WillCo residents file lawsuit to remove Duty....

"For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful
Have opened against me;
They have spoken against me with a lying tongue."
Psalm 109:2

Awesome:

Two Williamson County residents sued District Attorney Jana Duty on Monday, seeking to force her out of office after she was sanctioned this month by the State Bar of Texas and served jail time last year for violating a gag order.

The Texas Constitution provides that county officials may be removed for incompetency and official misconduct, the lawsuit says.

“Duty’s serial violations of court orders and the laws of the State of Texas, her history and pattern of dishonesty and untrustworthiness, and her dereliction and abandonment of her responsibilities of the office of the District Attorney have compromised the integrity and the effectiveness of the office … and the Williamson County criminal justice system,” the lawsuit says.

....

The suit asks that a district judge temporarily suspend Duty and appoint another person to serve as district attorney until Shawn Dick — who beat Duty in the Republican primary in March — takes office in January. The lawsuit requested a jury trial.

[h/t: Lawerence Person's Battleswarm Blog]

Then there's this (we know we shouldn't celebrate it, but this tactic has been used so many times against our guys that's it's hard to not indulge a little shadenfreude seeing the shoe on the other foot):

Duty is responsible for paying her own legal fees

Read the whole thing here.

Williamson County establishment (correctly) throws Jana DUTY under the bus!!!

"For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful
Have opened against me;
They have spoken against me with a lying tongue."
Psalm 109:2

Following yesterday's news about the grotesquely awful Jana Duty, it looks like the WillCo good ol' boy network is (to its credit) piling on:

GEORGETOWN — Williamson County business leaders stood outside the county courthouse Wednesday morning to deliver an ultimatum to District Attorney Jana Duty: resign or be forced out.

“I, along with other community leaders, demand that Jana Duty step down and resign her position as district attorney of Williamson County by sunset this Friday,” said Jim Schwertner, owner of Schwertner Farms, a cattle trading enterprise.

“If she does not, we will petition the court to have her removed as district attorney of Williamson County,” he said.

A group of about 20 people stood on the courthouse steps to show their support for Schwertner’s position.

Schwertner said he was asking for Duty’s resignation because of the recent sanction against her by the State Bar of Texas and also because she wasn’t showing up to work.

He said that Duty “admitted she was not truthful in statements she made to others, she admitted to violating a court order, she admitted to being dishonest and deceitful, and she admitted again knowingly making false statements to judges with reckless disregard for the truth.”

The State Bar put Duty on probation for 18 months beginning June 1 for unprofessional conduct.

[h/t Lawerence Person's Battleswarm Blog]

Read the whole thing here.

Bottom Line: Couldn't happen to a nicer 'human being'; we almost hope they're forced to sue for no other reason than to give her a couple hundred grand in legal bills on the way out the door....

State Bar places Jana Duty ON PROBATION!!!

"For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful
Have opened against me;
They have spoken against me with a lying tongue."
Psalm 109:2

The awful outgoing Williamson County DA, who first came to our attention when she tried to send some poor kid to prison for life for a couple pot brownies and subsequently got busted suppressing evidence in a capital murder trial, has gotten a small taste of what she so richly deserves:

The State Bar of Texas has placed Williamson County District Attorney Jana Duty on probation for 18 months. Duty will still be able to practice law but will have to comply with the terms of her probation. She was not immediately available for comment Monday.

The probation is for professional misconduct in connection to the Crispin Harmel case, according to a probated suspension judgment from the State Bar. It put Duty on probation starting June 1 and ending Nov. 30, 2017, according to its website.

A district judge ruled that Duty had withheld evidence in the case that ended in a mistrial.

[h/t: Lawerence Person's Battleswarm Blog]

Truthfully, she deserves far worse, but this is a start; read the whole thing here.

Duty lost in the March primary to (Cahnman's Musings endorsed) Shawn Dick; Dick will assume office in January.

Meet Williamson County D.A. Candidate Shawn Dick

"An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous,
And he who is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked."
Proverbs 29:27

We've written previously about the REPREHENSIBLE record of the incumbent District Attorney in Williamson County.  Her Republican primary opponent, Shawn Dick, held an event tonight in Austin.  We spoke with him briefly:



Highlights:

• Prosecutor for 10 years, defense attorney for 10 years.

• "I've had a lot of people ask me to run."

• Current D.A.: Lack of integrity, professionalism, ethics.
• Happens "everyday in big and small cases.

Learn more about the incumbent's record here; learn more about Shawn Dick here.

Venue shopping in evidence suppression case against Williamson County DA

"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."
Exodus 20:16

We'd forgotten about this case, but Jana Duty's chutzpah amazes:

Williamson County District Attorney Jana Duty wants Judge Rick Kennon off her case — literally.

The state district judge is seeking to hold Duty in contempt of court for what he says was a violation of a gag order, when Duty called reporters in May to defend herself against accusations of unethical behavior in the capital murder trial of Crispin Harmel.

In response to Kennon, Duty is expected to ask an administrative judge on Thursday to remove Kennon from presiding over her upcoming hearing on the matter, arguing that their strained relationship has more to do with their past dueling campaigns than it does with her actions.

....

Kennon has refused to recuse himself voluntarily and has declined comment because of the pending litigation.

Harmel is charged with strangling Jessika Kalaher in 2009 after following her out of a Wal-Mart in Cedar Park. His trial ended in a mistrial last year, and he was set to go before a jury a second time this spring until his counsel accused the district attorney’s office — mainly Duty — of withholding evidence.

The original article contains a timeline of important moments in the case, read the whole thing here.

Jana Duty Aids and Abets Evidence Suppression

"For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful
Have opened against me;
They have spoken against me with a lying tongue."
Psalm 109:2

While the Travis County District Attorney's office remains an embarrassment, our neighbor to the north continues to not do much better:

GEORGETOWN — The Williamson County district attorney’s office has fired back against accusations that it withheld evidence before a capital murder trial last year, according to court documents.

A former employee for the district attorney’s office could not have seen time stamps on a Wal-Mart surveillance video before the trial of Crispin Harmel — as alleged this week by the defense — because the video was played on a computer that did not have the correct software to show them, said Williamson County District Attorney Jana Duty in court documents filed Thursday.

Harmel’s case, which ended in a mistrial in May, was scheduled to be retried March 30.

....

Prosecutors gave the defense a copy of the video before the May 2014 trial without any time stamps on it, according to the documents. But Jernigan said prosecutors already knew about the time stamps because former investigator Royger Harris said, in an affidavit filed March 11, that the video had time stamps when he watched it with Duty before May 2013, according to the court filings.

Duty responded in court documents filed Thursday that the computer in her office on which Harris watched the video only recorded time on a “counter” and not on time stamps. A counter shows the amount of time it takes to record a video and not the actual time of day the video was recorded.

Read the whole thing here.

Jana Duty destroys another life

"He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?"
Micah 6:8

Remember Jana Duty?!?  She's authoritarian Williamson County DA most recently seen endorsing Dan Branch.  Looks like she's up to her old tricks:



Highlights:

• It's not about marijuana, it's about another form of the same drug.

• The weight of the chocolate is part of the "weight" of the illegal substance: "The weight of the chocolate including the Tupperware container was a little more than 50 grams. That's enough for a second degree felony charge. It nets two to 20 years in prison."

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Concerned citizens can contact Williamson County D.A. Jana Duty:
Email: jana@janaduty.com
Phone: 512-554-5678

Psychotic Authoritarian Drug Warriors for Dan Branch

May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,
And the tongue that speaks proud things,
Psalm 12:3

Last week, we told you about Williamson County District Attorney Jana Duty, who's attempting to lock up a 19 year old kid for life over a couple of pot brownies; look who she's supporting for Attorney General:

That Dan Branch chooses to broadcast an endorsement from an out of control District Attorney currently ruining a 19-year-old kid's life tells you everything you need to know about Dan Branch.

Miscarrying Justice in Williamson County

"He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?"
Micah 6:8

"I will bring honesty and integrity back to the D.A.'s office and seek justice above all else."
Williamson County District Attorney Jana Duty, Campaign Website [emphasis added]

This is outrageous:



Highlights:

• Hash oil is listed as a more serious offense under Texas law that regular pot.

• "A sexual assault or a manslaughter carries a maximum of twenty years, he's looking at much more than that."

• "Linked to the weight of the substance found, including any adulterants or dilutants.
• i.e. The weight of the brownie mix was factored into what he was charged with.

• You can have over 100 grams of pot and it's still a misdemeanor, but over a gram of hash oil and its a felony.

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Concerned Citizens can contact Williamson County District Attorney Jana Duty:

Email: jana@janaduty.com
Phone: 512-554-5678

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It gets better, WillCo D.A. actually ran for office on a platform of protecting citizens against prosecutorial abuse: