Sean Teare
We wrap up the week with the other half of the as-noted high profile District Attorney primary. Sean Teare is a Houston native and graduate of UH and UH law school. He served as a prosecutor with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office for 11 years in two different stints, including 6 years as the Division Supervisor of the Office’s Vehicular Crimes Division. The latter was in Kim Ogg’s tenure, from 2017 until last May when he resigned to run in the primary. He has also worked in private practice for a couple of local firms, handling both civil and criminal matters. Here’s what we talked about:
PREVIOUSLY:
Karthik Soora, SD15
Michelle Bonton, SD15
Molly Cook, SD15
Rep. Jarvis Johnson, SD15
Todd Litton, SD15
Beto Cardenas, SD15
Annette Ramirez, Tax Assessor
Danielle Bess, Tax Assessor
Jerry Davis, Tax Assessor
Desiree Broadnax, Tax Assessor
Claude Cummings, Tax Assessor
Amanda Edwards, CD18
Pervez Agwan, CD07
Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, CD07
Christian Menefee, Harris County Attorney
Umeka Lewis, Harris County Attorney
Kim Ogg, Harris County District Attorney
On we go from here into legislative races. I will have some for the Legislature and for Congress, aiming to wrap up at the start of early voting. You can keep track of all my interviews and judicial Q&As on the ever indispensable Erik Manning spreadsheet.
IMHO, Mr. Teare is being naive if he really believes waiving the DA’s right to a jury trial would somehow result in criminal defendants rushing to request bench trials (thus expediting a reduction in our case backlog and county jail population). That just doesn’t make sense. The last thing most felony defendants want to do is go to trial (jury or bench), which is why most cases get plea bargained as the trial date approaches. Later during the interview, Mr. Teare even said it himself – A case only gets better for the defendant, and worse for the prosecution, as the case ages. Every defendant, and defense attorney, knows that fact and will usually drag the case out for as long as possible.
Right now, one of the biggest factors dragging out criminal cases is the evidence backlog (e.g. ballistics, DNA, drug tests) at the Houston Forensic Science Center. During the interview, Mr. Teare didn’t even mention that huge problem, while DA Ogg has repeatedly identified it as an issue and even proposed a solution – she requested more lab outsourcing – see link:
https://abc13.com/forensics-backlog-firearm-analysis-houston-forensic-science-center-harris-county-criminal-case/13924835/
Anyway, I support DA Kim Ogg in her re-election campaign. We need someone in the DA’s Office who will investigate and prosecute government corruption regardless of political affiliations, speak up for crime victims, and make public safety one of her highest priorities.
Greg, now if Boss Hogg/Ogg just had the support of her employees and the County Judge… The strife, dissent, and ‘evacuations’ from the DA’s office by seasoned professionals is well documented. I had jury duty in the last month and during and after voire dire, couldn’t blaim anyone but Boss Ogg for pushing this losing proposition of a case to trial (it was apparent that this wasn’t the first trial on the charges, and that the State lacked some clear evidence needed to ensure a conviction (evidence not being held up by the Forensics lab). First time in voire dire I actually heard the jury pool arguing with the County Attorneys over redonkulous questions being asked, questions that had no yes or no answer. Just a sh**show all around.
C.L., by getting her staff pay raises, requesting resources, recruiting new staff, facilitating training, engaging with the community, holding repeat and violent offenders accountable, etc., DA Ogg appears to be doing everything she can to support her staff, her Office, crime victims, and the public. Internally, yes, I’ve heard she is a strong-willed, no-nonsense woman who can occasionally ruffle some feathers. Of course, if being an abrasive boss is grounds for disqualification, SJL should be the first person voted out of Office, right?
As far as your jury duty experience, the evidence is not always going to be strong enough to “ensure” a conviction, but that doesn’t mean the DA should only prosecute slam dunks. While DA Ogg has been willing to divert or dismiss low-level, non-violent cases, she is less likely to do so on the more serious cases.
We all know the biggest thing some Democrats have against Kim Ogg is that she had the audacity to do her job and investigate the bid-rigging fiasco in the County Judge’s Office (with the discovered evidence resulting in felony indictments). I clearly understand why Judge Lina Hidalgo would want DA Ogg to look the other way, but only the most partisan of Democrats would want their DA to ignore this apparent corruption.
Finally, as an informed voter, I am turned off by the misleading ad Mr. Teare is running implying DA Ogg about abortion cases. If you listen to their interviews, it is clear that they are both pro-choice and intend to handle the matter exactly the same way (zero prosecutions). As DA Ogg mentioned, if any DA declared outright that they were not going prosecute a violation of the law, that DA could be removed from Office – thus the need for ambiguity. Since Mr. Teare’s position on prosecuting abortion cases is no different than DA Ogg’s, he should stop running that misleading ad.
From Greg’s perspective, I think he assumes all felony defendants are guilty, so they don’t want to rush to judgment.
One would prefer the rush to judgment if one can’t afford the bail. Besides, it would not surprise me if state prisons were safer.
Harris County jails are not known to be prisoner-friendly.
https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/criminal-justice/2022/01/25/417633/advocates-and-jailers-fear-riot-conditions-as-violence-persists-in-harris-county/
I have one question, Greg: are you being paid by Kim Ogg?
Funny you mention SJL; I recall you kept mentioning her treatment of staff as the reason for not voting for her. Is it a black thing, or have you just changed your mind about tough bosses?
Greg, you know that a DA can indict a ham sandwich if they so desire. I hope you presume those people innocent until they are found guilty. If they ever go to trial. I personally think it was a ruse to weaken Hidalgo as part of the MAGA plan to take over the County Judge seat.
Manny, those search warrants revealed text messages and e-mails that clearly indicated the fix was in on that Elevate Strategies contract. In summary, they sent Elevate the scope of work documents weeks before it went public, and then had to waive a bunch of standard eligibility requirements just to let Elevate, essentially a one-person company, bid on that RFP. Elevate’s bid scored lower than UT Health and was millions of dollars higher, but they still awarded the contract to Elevate. There’s a lot more, with Judge Hidalgo referenced often, so go read up. The indictments are clearly based on solid evidence and not some MAGA ruse conspiracy.
SJL cursed and humiliated her subordinates on tape, and was voted meanest representative in Congress. That’s a lot worse than just being “a tough boss”. And no, I’m not getting paid by anyone to state my opinions (but you can send me a few bucks if you want to).
Greg, while you didn’t answer the question directly based on your response, you do people guilty based on what you read in some places.
Since that is how you operate, below is a link to an article in the Houston Chronicle. Ogg is a terrible DA based on that article.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/investigations/article/da-kim-ogg-tossed-cases-legal-basis-18623100.php
Manny, thanks for bringing this up. In an attempt to filter out bias and obtain a more balanced perspective on the issues, I read numerous media websites and political blogs. Yesterday, I found the below post. Whether you like Bill King or not, I urge all the objective, data-based folks on this blog to read his post and make their own determination as to whether the Houston Chronicle report was fair to DA Ogg, or extremely misleading.
https://www.billkingblog.com/blog/houston-chronicles-campaign-to-unseat-kim-ogg
I read what he wrote; he starts out with a falsehood that it didn’t happen when he wrote for the Chronicle. It did happen, just not to a white woman with MAGA tendencies.
So your new answer is you believe what you read when you agree with it; that sounds so MAGA.
Bill King likes to place charts and graphs but very seldom links them so that people can see if he is being honest. Is this he be white, therefore we have to believe what he writes?
I am on his email list; I also visit his blog.
Boss Ogg is a clown. Change my mind – $00.25.
Greg, you used to be in charge of the Joint Processing Center. You even have a website up for it. Someone died there recently.
https://www.fox26houston.com/video/1405886
Manny, yes, I retired back in 2019. After 12 years as a Captain, it was Sheriff Gonzalez who promoted me to Major. We worked on some great things together (e.g. misdemeanor bail reform, opened the JPC, implemented a new Jail Management System), but we had our fair share of bumps in the road as well.
I didn’t hear about a death at the JPC recently, but I do know Sheriff Gonzalez and his team have had a lot of challenges over the past several years. I worked in the HCSO for 30 years, so it is hard to let go. I wish them all the best.