At this year’s Annual, our membership honored a number of people who have contributed greatly to the profession.
State Bar Criminal Justice Section Prosecutor of the Year: Kenda Culpepper, CDA in Rockwall. Kenda led our association through a rough year when COVID-19 shut down trials and courthouses. Her hallmark was the creation of regional elected meetings throughout the pandemic, which turned out to be invaluable as we all worked through issues at the courthouse. Kenda threw herself into the thankless task of standing up for prosecutors in all sorts of “stakeholder” meetings about how we navigate these uncharted waters, and her cool head and steady hand served you well.
Lone Star Prosecutor Award: Mike Laird, ACDA in Jefferson County, and Retha Cable, ADA in Kleberg and Kenedy Counties. This award is dedicated to honoring people in our profession who contribute mightily to justice in their communities, but who may not always get the recognition they richly deserve. Mike and Retha are two prosecutors who have stood out in their courthouses with their energy and dedication to justice. Their nominations for this award were met with a loud “Oh yeah!” from their communities, and we couldn’t be prouder!
Oscar Sherrell Award: Jerry Varney, ACDA in Dallas County. TDCAA presents the Oscar Sherrell Award each year to a member who provides exceptional service to the association and its members. Jerry has chaired TDCAA’s Diversity, Recruitment, & Retention (DRR) Committee since 2019 and was an outstanding speaker at multiple trainings in 2020–21. Under Jerry’s leadership, the DRR Committee hosted multiple Zoom events for members to discuss diversity and inclusion among prosecutor staffs and produced a video encouraging high school, college, and law students to consider prosecution as a career.
Gerald Summerford Civil Practitioner of the Year: Russ Roden, ACDA in Dallas County. Russ has been a huge contributor to the civil practitioners in our association. He has served on the Civil Committee and is currently its chair. He is a frequent presenter on a number of topics and has distinguished himself in our recurring trainings for newly elected prosecutors in the gnarly topic of dealing with commissioner’s courts.
C. Chris Marshall Award: Sunni Mitchell, ADA in Fort Bend County. Sunni has been one of our top-rated speakers for many years and is an enthusiastic contributor to our ongoing training efforts. She has also been strong contributor to and longtime member of our Diversity, Recruitment, & Retention Committee.
Legislative award winner: State Representative Ann Johnson (D-Houston). Rep. Johnson was recognized at the 2021 Annual Conference with TDCAA’s Freshman Legislator of the Year Award in recognition of her outstanding work during the 87th Regular Session. In addition to putting her experience as a former prosecutor to good use on the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, Rep. Johnson passed several criminal justice-related bills, including a measure authorizing the stacking of punishments for certain serious felony crimes. Presenting the award to Rep. Johnson was TDCAA’s Director of Governmental Relations, Shannon Edmonds.
Congratulations to all these winners!