Houston Criminal Law Journal by Texas Lawyers covering DWI Drunk Driving Arrests, Criminal Defense Charges, Drug Possession, and Assault

Today, many Houston DWI Defense Attorneys attended a meeting with Roger Bridgwater, the assistant district attorney that is heading up the Pretrial Diversion program in Harris County.  The meeting was very informative.  Some of the highlights of the meeting are as follow:  first, and as a general rule anyone that has been handled by the police before will be ineligible for the program (including dismissals, not guilty verdicts, and PI cases).  Second, anyone with a felony charge will not be eligible (DWI child passenger cases).  Thirdly, the probation department will be supervising the person during the program and finally an ignition interlock with a camera will be required.  A person may be released from their surety bond pending completion of the program.  The length of the pretrial will be from 1-2 years depending on how they score after being tested and evaluated by the probation department.

A draft of the contract that will be required to be executed was handled out at the meeting, I will comment on that in a later post along with the type of people the program aims to help.

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Late last year and this year there has been a steady stream of Harris County District Attorneys  leaving the office.  This should not come as a surprise after Pat Lykos, was elected as the District Attorney.  Some have taken the traditional route of becoming a Houston Criminal Attorney.  Others have decided to continue as a prosecutor in Galveston, Montgomery, or some other county in Texas.  Curiously, not one has been hired by the Fort Bend District Attorney's Office.   I wonder why  Fort Bend County, Texas is the only neighboring county not to hire the former prosecutors?

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It seems like 2009 is not starting much better then 2008 did for the Harris County District Attorney's Office.  Last year at this time a lot of assistant DA's were unsure what the future held for them during the Rosenthal scandal.  Instead of making a fresh start and rallying the troops newly elected Pat Lykos seems to be creating more instability at the DA's office.  Unbelievably, DA Lykos made it mandatory for her assistants to attend her inauguration on a county holiday, mindful  that this is mainly a ceremonial function and photo op.  Perhaps, she wanted to display the unity by having all her assistants there for the swearing in ceremony.  Regardless, a lot of her assistants were not happy about attending.

While I was not in attendance I was disturbed to hear the she did not acknowledge all the work her assistants do on a daily basis.  More specifically, she did not thank her first assistant, Jim Leitner, for what he has done before she took office.  I want to see a stable and confident DA's office in Harris County, but it does not seem like DA Lykos is achieving it at this time.  While I have a lot of friends at the District Attorney's Office I want it to be stable because it would be for the entire community's benefit. Of course, I do not want to deal with the arrogance that was pervasive in previous years, but a confident ADA allows them to more objectively look at a case.  I want to be able to talk to any assistant and know that they are not going to be apprehensive about making a difficult decision because they are scared of what could happen.  Here is hoping that 2009 improves quickly for the entire Harris County District Attorney's Office!

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Recently elected District Attorney, Pat Lykos, will be sworn in at the beginning of the year, but she is already putting her staff together.  Jim Leitner, currently a defense attorney and a former Harris County prosecutor will become her first assistant.  Also, Roger Bridgwater, current judge for the 178th District of Harris County, who lost his position to Democrat David Mendoza will be joining her staff as soon as he leaves the bench.  They are both scheduled to be sworn in before the end of the year.

Both Mr. Leitner and Judge Bridgwater have worked as criminal defense attorneys in Harris County, Texas and are respected by the defense bar.  Therefore, they should bring a fresh perspective to the District Attorney's office.

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A Texas Department of Public Safety audit has revealed that the breath tests from eight Houston area police departments have been comprised because the test machines were not properly tested by the certified supervisor.  The machines in question are the breathalyzers that are used to determine if someone is legally intoxicated.

How is the Harris County District Attorney's Office going to handle this tricky situation.  Will current cases be dismissed?  Will there be any retrials of old cases?  I imagine that the prosecutors will have to evaluate each case like there is no breath test.  The likelihood is that you will see more breath test cases going to trial.  Thus, a misdemeanor prosecutor's job just  got harder.

DPS officials said they suspended the supervisor’s certification, and the Texas Rangers launched a criminal investigation.

“These are serious allegations and we will not tolerate any activities that call into question the integrity of the breath test system,” said Col. Stan Clark, interim DPS director.

If DPS was truly concerned with the integrity of the breath test system they would release the machine's software to the defense bar so it could be independently tested.  Until this happens the machine will never have any credibility.

Lastly, will we be seeing criminal charges against the supervisor?  It seems clear that he may be charged with falsifying government records, a felony.  Stay tuned.

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