By Rob Kepple
TDCAA Executive Director in Austin
I will finish my career at TDCAA in my 35th year. I have been blessed and privileged to work with an amazing team here at TDCAA World Headquarters, people who are dedicated to getting what you need. I have so many great memories it would be impossible to share them all. But I do want to give a very special shout-out to my right-hand woman and resident Queen of Fun, Diane Beckham. Diane came to TDCAA not long after I did, and she has been a tremendous force in Texas prosecution with her publications, as well as a great leader here at the office. I couldn’t have done it without you, Queen! Thanks to all my TDCAA champions. You are the best.
Annual award winners
We had the honor of recognizing some outstanding prosecutors at this year’s Annual Conference in Galveston. The State Bar Criminal Justice Section Prosecutor of the Year is Fredericka Sargent, ACDA in Tarrant County. Fredericka was the appellate prosecutor who spearheaded her office’s amicus efforts at the U.S. Supreme Court in U.S. v Rahimi, in which the court upheld the government’s right to limit access to firearms with domestic violence protective orders.
We are honored that so many talented prosecutors contribute to TDCAA conferences for the betterment of the profession. We recognize these folks with the C. Chris Marshall Award. This year was a tie: Allenna Bangs and Ronny Dale Smith, both ACDAs in Tarrant County.
Finally, we had three worthy Lone Star Prosecutor of the Year award recipients. First, Eric Erlandson, an ADA in Cooke County, was recognized for his work in a serious child abuse case that could only be characterized as torture. Chris Gatewood and Richard Vance, ACDAs in Smith County, were recognized for their work in a complicated and highly contested intoxication manslaughter case. Thanks for all you have done for Texas!
Laying behind the log, version 2.0
I am a big fan of the concept of “the loyal opposition.” The term was coined in the British parliament in the 1800s and was meant to confer respect for a worthy opponent even if there was disagreement on the merits of the issue. It works for the Texas criminal bar, too: Prosecutors and defense attorneys understand and appreciate our different roles, and we act within those roles to strive to achieve a just result. Mostly.
The concept had a rough go in the late 1980s. I recall an article in the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association (TCDLA) journal, Voice for the Defense, which advocated that defense attorneys not object to a defect in a pleading but instead “lay behind the log—just make sure it is a big enough log.” I can’t fault the defense bar for teaching such dilatory tactics—the fault really fell on the law, which back then allowed for such gamesmanship that had nothing to do with the discovery of the truth. To the credit of the Court of Criminal Appeals and the legislature, the law changed to mostly eliminate procedural gamesmanship in favor of truth-finding.
Until recently.
When the Michael Morton Act was passed in 2013, it did so with quite a bit of support from prosecutors who viewed robust discovery as a lynchpin to a fair criminal proceeding. Fast forward 10 years and we are unfortunately once again back to gamesmanship. On the heels of State v. Heath, 696 S.W.3d 677 (Tex. Crim. App. 2024), the defense bar is teaching its members to lay behind the log. We learned in Heath that a trial court can choose to exclude inculpatory evidence that was not timely turned over to the defense through no fault of the prosecutor and without any showing of harm to the defendant. As a result, TCDLA was quick to teach its members in the June 2024 edition of its journal (a copy is below) that even if you are fully aware of evidence that should be turned over but hasn’t been, it is ethical to lay behind the log—then scream bloody murder (at the right tactical moment) about the State’s failure to produce.
I would hope that in the future, courts are reticent to exclude evidence without a showing of harm. It might be wise to keep a copy of the TDCLA article handy if you face a defense effort to exclude inculpatory evidence of which it was aware during the discovery process.
New Director of Governmental Relations
Welcome to TDCAA, Hector Valle! Hector will be TDCAA’s new Director of Governmental Relations when he steps into the role being vacated by Shannon Edmonds, who is taking over as Executive Director in the new year. Hector worked as both a state and federal prosecutor in Dallas for more than a decade before moving to Austin to oversee the government relations and communications efforts of the General Land Office for eight years, followed by a recent stint as a partner in a multinational strategic consulting firm. Hector is already on board getting up to speed in preparation for the next regular session in January. Welcome, Hector!
New Domestic Violence Resource Prosecutor
And another warm welcome to Kristin Burns! Kristin, a seasoned prosecutor most recently with the Brazos County DA’s Office, will be TDCAA’s first Domestic Violence Resource Prosecutor. The Association’s leadership recognizes the need to focus on one of the most difficult and challenging crimes to prosecute, domestic violence. With a generous grant from the Court of Criminal Appeals and support from the Foundation, TDCAA will develop training and support akin to our Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor program (so ably run by our resident Road Warrior, W. Clay Abbott). Welcome, Kristin!
Thanks to outgoing Board members
We had a terrific year here at TDCAA, and it really began with an outstanding leadership crew. A few of our Board members are rotating off at the end of the year, and I want to say thanks for their hard work: Bill Helwig, CDA in Yoakum County; Kriste Burnett, DA in Palo Pinto County; Joe Gonzales, CDA in Bexar County; Natalie Cobb Koehler, CA in Bosque County; Landon Lambert, CA in Clarendon County; Laura Nodolf, DA in Midland County; Carlos Garcia, 79th Judicial District Attorney; and Jeff Swain, DA in Parker County. Y’all did us proud.
Thanks, Jenn
If you have called TDCAA in the last year, you have talked with Jenn Piatak, our receptionist. Jenn has done a great job for us, but she is off to more northern parts as her husband got a new job in Iowa. Jenn, we will miss you!
The next time you call our offices, you’ll hear a different voice—that of Joseph Studer. He is our new receptionist; he’ll handle phones, visitors, and our online job bank (email him job postings at [email protected]). Welcome, Joseph!
“I’m not Daniel, but you are surely lions”
Shortly after Michael Morton was released from prison after serving 27 years of a life sentence for a murder he didn’t commit, we decided that our profession needed to hear directly from him. Some folks were nervous about how that might go, but nonetheless I made the offer for Mr. Morton to give the keynote address at our Annual Conference. He gladly accepted.
It was perhaps the most powerful speech I have ever heard. Make no mistake, he told a rapt crowd: He was no Daniel, but we were surely lions. It was a reference to the biblical account where Daniel refused to worship King Darius and was thrown into a lions’ den as punishment. During the night, the angel of the Lord shut the mouths of the lions, and Daniel was spared. Mr. Morton’s words were not of derision but of encouragement. He explained that he wanted prosecutors to be good at their jobs because he knew the dangerous people we faced in court every day. After all, he explained, we saw them in court—but he had showered with them for 27 years. He just wanted to make sure we were prosecuting the right people. It was a message the assembled crowd took to heart, as evidenced by the prolonged standing ovation.
Michael Morton’s speech has stuck with me as I end my career here at TDCAA. It has been a reminder of why I have loved this profession. First, a prosecutor’s job is to seek the truth in the search for justice. How great is that? But second, when the time comes to seek justice in the courtroom on behalf of victims and our communities, the prosecutor must be ready. And that is where TDCAA comes in. It has been my great honor to work with you for 35 years to constantly improve our profession and, as a result, the quality of justice in Texas. It has been my life’s work. So as I end my career at TDCAA, permit me to feel a little tinge of pride every time a Texas prosecutor announces: “The State is ready.”