August 2011 Grand Jury Foreman 185th District Court – Susan Brown
2013 Grand Jury Assistant Foreman 179th District Court – Kristin Guiney

For many years, Pollard was the gold star grand jury foreman for the Andersons. She contributed to their campaign efforts and loyally served on at least six grand juries. Pollard openly bragged about her grand jury service and claimed that she led a grand jury that handled “the greatest number of cases in history.” A rather interesting sense of justice.

The whole BAT van falsehood was fabricated by a group of entitled courthouse folks who did not like Pat Lykos. Specifically, this group reveled in the idea of control and was upset by the fact that Harris County justice was no longer “just us.” To bring it back to the “just us” days, this group created a fake scandal to throw shade on Lykos and many other very good people. While it may have cost Lykos the election, this group has now been forced to ponder an interesting question – Is Devon Anderson “worse” than their mortal enemy, Pat Lykos? That is another story for another time.

We now know that Pollard was the foreman of the grand jury that indicted Alfred Dewayne Brown who was recently released from custody after ten years on death row. Brown was convicted of capital murder in 2005 for the death of Houston Police Department Officer Charles Clark and check cashing clerk Alfredia Jones during an attempted robbery.

Houston Chronicle columnist Lisa Falkenberg won a Pulitzer Prize for her series on Alfred Brown. Falkenberg primarily wrote about the grand jury that brow beat and jailed Brown’s girlfriend in an attempt to change her story about Brown’s alibi, which overshadowed the fact that a rubber stamp grand jury was used to indict Brown. Public sentiment over the Brown case and “professional” grand jurors like Pollard led to this year’s statewide grand jury reform.trisha-pollard-hpd-helicopter-facebook-june-4-2013

A review of Pollard’s grand jury service is disturbing. In 2011 and 2012, she misused her position as grand jury foreman to create a scandal and make inaccurate public statements to get Mike Anderson elected. Following her service on the 185th grand jury, Pollard, along with Jim Mount and Chip Lewis, made a public statement (filled with erroneous statements) about the grand jury in violation of grand jury secrecy laws and common sense. If Pollard was just a regular citizen, these facts would be bad. Come to find out, she is a lawyer. Did Pollard violate the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct by engaging in “conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation?”

Pollard has a history of making things up and all anyone has to do is look at her testimony in the Texas Senate when she alleged there was some elaborate healthcare fraud in Texas. Following Pollard’s 2005 service, she wrote a letter to Governor Rick Perry and all members of the Texas Legislature claiming that she had discovered massive Medicaid fraud during her tenure on the grand jury. In her letter, Pollard alleged a “widespread, massive, and repeated” fraud.

After legislators received her letter, Pollard was asked to testify before the Senate Finance Committee on January 18, 2006. During the hearing, several senators pushed her on the “widespread, massive, and repeated” fraud allegation. Ultimately, Pollard conceded that she had no evidence to substantiate her allegation. Watch it, and judge for yourself if this is what you want on the Bellaire City Council.

Importantly, as stated during the hearing, Mike Anderson was aware of Pollard’s letter; so, he knew that she was loose cannon as early as 2005 – 2006. He knew that Pollard fabricated wild, unsubstantiated allegations.

Now, Pollard is walking the streets of Bellaire to campaign for city council. Trisha Pollard, a woman who was a strong reason behind the need for grand jury reform in the state of Texas, is seeking to bring that destructive force to the City of Bellaire.

Bellaire residents have an excellent opportunity to openly reject Pollard’s bad behavior. Pollard’s duplicity and corruption will no doubt follow her to the Bellaire City council. No one will be safe in Bellaire with Pollard on council and voters there should think long and hard about this election and the potential legal liability of electing such an individual.