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Collin County DA will not step down from prosecuting district clerk's employees
By Danny Gallagher, dgallagher@acnpapers.com
The Collin County District Attorney's Office has no plans to let another district attorney's office handle the case against six indicted Collin County district clerk's employees.
First Assistant District Attorney Greg Davis confirmed his office's decision by email.
"There are no plans to recuse our office," Davis said. "I will be handling these cases until they are concluded."
An unidentified source told Sgt. A.P. Davidson of the Texas Rangers' Office that Crigger and Littrell held meetings last January to recruit employees of the District Clerk's office to "assist with the Crigger campaigns during regular working hours."
Employees earned paid time off for participating in Crigger's campaign. When the employee claimed "blue book time," "supervisors would falsely report to the county payroll system that the employee was at work," according to the affidavit.
Further investigations showed that Crigger used the county office's computer to transmit campaign materials including her "bio" and "an endorsement letter purportedly written by current district clerk Hannah Kunkle for use in the Crigger campaigns."
The Collin County DA's decision to pursue the case might seem unorthodox to some, but Tarrant County Assistant District Attorney Edward "Chip" Wilkinson said he believes they are simply following their judicial obligations.
"The DA is, I think, obligated because of the constitutional nature of the office and the statutory declaration that the DA shall prosecute those cases," Wilkinson said.
Wilkinson, an author and lecturer on prosecutorial ethics for the Texas District and County Attorneys Association, said the state's constitution implores district attorneys to pursue a case until such time when a conflict of interest or possible due process violation surfaces.
"The constitutional mandate says they are to stay in the case until they are disqualified," he said. "They can voluntarily recuse themselves but it has to be for good cause and under the order of the court." Ê
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
DeloresW wrote on Aug 12, 2010 1:19 AM:
" Good for Greg Davis. It takes a lot of courage to make sure justice is served. "
SeekingJustice wrote on Aug 14, 2010 2:19 PM:
" The Whole District Attorney Office is CORRUPT I had a civil case in a Collin County court. The Defendent LIED in court documents. She ruled against me I have asked the GOP Candidate if the defendent had given any contribution to the campaign but they wil not respond. I have brought the issue to the ADA in Collin County and they will do nothing. Question is a Vice President and Co Owner of a Corporation a "Mere Shareholder" the court in Collin County thinks so.
In November think of your vote do you support Justice or Cronyism "
In November think of your vote do you support Justice or Cronyism "
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