Prosecutors

Published on: December 21, 2009

Collin County DA Denies Citizen From Pleading Guilty

A couple of weeks ago, I happened to be present in the 429th District Court and saw an individual, Mr. Robert Blackburn trying to plea guilty, but was barred in doing so by the Assistant District Attorney. I didn’t think too much of it at the time, because I have seen the DA do this many times — including to my clients.

What happened differently on this occasion, is that the (visiting) Judge John McCraw stood up to this ridiculous practice. I was pleased to read a great article by the Collin County Observer reporting the incident and subsequent appeal by the DA.

The Law

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Published on: December 6, 2009

The Race for Collin County District Attorney

By Hunter Biederman

Collin County’s District Attorney will have a new face at the helm beginning January 2011. Two term District Attorney John Roach has announced that he will not be seeking re-election. Following that announcement, several candidates have announced their intentions to run for the position. The Collin County District Attorney is charged with prosecuting all Felonies and Misdemeanors within the County. There are about 60 attorneys that work for the elected District Attorney, along with support staff and investigators. All candidates are running in the Republican primary, with the exception of Rafael De La Garza, who is running as a Democrat.

The Candidates:

GREG WILLIS

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Published on: October 27, 2009

And Now For the Rest of the Story. . .

By Hunter Biederman

I have not written about a recent DWI incident because I didn’t want to soil the names of prosecutors accused of wrongdoing. Those accused have now found their names in print and put on TV. I have chosen not to add their names to this article.

WFAA & the Collin County Observer have published stories, so I guess on a small scale, the cat is now out of the bag about the “story.” Which in my opinion is not much of a story at all.

The truth is, if these reporters personally knew the stellar reputations of the two prosecutors accused and the great reputation of the defense attorney accused versus the young prosecutor accuser, they wouldn’t have been so quick to believe what they heard from the accuser.

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Published on: September 30, 2009

A Prosecutors Job Should Be To Seek Justice

By Hunter Biederman

(Below is a revised version of a past article.)

Recently I had an experience with the Collin County District Attorney’s office that gives some great insight into the minds of some (certainly not all) prosecutors. I refer to it as the "Win At All Costs" mindset.

I have seen this mindset from prosecutors locally and in articles around the country. The Win At All Costs mindset can often rear its ugly head in the appellate process. Prosecutors who handle the appeals of cases are often far removed from the courtroom. Book law vs. Practical law. Can we make an argument vs. should we make an argument.

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