From the Victoria Advocate:
Victoria County (Texas) D.A. Steven Tyler is in hot water with the police. Why?
In the first seven months of his first term as DA, Tyler has declined 36 percent of all adult criminal cases presented to him by the police department and about 50 percent of juvenile cases, Police Chief Bruce Ure said.
Turns out he doesn't much like prosecuting cases without that thing, what's it called... evidence.
"They'd go to trial and didn't have a case," Tyler said. "I can't deprive a person of liberty unless I have evidence."
Turns out, his predecessor wasn't so discriminating.
Dexter Eaves, the DA for eight years ending in 2006, said this riff reflects growing pains...Eaves said Tyler just has a different approach to the office.
"I was more willing to go out on a limb as DA, to take riskier cases," Eaves said.
Tyler said 50 percent of Eaves' cases were dismissed in court for a lack of evidence...
...Filley said Eaves made it known to law enforcement that "he was going to take every case that came in the door. I've seen prosecutors around the state do that. They quietly dismiss them later (in court). It's intellectually dishonest in the long run."
Hold on a second, there, buddy. The jails are fillin' up fast! It's time to get that conviction machine rolling!
"We're filling up the jail, and we need the inmates moved," O'Connor said.
As of Wednesday, 480 inmates - at a cost to taxpayers - were housed in a jail with a capacity of 520.
And if you don't, we'll assassinate your character! Or, at least, we'll pass the blame. The Victoria chief of police has been writing letters and reviewing cases for... well, at least a couple of days.
Tyler said the letters amount to little. Those eight letters from Ure, each disputing Tyler's decision to decline a case, were written recently - from July 25 to Aug. 5.
"Having reviewed this recent surge of correspondence from your office, I make the following observations," Tyler wrote last week in a response letter, also viewable online. "The number of letters far exceeds any telephonic or personal contact you have had with this office.
"The tone and composition of the correspondence is self-serving, fraught with legal misinterpretations, and commonly misstates the facts. Plainly, these letters are designed by you to create a public record with your spin."
There is too little room in our justice system for conscientious people to use their discretion- mandatory sentencing laws bind judges' hands, police officers are judged by their arrest numbers, and attorneys general are rated according to their conviction rate. It's nice to see at least one person willing to stand up for the spirit of the law- to see justice done, not just pump up his conviction numbers.
...Filley said. "There are all sorts of guidelines regarding the charging responsibility of the DA."
Those guidelines include portions from a prominent article in the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.
"It shall be the primary duty of all prosecuting attorneys ... not to convict, but to see that justice is done," the code says.
cross-posted at mechavomit's revenge