Today’s Chronicle features a story from Brian Rogers on the rapid departures of many veteran prosecutors from the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
The article focuses on Donna Goode, who left the office after 25 years:
Goode resigned after speaking up at a senior-level staff meeting June 23.
“I am not certain how to proceed, because, after 6 months with this administration, there are no written policies to guide me,” Goode wrote in a three-page resignation letter obtained by the Houston Chronicle through the Texas Open Records Act.
[snip]
Later, her computer was shut down remotely, and she was summoned to a “disciplinary committee” hearing before Jim Leitner, Lykos’ first assistant, and General Counsel John Barnhill.
Goode wasn’t fired. She was accused of poor judgement [sic] and threatened with termination, she wrote. She handed in her resignation letter the next day.
Blawgger (and former prosecutor) Murray Newman has been documenting these departures for quite some time now on his blog, Life at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center.
In a 24 June 2009 post, Newman blogged about the meeting that led to Goode’s resignation:
During yesterday morning’s weekly “Show and Tell” meeting (which is a regular update meeting attended by all Division chiefs, Bureau Chiefs and the Elected D.A.), he apparently went completely off the deep end. After being questioned on his rationale on decisions about Rusty Hardin, the diversion program, and the fact that more people learn about their Administration decisions from the paper than from the administrators, Bridgwater lashed out at none other than Donna Goode.
[snip]
When the meeting was over, he decided to file a complaint against Donna with the Disciplinary Committee for her remarks during “Show and Tell”.
The complaint he made against her? Insubordination.
Newman has discussed other veteran prosecutors who have fled the Lykos DA’s Office: Lester Blizzard, Stephen St. Martin and Ed Porter, Warren Diepraam and Syliva Escobedo
Kudos to Murray Newman for his blogging efforts (although one has to wonder why the Chronicle is just now writing about this). One also has to wonder if Brian Rogers consulted Newman’s blog for his story, or Newman himself.
BLOGVERSATION: Life at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center.
