Big Jolly Politics

politics in Harris County and Texas

Harris County DA bunker mentality reinforcement training

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Mike Anderson
Mike Anderson

Judging from the email and death stares I’ve gotten from my first post about Harris County District Attorney Mike Anderson’s initial attempt at training his staff, I’m not too popular in some Republican circles. Such is the life of blogging. And although I freely admit that I’m biased, my bias isn’t the reason that I’m putting this information out there. Not every Republican thinks that the criminal justice system needs to be a lock ’em up and throw away the key system, one in which prosecutors hide evidence from the defense or take shortcuts or abuse power to get convictions. Many of us think that there are times when you do lock ’em up and throw away the key but we also insist on transparency from those that try to lock ’em up and throw away the key.

I’ve actually taken the time to watch and listen to the entire training, several times in fact, pondered it over and over, and still come to the conclusion that the “training” was little more than reinforcement of Anderson’s us against them mentality. In this case, us is the valiant warriors of the district attorney’s office. Them is everyone and anyone that isn’t a part of that group: criminals, to be sure, but also taxpayers, voters, and bizarrely, the Texas Legislature. I think that if we allow that mentality to stand without challenge, we risk a return to the wild west days of hang ’em high “justice”, filling our jails and prisons with innocent people.

In that first post, I urged (begged) people to watch the training and form their own opinion. Based upon some of the quick response and outrageous claims (I love crime and want to coddle criminals?), it is apparent that most people didn’t do that. Hey, I get it – many of you are busy and maybe reluctant to invest a full two hours of your life in to this. So I’ll make it easier for you to get a flavor. Here are short excerpts from the training but lest I be accused of taking things out of context, remember, the entire, uncut video is posted here and you can watch it for yourself. Not all of the cuts below are necessarily “bad” – if some of them bother you, you need to watch the video for yourself.

Here’s Mike Anderson alleging that the Innocence Project thinks prosecutors are pond scum:

01. Mike Anderson says Innocence Project thinks prosecutors are pond scum

Anderson introducing Johnny Holmes:

02. Mike Anderson tribute and intro to Johnny Holmes

Holmes talking about the difference between prosecutors and defense attorneys:

03. Johnny Holmes on difference between prosecution and defense

Holmes insulting former DA’s Chuck Rosenthal and Pat Lykos:

04. Johnny Holmes insults Rosenthal and Lykos while annointing Anderson

The trainer, Rob Kepple of the Texas District and County Attorneys Association attacks Tea Party legislators:

05. Rob Kepple attacks Tea Party legislators

Kepple wishing reform would go away:

06. Rob Kepple bemoans Left and Right common ground on justice reform

Kepple claiming that business and conservatives are in cahoots with the ACLU:

07. Rob Kepple faults TAB and fiscal conservatives for working with ACLU

Kepple lamenting about how much cheaper it is to put people on probation:

08. Rob Kepple faults Punishment Standards Commission for wanting to save money

Kepple mocking the idea that cost should be a factor in the reform debate:

09. Rob Kepple mocks legislators for factoring taxpayers burden into justice reform debate

Kepple continues his theme that reform is only about cost:

10. Rob Kepple traces TAB backing prison reform with desire for tax cut

Kepple says that all DNA has been tested, so now prosecutors will be targeted:

11. Rob Kepple claims likely DNA exonorations have been done so Innocence Project now targeting prosecutors

Kepple on the Innocence Project:

12. Rob Kepple brags about slamming Innocence Project he thinks was acting like a bully

Kepple on Michael Morton (if you aren’t aware of this case, click here.)

13. Rob Kepple claims Michael Morton is wary of being exploited by Innocence Project

Kepple mocks the Dean of the Senate, John Whitmire:

14. Rob Kepple imitates Sen. Whitmire and stands up for DA Bradley vs. Morton

First of three mentions by Kepple of Pedro Oregon (click here to read about Oregon, shot and killed by officers for no reason):

15. Rob Kepple early in presentation – describes recklessness of HPD shooting of Pedro Oregon

Second of three mentions by Kepple of Pedro Oregon.

16. Rob Kepple end of presentation – defends grand jury inaction on Pedro Oregon shooting and Holmes’ callous comment

Third of three mentions by Kepple of Pedro Oregon:

17. Rob Kepple claims it was public trust in Holmes’ integrity that led public to accept lack of charges against HPD officers who shot Pedro Oregon

To those that say my filing the TXPIA and putting this information out there is nothing more than sour grapes because DA Lykos lost the primary, I will remind you that I supported Mike Anderson’s campaign after that. He was the best choice in the general election and I encouraged people to vote for him. This isn’t sour grapes, this is shining a light on the affairs of the office in order to keep the office from destructive behavior. Innocent people should not be in prison just because a prosecutor’s ego demands it. I hope that Anderson eventually realizes that the Innocence Project is not his enemy – I don’t think that Mike Anderson wants innocent people in prison any more than they do. I think that the tone of Anderson’s first training session was the wrong tone, sets up the office for failure, and hope that, in the future, he brings in trainers that do not have the same type of persecution complex that Rob Kepple displayed.

Ethics training at the Harris County District Attorney's office

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Immediately after the conclusion of newly elected Harris County District Attorney Mike Anderson’s first mandatory training session for Assistant District Attorneys, several people that were appalled by the “training” asked me to look into it. So I filed a Texas Public Information Act to obtain a copy of the video taken at the training session, along with any Powerpoint slides or other materials used during the training.

After watching the entire presentation, I can see why people were upset, but frankly, after the way he handled his campaign last year, I’m not surprised by it. In fact, the image of DA Anderson standing before a room and talking about integrity disgusts me. The entire tone of the video suggests a sort of “bunker” mentality, an us against them, almost a “whine-fest” from the trainer, Rob Kepple of the Texas District and County Attorneys Association. Did you know the Innocence Project is the “enemy” of prosecutors? Nevermind that their work has resulted in the release of innocent men and women convicted by prosecutorial abuse. DA Anderson goes so far as to say that in the eyes of the Innocence Project, prosecutors are nothing more than pondscum. I suppose the old axiom is true – no good deed goes unpunished.

The “training” also describes our legislature as “out to get them” – “them” being prosecutors because they are “government employees” and the legislature apparently hates government employees. Oh, and the only reason crime has gone down since the 1980’s in Houston is because the legislature built more prison capacity. But now, “they” want to release criminals in prison for minor offenses because it is a whole lot cheaper to put someone on probation than it is to house them in a prison. Imagine that.

Mr. Kepple goes through a whole series of how people cheat in life and it isn’t cheating if you get away with it. I think his point was to say that prosecutors can’t do that but you’ll have to watch it to see how bad he made that point. And remember Pedro Oregon? You know, the guy that was killed dead, dead, dead because a bunch of yahoo cops forced a drunk driver to give them the address of his “dealer” and then started shooting for no reason? Yeah, he presents that as an example of using Johnny Holmes’ stellar reputation to get away with anything. Just totally bizarre.

Obviously, there are the obligatory shots at former DA Pay Lykos – hey, what do you expect from juveniles? And I really liked the part in Mr. Holmes’ remarks where he states that it is the DA’s job to set policy and the ADA’s job to follow it. It would have been nice to hear him say that during the campaign when the ADA’s were helping the Anderson campaign because they didn’t want to follow former DA Lykos’ policies. But hey, what is consistency when you want to go back to the “good old days”, right?

But you know what? I’m biased. Very, very biased in this case, so I won’t say much more about it. I urge you, no, beg you, to watch these videos and decide for yourself if this is the type of mentality that Harris County prosecutors should have. It’s a good thing that DA Anderson stated during the campaign that his job wasn’t to worry about taxpayer money, that was the job of the Harris County Commissioner’s Court. His job is to lock people up – who cares about cost to the taxpayer and whether or not it reduces crime in the long run? See this Texas Observer story for a taste of that philosophy.

I broke the video into four parts: Anderson’s opening remarks, Holme’s opening remarks, and Kepple’s presentation split at their 10 minute break. And the last video is the complete, unbroken video that I received from the DA’s office, just so you can’t say I left anything out other than a couple of minutes at the beginning while people filed in.

Anderson’s opening remarks:

Holmes’ opening remarks:

Rob Kepple, part 1:

Rob Kepple, part 2:

Entire, uncut video from the training session: