By Rob Kepple
TDCAF & TDCAA Executive Director in Austin
I want to take a moment to thank our outgoing Foundation Chair, Ken Magidson. Ken is the living embodiment of public service. He started as an ADA in Houston in the early 1980s, then became an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Texas in 1983. Ken accepted an interim appointment as Harris County District Attorney in 2008 and followed that with a distinguished run as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas from 2011–2017.
What we all love about Ken is his enthusiasm for our profession. I personally am appreciative for his recognition that prosecutors must be the best lawyers in the courtroom at all times. To that end, he has always been a big believer in high-quality training, and as the Harris County DA, he orchestrated a gift to the Foundation to offer enduring support for our summer Advanced Trial Advocacy Course. Thanks, Ken, for all you do!
As a token of our appreciation, I am including this fun Sunday newspaper feature on Ken, complete with pictures from the way back: www.pressreader.com/usa/houston-chronicle-sunday/20170618/281500751244081.
Mandatory Brady training
Periodically we like to offer a friendly reminder that prosecutors have a mandatory Brady training requirement in §41.111 of the Texas Government Code. All criminal prosecutors, except those who try Class C misdemeanors, must complete a course within 180 days of beginning work, and then every four years thereafter. You can take the hour-long course for free on our website at www.tdcaa.com/training/mandatory-brady-training-2022. Once you complete the course, we will report an hour of ethics to the State Bar for you. Questions? Email me at Robert.Kepple@ tdcaa.com.
Annual Report now available
Every year, we publish the Foundation’s Annual Report for the previous year. It outlines the Foundation’s accomplishments, donors, new members of the Texas Prosecutors Society (TPS), corporate sponsors, and financial numbers. It is mailed to all elected prosecutors, donors, TPS members, Association and Foundation Board members, and the Foundation Advisory Committee. If you didn’t get a copy but would like to read it, it’s available on the homepage of tdcaf.org. (You can also download it below.)