Crime

Harris County DA: Request for more prosecutors has been politicized

Defender News Network — Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said Monday her request for 102 additional prosecutors has been politicized.

Published

6 years ago

February 14, 2019

Oakland Post

By Defender News Service

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said Monday her request for 102 additional prosecutors has been politicized and tried to quiet the concerns expressed by several criminal justice reform organizations.

Texas Organizing Project, the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition and the Texas Civil Rights Project have criticized Ogg’s request. They argue additional prosecutors will result in more people being jailed in Harris County. Last week, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo tweeted his support for the DA’s request, calling the shortage of prosecutors a perfect storm of potential crime.

Ogg has asked Harris County Commissioners to approve a $20 million increase to her budget to hire the additional attorneys. The commissioners are scheduled to vote on the matter this Tuesday.

Addressing the criticism, Ogg said she intends to use diversion programs for non-violent offenders as frequently as possible. “We’re going to keep diverting every single person that we can out of our justice system without a criminal record because that’s what I promised to do and that’s what I believe in,” she said while attending a summit of Prosecutors Against Gun Violence in Houston.

The DA noted that her request aims to resolve “a math problem” because of a backlog of roughly 40,000 cases, and her department only has 335 prosecutors to handle the caseload. “We have fewer prosecutors per capita than most major cities that we’ve looked at. Even in Texas we lag behind,” said Ogg.

The effects of Hurricane Harvey, which flooded the Harris County Criminal Justice Center, exacerbated the problem and the backlog multiplies daily.

Ogg also addressed suggestions that her office hire part-timer lawyers or temporary personnel to deal with the backlog. She said the amount of evidence that prosecutors must review has increased in the past few years because of body cameras, external cameras, DNA and social media posts. “There’s a lot to review and I won’t let our prosecutors be placed in the position of working in an assembly line justice system,” she said.

This article originally appeared in the Defender News Network.

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Oakland Post: Week of December 18 – 24, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of December 18 – 24, 2024

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2 days ago

December 20, 2024

Oakland Post

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‘Donald Trump Is Not a God:’ Rep. Bennie Thompson Blasts Trump’s Call to Jail Him

“Donald Trump is not a god,” U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., told The Grio during a recent interview, reacting to Trump’s unsupported claims that the congressman, along with other committee members like vice chair and former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, destroyed evidence throughout the investigation.

Published

4 days ago

December 18, 2024

Oakland Post

Congressman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. Courtesy photo.

By Post Staff

U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said he not intimidated by President-elect Donald Trump, who, during an interview on “Meet the Press,” called for the congressman to be jailed for his role as chairman of the special congressional committee investigating Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, mob attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“Donald Trump is not a god,” Thompson told The Grio during a recent interview, reacting to Trump’s unsupported claims that the congressman, along with other committee members like vice chair and former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, destroyed evidence throughout the investigation.

“He can’t prove it, nor has there been any other proof offered, which tells me that he really doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” said the 76-year-old lawmaker, who maintained that he and the bipartisan Jan. 6 Select Committee – which referred Trump for criminal prosecution – were exercising their constitutional and legislative duties.

“When someone disagrees with you, that doesn’t make it illegal; that doesn’t even make it wrong,” Thompson said, “The greatness of this country is that everyone can have their own opinion about any subject, and so for an incoming president who disagrees with the work of Congress to say ‘because I disagree, I want them jailed,’ is absolutely unbelievable.”

When asked by The Grio if he is concerned about his physical safety amid continued public ridicule from Trump, whose supporters have already proven to be violent, Thompson said, “I think every member of Congress here has to have some degree of concern, because you just never know.”

This story is based on a report from The Grio.