Category Archives: DA Watch
Texas DA Pleads Guilty to Felonies: Will Serve Jail Time, Pay Fine – and Return $2.16 Million He Took
The big news this month down in Alice, Texas (which lies between San Antonio and Corpus Christi, if you’re wondering) is not that former Brooks County and Jim Wells County district attorney Joe Frank Garza has made a deal with prosecutors rather than face trial on a number of felony charges. No, the big news…
Prosecutor Caught Withholding Evidence from Defense – AGAIN
Last week, Assistant District Attorney Stephanie McFarland stood before a Texas district court judge for the second time in 15 months to hear the court’s findings that she had illegally and improperly withheld evidence from the defense. That’s right. A prosecutor in front of the bench being told she’s done something wrong. The same thing, for…
Former District Attorney Out On Parole After Serving 20 Months of a 15 YEAR Sentence
Former Rockwall District Attorney Ray Sumrow got caught with his hand in the till, literally, and was tried, convicted, sentenced, and thrown in jail for being a thief. And less than two years later, he’s out. Ray Sumrow has an interesting story. He was the head prosecutor in Rockwall for SIX terms. He was named “Prosecutor of the Year”…
DA Watch: Yolanda Madden Freed by Judge After 4 Yrs – DA Failed to Turn Over Exculpatory Evidence
You may remember the case of Yolanda Madden because of the notorious YouTube video awhile back showing the Odessa cops being caught on video by Kopbusters. (We wrote about the Kopbusters story last December and you can watch the video on that post). Well, after being in jail for four years — yep, 4 YEARS — Yolanda…
Judge Watch: Court of Crim Appeals Says Not Unfair to Defendant Hood for Judge and DA to Have Affair During Trial
If you’re shaking your head in disbelief at this week’s ruling by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals — well, join the crowd. When the news first hit that a trial court judge and the district attorney who prosecuted cases in her courtroom had had a long-standing sexual relationship, lots of folk were stunned. And lots…
DA Watch: Texas Death Row Inmate Toney Freed Last Night and May Not Face Re-Trial
Michael Toney walked out of jail a free man last week after being on Texas’ Death Row for a decade. Maybe you remember the case of Michael Toney…. Michael Toney Was Convicted for the Bombing Murder of 3 People – Nine Years Later, the DA Admits to Hiding Exculpatory Evidence Last October, we posted about how…
Crime News: Paris TX Protests and the Pending Death Penalty for Hate Crime Law
Perhaps you’ve seen some of the news reports from Paris, Texas, about simultaneous demonstrations planned by the New Black Panther Party and the Ku Klux Klan after murder charges were dropped by the authorities against the two white men accused of killing a black man by running him over by a truck and then dragging…
DA Watch: Tarrant County DA Seeks Recusal Again in Death Row Case Due to Prosecutor Misconduct
Earlier this year, we posted about the Tarrant County DA recusing itself from the Michael Toney case after it was revealed that the District Attorney had failed to turn over extremely important evidence to the defense that might well have kept Toney from being convicted, much less sentenced to Death Row. In the Toney case,…
DA Watch: Whistleblower San Marcos DA Lynn Peach Resigned Yesterday
Lynn Peach went through law school and started building a legal career in what she thought would be a life as a career prosecutor. Lynn Peach thought she was one of the good guys, pursuing justice. And she is, just not in the way that she thought. On Monday, Hays County Assistant District Attorney Lynn…
DA Watch: “Dallas DNA” starring new reality TV star DA Craig Watkins debuts April 26
The Discovery Channel will offer you another reality-TV option later this month, just in case you don’t have enough reality-TV options to choose from already: on April 26, “Dallas DNA” makes its first appearance, telling the story of Johnnie Lindsay (see our post on 09/26/08). Investigation Discovery, a part of the Discovery Channel, is focusing…
