Friends

I have practiced law in Harris county for 38 years. For most of those years the judiciary was comprised of extremely pro-prosecution judges.

The District Attorneys Office now has the Audacity, the Unmitigated gall to attack a judge for alleged defense bias?!?

Consider the mind-boggling, extraordinary hypocrisy of the the HARRIS COUNTY DAO:

1. The DAO never complained against any of the many Judges who for decades had overt pro-prosecution bias. Why would the DAO complain against these judges when these judges did whatever the DAO wanted? They wouldn’t. We referred to these pro- prosecution judges as the “Judicial Branch of the DAO”!!

The Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association, HCCLA, complained about the Pro-prosecution biased judges. The DAO was mute, happy to have biased judges as long as the bias was in the DAO’s favor.

2. The DAO never complained against any of the many judges who for years illegally and unethically revoked defendant’s bonds for not hiring counsel;

HCCLA, not the DAO, filed judicial misconduct complaints against these unethical judges and the DAO was mute!!!!
(I hand-delivered the first such complaint on behalf of HCCLA against Judge Joan Campbell and DAO? They were silent)

3. The DAO Never complained against any of the many judges who for decades, in cahoots with the bondsmen, systematically denied PR bonds to the poorest among us; HCCLA members , myself included, publicly challenged the judges practices of systematically denying PR bonds. And the DAO? The DAO remained mute.

It took a Federal lawsuit and an election to bring bail reform to Harris County. And where was the sanctimonious DAO regarding bail reform??!

The DAO Openly OPPOSED BAIL REFORM.

The DAO has a double standard. The DAO does not mind biased judges, as long as the judges’ bias is pro-prosecution.

Apparently, the DAO cannot stomach judges who are independent and not pro-prosecution
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We are supposed to have neutral and detached judges. That is not what the DAO wants. The DAO wants to go back to the BAD OLD DAYS when all we had was pro-prosecution judges. That is precisely why the DAO drafted & encouraged Assistant DAS to run for office against our fair-minded sitting judiciary.

The DAO did not mind pro-prosecution bias. The DAO did not mind judges illegally revoking defendants’ bonds for not hiring counsel. The DAO did not mind the judiciary’s systematic denial of PR bonds. Once again, as so many times before, in its current actions, the DAO is taking the lowest possible moral ground.

Robb Fickman