It was just crazy. She found the woman not guilty. Stacy and her sister-in-law sent him the Economist and the Wall Street Journal. But that didnt stop the lead prosecutor, Assistant Attorney General Harry White, from projecting on screen a photo of Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone in The Godfather and saying, Not all mob bosses look like that.. 750 North St.Paul St. Christopher Milner and John Roach Sr. could not be reached directly; their attorney, Bob Davis, did not respond to requests for comment on their behalf. Of the 80 intermediate appellate justices, 2835 percentare new. And it was the best thing that ever happened in my career. Here are the 15 most corrupt states in America. But Milner figured he could cut the police department out of the equation on high-profile cases, doing his own investigations within the confines of the grand jury so no one would know what they were up to. From 2015 to 2020, the Texas Rangers completed more than 560 public corruption case investigations, but only 67 of those cases have been prosecuted, according to DPS data analyzed by . After the loss of the twins from their home and the hefty financial loss in court, Stacy and Dave decided to take their fight to Austin. Ben Smith, a former ADA from Roachs office, currently sits on the 380th. Report Public Corruption. New York does come up in No. So she decided to sit out the race and spend the next four years getting ready. He had the ability to craft written motions that made for great sound bites. Federal statistics on public corruption convictions show the two judicial districts that cover South Texas rank near the top nationwide. Shortly after the settlement was announced in January of this year, I drive up to McKinney to meet with her in her law office, which is on the second floor of a building just off the historic town square, to find out how she was able to magically free herself through no action of her own. His clients run the gamut: crypto, natural gas, medical device inventions, nutritional supplements, vertical farming, cybersecurity, edge computing, bottled water. From 2015 to 2020, the Texas Rangers completed more than 560 public corruption case investigations, but only 67 of those cases have been prosecuted, according to DPS data analyzed by the. If youve ever walked into a voting booth and had your eyes glaze over at a long list of judicial candidates with unfamiliar names, you know how tempting it is to simply vote a straight ticket. It had numerous replies. I had started to think Spencer must be some sort of Keyser Sze, a con man hiding in plain sight. On the appellate and district courts alone, the Texas Judiciary in the last election lost seven centuries of judicial experience at a single stroke.. They saw only a small piece of it, the rest obscured by evidence withheld by the judge or by the vagaries of criminal trials, where defendants often dont testify in each others cases, and maybe not even their own. Both Dave and Stacy were exonerated on all counts. After the decision in Daves case, faced with two entirely different results from the same set of facts, the State filed a Petition for Discretionary Review with the Court of Criminal Appeals, the court of last resort for all criminal matters in Texas. When Stacy met Dave, he had joint custody of his twin toddlers and an acrimonious relationship with his ex-wife, Jennifer. Here is the cast of characters that you will be reading the most about: First Assistant District Attorney Brandon Baade-A man whose physical unattractiveness is only surpassed by his lack of intelligence and moral bankruptcy, but has somehow tricked the people in the courthouse that he is brilliant and that they have to heed every bit of horrible advice that he gives, even though it took him 3 years to pass the bar exam after graduating law school from the LESS THAN PRESTIGIOUS Regent University Law School. The final tally was 19,700 to 14,734, 57 percent to 43 percent. Case in point: while Milner was convening multiple grand juries to investigate Wooten, he was also convening multiple grand juries to investigate Judge Greg Willis, who, at the time, was campaigning to be the next Collin County DA. He knew the prosecutors were acting like cops, and there was Supreme Court case law that said if you act like a cop, you get qualified immunity like a cop. Also: Texas is an insanely terrible place to do business: It has corrupt public officials law-enforcement officers on the cartel dime, judges selling verdicts, members of a drug task force. Judicial elections in Texas are still partisan. He saw Roach and Milner as bullies, routinely threatening lawyers and judgesanyone, really, who got in their waywith criminal prosecution. The Empire State has the dubious distinction of being ranked the most corrupt state in the U.S., when looking at total number of public officials convicted of federal corruption charges from. It was all about power and preserving the status quo. He was focused specifically on limiting third-party rightsgrandparents, extended family members, and others he viewed as interfering with the rights of parents. Theres another legal issue mentioned in Whites sentencing document, however, that cuts to the heart of the matter. Especially if you dont even own a dog. He argued that the fees should have been paid before the ads ran, and, according to her campaign finance reports, she didnt have enough funds in her campaign account to pay them. So I took a flight a day early and came back, because I have children and a family. She also refused to sign off on routine asset forfeiture requests from the DAs office until after a conviction. Two widely publicized cases in 2013 involved a former Hidalgo County sheriff and his son, a former police officer. He was elected to fill the vacancy left by Suzanne Wooten. It was money well spent. 10. Brings new meaning to the phrase Sunday Funday. It involves parental rights. To say she needed Stacys money to win simply isnt true. Wooten was familiar with his namethey ran in some of the same circles and had some of the same friendsand she needed the help. A fourth of trial judgesdistrict, county, and justices of the peaceare new. John Roach Sr. was running uncontested for the 199th. After serving in the Air Force, Spencer went into the healthcare field, managing a region for a home health company. He says sometimes C-level executives fail to see the forest for the trees, and you need to give them the top-down view so they can finally see the bear traps and the clear path through them. Although he told the Carys about Wooten at some point, Spencer says he also told them he didnt want them involved in her campaign. Otherwise, virtually every campaign donation would be criminally suspect. Wooten planned to change all that. I was elected president of the local defense bar. She wasnt stealing, Wooten says. Mr. But what got me to my decision was one of my dear friends who was there. Over half of the inhabitants reside in the county seat of Tyler with the rest residing in small rural towns. Former Chief of the Special Crimes Division of the CCDAO, Jill Willis, (wife of Greg Willis) She said that from the beginning, the cases against the judges seemed off. Known as Hang Them All Sandoval, he had an abysmal approval rating among members of the local bar. Hes brilliant. Texas Crime Statistics. He says the first he heard of the unpaid bill was when White raised it as a gotcha moment at trial; he believes it was paid as soon as the issue was known. The AGs office missed it, too. Actually, thats the easiest one to understand. It must have been so tempting to make a plea deal or simply do what the prosecutors wanted from the get-go and turn on Spencer or Wooten. Yes, that is the university that was founded by Pat Robertson, who believes strange shit like that people can get demon possessed by buying used shirts at yard sales that are already demon possessed. So I had to scramble, do some FedExing, get some paperworkI had copies of everything, Wooten says. A third of the 254 constitutional county judges are new. Spencer and his wife, Kippling, had two daughters: one was Kipplings from a previous marriage; the other was their child together. One-third of all District Court judges in Texas have been appointed, not elected. Because judicial elections are rarely contested, gubernatorial appointments play an outsize role. The DAO has acted with seeming disregard for the personal, emotional, and financial costs to the individuals concerned., They also pointed out that Roach had been absent for at least one-third of the days normally worked by others in the courthouse, and that he was present at the seating of the grand jury and declined, in open court, to challenge any member of it as unfit.. John Cornyn and Greg Abbott were running unopposed for the Supreme Court of Texas. So it didnt matter if you were a victim of domestic violence diving out a window and running for your life, or if you were a gay attorney doing your job, or if you were a woman campaigning to be judge, or even if you were a wealthy, White, Republican man proclaiming your innocence. The 43-year-old Collin County District Court judge was used to observing the courtroom from the opposite vantage point. They got married in December 2006, joining households with their four young children. She says someone in the purchasing department told her he tried to use up the wardrobe budget so she couldnt order a robe, and he packed her first months docket with more than 100 jury trials. The bigger problem was the inconsistent way judges enforced them. From January to March 2008, she paid him a total of $150,000: $50,000 on January 4, $25,000 on January 30, $25,000 on February 14, $25,000 on February 26, $10,000 on March 7, and $15,000 on March 14. These other folks go and they appeal. When Wooten reached out to him the following spring to see if hed be willing to represent her in a civil action, he didnt hesitate. The border has been a hotbed of corrupt activity. Shed need at least $50,000 of her own money to have a shot. Weird stuff kept happening. But for that, Wooten would never have obtained her exoneration. Wooten noticed an assistant DA, Christopher Milner, sitting in the back of her courtroom during hearings he wasnt involved in. The data also highlights the extent of the problem across all 50 states and the District of Columbia . (Although you cant run after you turn 75.). (LogOut/ It just seemed like there had to be some kernel of truth to the whole bribery thing, some questionable if not illegal activity that allowed the Collin County DAs office to prosecute four innocent people, convict three of them, and force the fourth to plead guilty. And a sentencing document filed by Assistant Attorney General White cites a litany of concerns, including: Spencer had been found guilty of writing bad checks in the recent past; he had pled no contest to felony insurance fraud in Utah with regard to a $37,000 claim for a lost diamond, which he says was dislodged from his wifes wedding ring during a car accident; he had failed to pay a $26,000 bill related to Wootens campaign, which she had reimbursed him for; and he had violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice in 1990 while in the Air Force. It was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving in 2011, and the jury just wanted to go home. And the Court of Appeals fixes it. The prayer for relief included damages for mental anguish, lost wages, and punitive damages. Two were in Fort Worth, but they werent up for reelection. It is all bad news for Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, New Mexico, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania as their aggregate scores are in the highest quartiles . Even though Caton was disparaged as a divorce, the race ended up being relatively close. White had been participating with Milner in the grand jury investigations since at least December 2008, and Abbott had been briefed on the progress of the case. Wooten had been a trial attorney for nearly a decade when, in 2003, she decided to challenge the 59-year-old jurist for his seat on the 380th District Court. In all, the campaign ended up costing Wooten $112,000: $27,000 of it for the one radio ad that ran on several stations prior to the primary, $25,000 for Clements services, $7,500 for Spencers fee, and the rest for everything else. Prior to Daves trial, in 2010, a new judgewho had been assigned to his custody case after Wooten recused herselfdetermined that the sanctions Sandoval had awarded Jennifer were improper. I didnt choose this lifestyle. He seemed to believe that they must have cost an exorbitant amount, and he suggested that they were paid for with secret funds paid to Spencer, her media consultant, by an unidentified third party. Wooten couldnt appeal. After analyzing federal corruption convictions, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review bestowed a new title on Edinburg: the dirtiest town, in the most crooked county, in the most bribable state. Everyone knew someone else, and they almost all had a tie to the Collin County Republican Party. The Civil Rights Division may also be contacted via telephone at 512-463-2642 or 888-452-4778 (in Texas only). With his Gregory Peck eyeglass frames and awkwardly oversize pinstripe suit, White resembled Atticus Finch if Atticus Finch were in the Federalist Society. Texas Attorney General | 2002 2015. Spencer and Wooten had achieved the impossible. He looks like a middle-aged dad, which he is. And thats when I was told the allegation was bribery. He says he agreed to do consulting work on behalf of both Stacy and Dave for pay and that any advice he gave them with regard to parental rights he was glad to provide for free. After the fourth grand jury declined to indict and a fifth was convened, Wooten and Schulte took matters into their own hands and went to the FBI. And that brings us to the crime. Ever. A big part of his job is to help the police department implement a consent decree issued by the Colorado Attorney Generals Office after it found a history of racial bias in the department. Corruption Index Score: 45.61. Austin Most Allegations of Political Corruption in Texas are Not Fully Investigated By Jef Rouner - October 13, 2021 One of the foundational tenets of America is that no person is supposed to be above the law. The email said that prosecutors should only conduct bench trials in Wootens court if they didnt care about the outcome and it was the only way to reasonably dispose of the case. For district courts where the population is more than 1 million, individual contributions are limited to $5,000, law firm and their member contributions are limited to $30,000, and PAC contributions are limited to $52,500 per court. 2 Constable Kelly Smith-A man (and I use that term very loosely here) who has been in law enforcement for almost 25 years and has managed to climb ALL THE WAY DOWN the law enforcement ladder from county cop to police chief to now being just one rung above a WalMart security guard as a constable. How could he decide to go to trial and leave his freedom up to a jury after seeing what had happened to the three whod gone before him? The will of the people is [Wooten] wins. This story originally appeared in the October issue of D Magazine. They could select 20 to 125 prospective jurors the same way district court jurors are selected (i.e., randomly through voter registration and drivers license rolls), or they could appoint three to five people to serve as grand jury commissioners who wouldnt serve themselves, but who would in turn select 15 to 40 prospective jurors each. She was found guilty by a jury and agreed to a sentence of 10 years probation and to step down from the bench. Spencer says he and his wife fully complied with the visitation agreement and told his in-laws where they were going, but a court ultimately fined Spencer $12,000 (he paid $100), sentenced him to jail for 1,200 days (he served 10), and awarded $100,000 in attorneys fees to his in-laws. The current Harris County administration is receiving the same kind of complaints and reports from voters that Maricopa . Attempts to improve things or to bring your department into compliance with the law will be frowned upon. And then she comes back in with an actual innocence writ. These are seasoned, experienced former federal prosecutors. He knew unseating a Democratic judge in Texas wouldnt get attention; he needed to challenge a Republican. They talked over the next few days, and Stacy agreed to pay him $150 per hour up to $250,000 for his services. It was my mailbox, but I didnt even own a dog.. I couldnt tell you. Im like, Bribery? Dallas County has 32; Collin County has 13. Whatever was going on, her bank didnt want to be involved. Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Trevio talks to reporters Oct. 31, 2011, at the Hidalgo County sheriff's office in Edinburg, Texas. Milner indicted the attorney and had him arrested, but he was acquitted at trial. Stacy Cary was convicted by a jury in June 2012. The money, I believe, had to have been paid to the media prior to the reports that were filed reflecting no such payments.. It was a great struggle. To be eligible to run for a district court judge seat, you must be a citizen of the United States and Texas, be aged 25 to 74, be a resident of the district for two years, and be a practicing lawyer or judge for a total of at least four years. Suzanne Wooten had 10 minutes to decide her own fate. So my attention was drawn to Collin County, because its the reddest county in the reddest state, Spencer says. She figured it was just petty payback from a sore loser, not the harbinger of a scorched-earth campaign to unseat her. He was convicted by a jury and sentenced to concurrent sentences of 14 years in prison for each count. Dave also hired Spencer. A wildcatters daughter, Stacy Cary had spent her entire life in the family oil business, and she had cultivated an adventurous entrepreneurial spirit of her own. From the Rio Grande Valley to Val Verde County the integrity of public officials has been compromised on a massive scale. Dave and Stacy didnt do anything wrong. 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