Kim Ogg
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg is asking for a special prosecutor to handle the murder case against former Alief Coach David Temple, adding new scrutiny to a decades-old case that continues to stir controversy.
Ogg filed court papers Friday to withdraw from the case because of potential conflicts of interest with her office and sought appointment of a special prosecutor.
The news left the family of Belinda Lucas Temple in grateful tears, holding out hope that Temple will once again stand trial for the 1999 killing.
“We recognize that we’re right back where we were in 1999,” victim’s advocate Andy Kahan said, standing next to Belinda’s brother, Brian Lucas, after a court hearing Friday. “But that’s the hand we’ve been dealt and, considering the circumstances and alternatives, we’re ready to move forward.”
[…]
“We’re withdrawing from the case and urge the court to appoint someone with no dog in the fight,” said David Mitcham, head of the DA’s trial division. “The tentacles of this case are just so extensive that we don’t want to create even the appearance of any impropriety.”
Ogg, who took office Jan. 1, said in court filings that two members of her office have possible conflicts. Former judge David Mendoza, who previously overruled Temple’s motion for a new trial, is now chief of Ogg’s Professional Integrity Bureau. And Steve Clappart, Ogg’s chief investigator, chased down leads on alternative suspects while working as an investigator for a previous district attorney. Clappart then stood with Temple’s lawyers as a private investigator in 2015 when they declared Temple was innocent.
Ogg reviewed the file for four months before deciding to seek a special prosecutor.
“Our duty is simply to do justice, not just to win,” Ogg said in a statement after the court hearing.
Temple’s defense attorney disagreed with the move, saying neither Mendoza nor Clappart were witnesses in the case.
“David is innocent and we look forward to our day in court,” attorney Stanley Schneider said.
State District Judge Kelli Johnson will appoint a special prosecutor, who will then decide whether to re-try Temple or dismiss the case.
See here and here for some background. This case is messy enough that having a fresh set of eyes on it, belonging to someone who has no connection to it or political ambitions that could be affected by it, is a good idea. I just hope that our Commissioners Court is less jerky about paying for the ad litem prosecutor than those jokers in Collin County have been. The Press has more.
Good political call.
‘“Our duty is simply to do justice, not just to win,” Ogg said in a statement after the court hearing.’
We need much more of this attitude.
I’m volunteering to drive David Temple back to Huntsville.