FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Doug Murphy, HCCLA President
713-229-8333 office, email Doug Murphy

Houston, Texas—February 12, 2012—The following letter was submitted to the Harris County Judge and Commissioners:

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Doug Murphy, HCCLA President
713-229-8333 office, email Doug Murphy

Houston, Texas – June 11, 2018 – Harris County Commissioner Steve Radack recently called for an investigation on the Harris County Public Defender Alex Bunin to determine if he wrongfully used his office in assisting the litigants who have successfully sued Harris County for their unlawful bail practices. A federal judge declared the practices unlawful for discriminating against the poor. 

Harris County so far spent over $6 million dollars in their unsuccessful defense of these unlawful practices. The call for an investigation by Commissioner Radack is nothing more than a diversionary tactic and waste of further county resources that will reveal only one thing: Alex Bunin has an independent duty to protect and defend the indigent—an inherent duty of a public defender—even if that duty is at odds with Harris County. This obligation and duty may be offensive to Commissioner Radack, but spending $6 million dollars defending illegal bail practices should be offensive to Harris County residents. 

In 2010, the Harris County Bar, the Texas Indigent Defense Commission, the Harris County Commissioners, and the Advisory Board of the Public Defenders all came together to support the first ever creation of the Harris County Public Defender’s office. The search for the first Harris County Public Defender was the result of a nationwide search for the finest combination of legal acumen, proven ability to build a defender’s office, and commitment to providing the best defense for the public possible. All parties unanimously agreed that Alex Bunin was the perfect choice because of his stellar reputation earned by spending a lifetime defending the indigent accused throughout the country. 

Harris County has benefitted from the finest criminal defense legal talent ever assembled under one roof since Alex Bunin was hired. Under his leadership, the Harris County Public Defender’s Office has had an enormous impact on day to day criminal justice in Houston. 

The mental health division has significantly lessened the average stay in custody of the mentally ill in our criminal justice system, saving the county money while making the system more humane. The juvenile division has provided a striking contrast of professionalism to the crony system that had been the norm in the juvenile courts. The trial division has fought some of the most difficult cases in our system, including habitual offenders and those accused of sex crimes, with skill, zeal and most importantly, full resources for investigation and mitigation of any punishment. This team approach has already helped influence and improve our appointed counsel system. The appellate division, under his guidance, has helped change the law in our state, and has worked to integrate itself into trials smoothly, another first for our country.

Alex Bunin built the Harris County Public Defender’s Office with integrity, hard work, and outstanding leadership. The talented lawyers whom he personally recruited came because of him, and they stay because of him. The Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association supports continuing Alex Bunin as a true “Public Defender” of Harris County.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Tucker Graves, HCCLA President 713-225-4273, email Tucker Graves

HCCLA Condemns Guantanamo Judge’s Actions 

Houston, Texas – November 6, 2017 – On behalf of our former member Ms. Rosa Eliades and the other attorneys representing those at the Guantanamo Military Tribunals:

The Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association (HCCLA) condemns in the strongest possible terms this abuse of power by the military tribunal judge Colonel  Vance Spath in Guantanamo. The notion that the military will not only violate every acceptable norm of a fair defense and then compel the defense attorneys to participate in what they know to be a sham by threat of incarceration is as fundamental a threat to the Constitution as one could find.  The threat of incarceration against civilians for exercising their right of protest at the military tribunal’s continuing efforts to conduct flawed trials is a serious and grave breach of due process and the right to counsel.  If the military can compel lawyers to violate their oaths as attorneys or face imprisonment, then who is next?

The defense counsel for Mr. Al Nashiri should have their orders of confinement and appearance vacated at once.  The government should either find new counsel for this man or acknowledge that it has no business trying these individuals and turn them over to a proper federal court for a real trial.  We salute the Marine Brigadier General Baker, Rick Kamen, Ms. Eliades and all the others striving to provide a real trial to those held unlawfully in Guantanamo and elsewhere in the world.

The Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association is the largest local criminal defense bar in the United States with more than 700 active members.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Tucker Graves, HCCLA President 713-225-4273 office, email Tucker Graves

Houston, Texas – September 5, 2017 – The Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association, which represents Harris County’s criminal-defense bar, the largest organization of participants in the Harris County criminal justice system, suggests the following to help ensure a safe, functioning, and fair criminal justice system for the people of Harris County in the wake of the destruction rendered by Hurricane Harvey:

1. Judges should be uniform in their policies to provide predictability to the bar and the public. Nobody should have to learn which of 38 different policies apply to his or her case.
2. Defendants with counsel should be allowed resets of at least ninety days between court appearances. Hurricane Harvey is going to have a huge financial toll on our county; the lost productivity of the accused attending multiple unnecessary court appearances would only compound this toll.
3. Bond conditions such as ignition interlock and SCRAM devices should be used minimally.
4. Pretrial intervention and other diversionary programs should not rely on the Court Services Department or the Community Supervision and Corrections Department. These agencies are going to be overburdened already, and their participation in such programs is not (and has not historically been) necessary.
5. Electronic filing should be speedily implemented. The less physical resources the system needs, the better for all involved.
6. The cases of defendants in custody should be prioritized. We recognize that this catastrophe may affect defendants’ ability to get their cases quickly resolved; those who are unable to make bail should not suffer the extraordinary consequences of this storm any more than is necessary.
7. Lawyers should be appointed to indigent defendants at the bail hearing or initial appearance. Court coordinators should select appointed counsel promptly upon an indigency determination, and contact that counsel immediately so that they can begin working for the accused.
8. Bail amounts should be lowered, except in extraordinary cases, to take into account the financial drain that the people of Harris County are already suffering from destroyed property and a kneecapped economy.
9. Those arrestees who are constitutionally entitled to reasonable bail should be released expeditiously and allowed to appear with counsel. Scarce jail and court resources should not be clogged with people who don’t need to be there.
10. Court-appointed counsel should be paid on interim vouchers. Those defending indigents accused have expenses that are not going to be put on hold. They cannot wait until cases are resolved to be paid.
11. Defendants with counsel should not be required to appear in court except for a plea or contested hearing. The financial cost to Harris County economy of lost productivity because of court appearances at which defendants’ appearance is required for no good reason has always been huge. This might have been bearable in ordinary times, but during this emergency Harris County needs every productive person working to rebuild.
12. If weekend or evening dockets are instituted, they should be voluntary. The criminal-defense bar is not opposed to such dockets, and they may work better for some defendants and lawyers, preventing a productivity loss, but some people are unable because of family obligations to attend such dockets.
13. No bail should be revoked for failure to appear in court until there is a plan in place and the criminal-defense bar has had an opportunity to notify our clients of where they must attend court.

We look forward to working with the bench and the prosecutorial bar to build a system that works even better for the people of our county than it did before the storm.

Houston strong!

(photo by Robert Pelton)

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