By Rob Kepple
TDCAF & TDCAA Executive Director in Austin
Like ships passing in the night, our September-October 2020 issue of The Texas Prosecutor was going to print just as Donna Hawkins accepted our invitation to join the Texas Prosecutors Society. Donna is a respected former prosecutor from Harris County and has had a great career in the profession. Donna, we are honored to place your name with the others for our Class of 2020!
The “Machine Gun Mike” Scholarship Fund
In the last edition of this journal, I reported on the passing of legendary Houston prosecutor and defense attorney Mike “Machine Gun” Hinton. (He might have been best known for prosecuting the “Candyman”—search for “the man who killed Halloween” to read all about it.) Mike, who was a member of the TDCAF Board at his passing, had a lot of friends. Indeed, Chuck Rosenthal, former Harris County DA and Foundation Advisory Board member, quickly organized an effort to memorialize Mike with a scholarship fund. That took off, and within weeks it had accumulated $5,950 in donations. The list of donors to the fund reads like a “who’s who” in Texas criminal law. Thanks to the following individuals who gave substantial gifts in Mike’s name so that his legacy would be preserved:
Kathy Braddock
Vic Driscoll
Lawrence Finder
Jack Frels
Leon Frels
Mary Flood
Bert Graham
Jerry Gross
C. Hamel
Keno Henderson Jr.
Helen Jackson
Timothy Johnson
Rob Kepple
Chip Lewis
Maria McAnulty
Mary Beeler Meadows
Charles Rosenthal
Ken Sparks
Larry Urquhart
Carol Vance
Ron Woods