The district attorney of Harris County is currently mired in a scandal that once again indicates she is not fit to lead. District Attorney Devon Anderson knew in February that Harris County Deputy Chris Hess had destroyed 21,000 pieces of evidence, including evidence in pending cases. But she didn't say a word until August, when she realized that the story was about to become public. Instead, she sat quietly as her prosecutors tried cases where critical evidence had been compromised or destroyed completely.
We’ve seen plenty of ethical violations by Anderson, a Republican, before— but this one is bad even for her. From the Houston Press:
This problem only became public after Morgan and attorney Emily Detoto discovered in August that drug evidence in their own client's case had been destroyed — just as a prosecutor was offering their client, David Bellamy, a 25-year plea deal for meth possession, Morgan said. It was among the first cases to be dismissed because of the Precinct 4 missing-evidence fiasco.
But as more details have surfaced of the hundreds more affected cases, what has bothered Morgan and Detoto the most is the complete lack of action the district attorney's office had taken on the issue, they say — even though District Attorney Devon Anderson admitted to knowing about the destroyed evidence since February. It was only directly after KTRK aired a story about Bellamy's case on August 17 that Anderson blasted out an email to all her prosecutors, ordering them to stop offering plea deals or taking to trial any cases involving Precinct 4.
Once Anderson was caught, she decided to finally be honest about the thousands of pieces of destroyed evidence. She announced early last month that 142 cases would be thrown out and over 1,000 could be compromised. That number could easily increase. At least one report stated that, in Hess's January dump alone, 861 pieces of the destroyed evidence were connected to 470 open cases. And the Houston Press reports that her office “has sent letters to about 600 defendants who were convicted or took plea deals in cases where evidence has been lost—raising the possibility that more suspects could be freed.”
Hess was the only property room manager for Precinct 4 over the past 14 years. According to an internal employee complaint report, Hess had an illogical and defiant explanation for his destruction of evidence. From KPRC:
[The report] shows Hess told investigators he believed the Texas Health and Safety Code allowed for the destruction of evidence without a court order. Investigators pressed Hess on this assertion.
"I asked Hess where does it say (HSC) you can destroy property/drugs in open/pending cases. He responded, "it doesn't say you can't," the investigator wrote.
Hess last destroyed evidence in January of this year, when he eliminated 8,000 pieces of evidence after being instructed to clean out the evidence room. Hess didn’t just eliminate drugs. From the Chronicle:
The records show that methamphetamine, marijuana and other drugs went into an incinerator at Precinct 4's offices, along with syringes, scales, bongs, a coffee grinder, a woman's purse, two diapers, pink baby bottles, guns and large quantities of ammunition.
According to Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman, he personally contacted Anderson as soon as he found out about the missing evidence. From the Chronicle:
[Herman] said his office immediately informed the DA's office in March after learning that an officer had destroyed evidence in the department's overstuffed property room. By then, he said the DA's office had already launched a criminal investigation into the matter. [...]
"We were very direct, very deliberate with the DA's office from the very beginning," Herman said. "When this process started ... we talked to them, told them we had cases compromised due to an employee destroying evidence to open cases."
This is really a remarkably massive failure on Anderson’s part, and eradicates the little credibility she had left. Both she and Herman agree she knew in February about the problem, and he says he didn’t inform her until March. If true, that means she didn’t even talk to the constable about it. "I fired my guy as soon as we finished our internal affairs investigation for some gross policy violations," Herman said to the Houston Chronicle. "Was there a gross violation of the law? I'm going to let Devon or whoever is doing the investigation figure that out."
But Anderson hasn’t figured that out. She hasn’t completed the investigation, she hasn’t charged anyone, and in the meantime she has committed some significant violations herself. Yet, still, Anderson has not taken responsibility in this case. Instead, she’s defended her behavior and blamed her failure to disclose this information on Herman. From the Houston Press:
Anderson, saying she was unsatisfied with "conflicting and inconsistent" reports given to her by Precinct 4, announced [in early September] an investigation into the officers who work in the department's property room. She did not rule out criminal charges. Since February, Anderson said, the DA's office's Public Integrity Division has been trying to find out where the missing evidence went and how it came to be improperly disposed of.
Even without these facts, Anderson could have disclosed general information about the destroyed evidence to defendants. Instead, Anderson says her office immediately opened an "investigation" in February and yet they did not tell defense attorneys, defendants, or the public anything about the thousands of pieces of destroyed evidence. In fact, she says that even the trial prosecutors had no idea.
Some say that Anderson is even more to blame in this situation than Precinct 4. From the Chronicle:
“With something this large, it’s either the height of deception or the height of incompetence — either way, it’s inexcusable,” Morgan said. “But which office has more blame? It’s the district attorney’s office all day. They legally have more responsibility. It’s why we have shiny gold bar cards. This just can’t happen.”
Speculation has led many to conclude that Anderson didn’t say anything because she didn’t want to jeopardize the election. “She chose to put her political future ahead of the lives of innocent people, and that just cannot happen,” said Detoto.
This is a true low point for DA Anderson, who once again, has proven that her office will do absolutely anything to win a case.
The situation is so bad that multiple people have also called for a federal probe. U.S. Representative Sheila Lee called for a Department of Justice investigation into the precinct.
"An internal audit and lack of complete accountability will not suffice when thousands of lives have been jeopardized and likely ruined by the failure to protect the integrity and basic legal rights demanded within our criminal justice system," she [said]. "The ability to receive unfettered justice in Harris County cannot be achieved until immediate action is taken to address and eliminate a deeply flawed and broken system of justice. Unacceptable and unlawful procedures and practices can no longer jeopardize the lives and liberty of countless individuals, or the future and integrity of the Harris County criminal justice system."
In addition, Defense Attorney Paul Morgan “wrote a letter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office asking the federal government to investigate Harris County Precinct 4 and the Harris County District Attorney's Office, arguing that neither agency is capable of conducting an independent investigation and that the DA's office is complicit in the fiasco,” reports the Houston Press:
Paul Morgan wrote a letter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office asking the federal government to investigate Harris County Precinct 4 and the Harris County District Attorney's Office, arguing that neither agency is capable of conducting an independent investigation and that the DA's office is complicit in the fiasco.
Meanwhile, Bellamy has brought a suit against the Harris County District Attorney's Office for malicious prosecution, and Morgan submitted a Texas Public Information Act request in an effort to find out more about the destroyed evidence. Unsurprisingly, the DA's office rejected the request.
Anderson is in a tough fight for re-election. Her opponent, Democrat Kim Ogg, has called for a special prosecutor to determine whether “possible civil rights violations” occurred because of Anderson’s conduct. From the Chronicle:
“It’s time we asked for an independent prosecutor to investigate not just the actions of Precinct 4, which are going to be reviewed by the Justice Department, but of this district attorney and her assistant district attorneys,” Ogg said[.] “For every person who was convicted where evidence had already been destroyed, they’re entitled – in all likelihood – to a new trial.”
Anderson fired back, saying she has been open with the public about how she came to learn of the property room debacle in Precinct 4 and said Ogg is politicizing the issue.
“I have spoken at length with the media on this situation,” Anderson said in a written statement Thursday. “I have given them all the details and all the facts. If there are any questions on specifics I am happy to answer those, but Kim Ogg’s attempt to politicize this and make it a DA campaign issue is desperate.”
Anderson’s audacity is almost breathtaking. She hid the information for months, violated the rights of defendants, and tore away at the very little integrity she has left. The fact that she would claim that she had provided all the details and the facts is, frankly, a blatant insult.
Ogg and Anderson go head to head in the race for Harris County District Attorney on November 8.