HCCLA submitted the following letter to the editor today after consideration of their “article” on a rehabilitated John Bradley:
Texas Lawyer (via electronic submission)
To the Editors:
Regarding your recent editorial on the changed nature of John Bradley, the members of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association (“HCCLA”) suggest that you consider his most recent actions before attesting to his rehabilitation.
A prosecutor’s duty is to do justice, not to advance inhumane conditions and block favorable evidence. A quick look at Mr. Bradley’s past and current actions reveals a convict-at-any-cost mentality rather than the pursuit of what is just and right.
Michael Morton, an innocent man, languished in jail for several years while Mr. Bradley fought every attempt to have exculpatory evidence tested. Mr. Bradley mocked Mr. Morton and his lawyers for their mere suggestion of innocence. Your own publication addressed Mr. Bradley’s abuses related to the Michael Morton case.
We were denied review of the conviction of Cameron Todd Willingham, possibly an innocent victim of the system, by Mr. Bradley’s appointment to the Forensic Science Commission, where his role seemed to have been to immediately and irreparably limit the scope of the Commission’s work. On the cusp of investigating that conviction (based upon illegitimate science and recanting witnesses) Mr. Bradley promptly closed down the investigation and threw the Commission into months of inactivity.
Realizing that your publication is about the changes in John Bradley since he left Williamson County, we ask whether you investigated his current employment. As the lead prosecutor in Palau, Mr. Bradley continues to argue for the harshest punishments possible and defends the inhumane conditions found in Palau’s prisons. In a very recent Writ of Habeas Corpus proceeding, Mr. Bradley argued that the defendant’s claim of solitary confinement under inhumane conditions was frivolous. As the judge attempted to schedule a jail visit for his own benefit, Mr. Bradley argued against attending such a visit, claiming that it would be a waste of [edit] his time and resources. Following the visit, the judge expressed the horror of his discovery in a scathing opinion, repudiating Mr. Bradley’s claims, citing everything from UN Resolutions to Gospels to Thomas Jefferson. (note 1)
We urge you, instead of writing puff pieces without investigating their veracity, to investigate instances of prosecutorial and professional misconduct and a means to address those wrongs. As lawyers, we owe it to the public to make sure that the public servants intended to protect them are following the law.
Sincerely,
JoAnne Musick
President
Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association
joanne@musicklawoffice.com
832-448-1148
HCCLA’s above letter was submitted in response to this Texas Lawyer article.