From today's San Antonio Express, by Zeke MacCormack:
Tanna Mozel Tyler Hurt was taken into custody Thursday after a Kerr County jury rejected defense appeals to spare her jail time for stealing while a probation officer in the 198th judicial district.
Hurt, 46, who pleaded guilty Wednesday to five charges of tampering with government documents and 16 charges of forgery, was sentenced to two years behind bars, fined $3,000 and given five years probation.
.......
Brown's lawyer, Guy James Gray, must have pulled a rabbit out of a hat to get this result. He is a great lawyer, who spent most of his career as the district attorney in Jasper County and rose to national prominence when he successfully prosecuted the three men who dragged James Byrd, Jr. to death behind a pickup truck. Gray has forgotten more law and maneuvers than most of us will ever know, and he can find the chinks in a prosecution's case.
I don't pretend to know all the details of the case, but I think that the prosecutors could have tried cases separately and gotten the sentences stacked. As it is, Brown will only serve one two year sentence. Even though she'll serve the full sentence (no good time credit for state jail felonies) that's a lot better than having about ten of them stacked. Other witnesses, including a preacher, testified how sorry she was, she's a good Christian, and so on.
I wonder if she feels like the good ol' boys treated her unfairly seeing how Ron Sutton and Karl Prohl got probation for similar crimes.
Brown testified how ashamed she felt when she got caught, how remorseful she is, and so on. She never gave any quarter to any of my clients when she had them over a barrel. What is really revolting is that she tried to release probationers from supervision after she stole from them, to cover her own crimes. That's no different from a prison guard taking a bribe to let a convict escape.
Kerrville has a national reputation as a place you don't want to get into trouble in for any drug related offense. Juries here will send a young person with no criminal history to prison for 50 years for a first drug offense. But for a public official who gets caught stealing public money, he or she will probably get probation, or at worst two years. There's something wrong.
When the Obama Administration tells us that the cartel violence in Mexico hasn't crossed over the border, consider the article in Borderlandbeat:
Trial Begins of AFO Cell in San Diego, Prosecutor: Victims Kidnapped and Dissolved in Acid
Opening arguments opened the trial of Jose Olivera and David Valencia in San Diego yesterday. District Attorney Mark Amador said the men were members of "Los Palillos" (The Toothpicks) was an Arellano Felix Cartel cell group, that trafficked meth and marijuana through the Tijuana-San Diego route, in addition to operating a kidnapping ring that targeted drug dealers and businessmen in the U.S., who were vulnerable and who were unlikely to have their kidnappings reported to US authorities.
The gang operated in Tijuana as a cell of AFO cartel, but splintered and became bitter enemies after AFO leadership killed Victor Rojas Lopez, the brother of Los Palillos leader Jorge Rojas Lopez.
Victor reported to an AFO lieutenant who has ordered Victor to execute a Los Palillos member who had a dispute in a TJ bar with Jorge Briseno. When Victor refused the order he was killed.
It was then the group moved to San Diego and began its flurry of crime.
Amador stunned the courtroom as he described the heinous crimes including the strangling of victims, then placing the bodies in 55 gallon barrels of simmering acid heated by propane tanks.
News and commentary about the Texas criminal justice system, Texas true crime stories, infamous crimes.
Popular Posts
-
Court of Inquiry To Be Held On Morton Wrongful Conviction Judge Sid Harle signed a probable cause affidavit today that will now go to the...
-
I don't know anything about the most recent murder case (or one of the two most recent cases) in Kerrville. The Hill Country Community ...
-
Drug Trafficker sold out Laredo Lawyer From San Antonio Express-News A Laredo lawyer who pleaded guilty last week to a racketeering charg...
-
A lawyer named Mark Clark from New Braunfels is (was?) out on bond after his conviction for sexually molesting a young girl. From the San A...
-
The headline: "Man Pleads Guilty to Biting Officer After Twins Tussle With Police." This is almost a Keystone Kops story, excep...
-
There may be a county in Texas worse than Kimble. In Red River County (east Texas) the DA and district judge have a view of blacks and how ...
-
National Inventory of the Collateral Consequences of Conviction , or how a minor drug offense can ruin your life. Collateral consequences ...
-
Gary Stork was under investigation for sexual contact with a minor alleged to have occurred over the July 4 weekend. Police began thei...
-
It is fascinating to see how people in Kerrville have reacted to the Gary and Peggy Stork murder-suicide (??) case. It seems that a substan...
-
News media are reporting that s hortly before he was shot to death by a troubled former Marine at a Texas gun range, legendary Navy SEAL s...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment