Although I am a veteran prosecutor, even I sometimes am surprised by the heinous and senseless nature of some crimes.

Of all the places one could work as a convenience store clerk without fear of being killed simply for trying to support one's family, I would think Scotland, Texas would be near the top of the list. I've never been to this town of 500 people, but as a native Texan, I've been to many towns like it. And as a prosecutor, I like to think that the people in these small towns get to live life without some of the fears of falling victim to violent crime that plague those of us who live in larger towns and cities.

And some critics wonder why the school board of a tiny Texas school district voted last week to allow properly qualified teachers to carry concealed weapons on the job...

On Friday, in a small town in North Texas called Scotland, the kind of place one hardly expects an aggravated robbery and abduction and likely murder of a convenience store clerk to occur, the abduction of a young woman named Mindy was filmed. In the Fort Worth paper today, the authorities announce they believe they have found her body.

Our work as prosecutors in fighting violent crime by locking up, for as long as possible, violent criminals, has never been more important than it is today.

"DALLAS -- A man suspected in the videotaped abduction of a Texas grocery store clerk led investigators Saturday to a body about 50 miles from the small town where the woman went missing, authorities said.

Mindy Daffern, 46, has been missing since Friday, when surveillance footage last showed her being confronted at gunpoint by an unmasked man who walked the clerk outside the north Texas store.

"Right now, we're 99 percent sure it's her," Archer County Sheriff Ed Daniels told The Associated Press about the body.

Daffern worked at store in the small town of Scotland, a town of fewer than 500 people. The body was found in a remote area about 50 miles from Scotland, near the town of Sunset.

Wallace Bowman Jr., 30, of Bowie, gave a statement to Texas Rangers and led authorities to the body, Daniels said."

Here is the rest of the sad story:

http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/838011.html

And now we know the body of poor Mindy Daffern has been located.

For those who feel the parole system is working, or who feel that Texas doesn't need to be so hardcore on sex offenders, this case is yet another example of the failure of both of those theories. Likewise, this case illustrates the often seen failure of the probation system.

This is one of the ones we need to be scared of.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/08/17/clerk.abducted.ap/index.html

Court records show Bowman was sentenced in 1997 to seven years for aggravated sexual assault and failed to register as a sex offender in 2004. Bowman was placed on probation after being convicted for burglary in 1996, according to court records.

Prayers and condolences for the family of Mindy Daffern.

Greg Gilleland, et al:

Please know that folks like yourself, John Bradley (Williamson County), Ted Wilson (Harris County), Rebecca Gibson (somewhere lost in the Permian Basin--you can come back Becca!), Larry Bloomquist (Hays County), Scott Simpson (Bexar County), many of our local prosecutors here in Guadalupe county, and countless other prosecutors are silently talked about, referred to, and truly appreciated for the incredible jobs you all do and the leadership roles you all assume. Accept it or not, you folks set the overall tone for the entire criminal justice community in your jurisdictions.

The simple fact that you took the time recognize Mindy Daffern and her family is a testament to who you are. Each post that goes up in these forums attaches some vulnerability simply because you are sharing a little bit about who you are and what you believe in. There is an unmeasurable, but very real, effect that stirs motivation and commitment in me when I see posts like yours. Our jobs come back to, "If it were easy, anybody could do it." My hat is off to those of you prosecutors who take the time to listen, challenge, motivate, discuss, share, and participate in a team effort to see that accountability and justice are achieved.

Thanks Craig. That is one of the nicest compliments I have ever received. Just to be mentioned in the same paragraph with those legendary prosecutors is a huge compliment.

But seriously, I place myself and my efforts behind those of the men and women who wear the badge that means you care. I couldn't do my job without the dedicated work of numerous police officers and their unsworn co-workers. In fact, I have always credited the excellent DA investigators that I have been priviledged to serve with for the past 18 years for every victory I have been able to acheive for victims. Investigators like David Lewis and Herb Owens and the fine investigators who have served under them.

Cases like this murder of Mindy Daffern shake the bedrock of everything this Texas boy holds near and dear.

My first thought was that the criminal was probably some big city punk just passing through. But this guy was from a neighboring small town. That's pretty rare.......or at least it used to be.

Call me old fashioned, but I'm starting to give more credence to the old notion that TV (and other modern media) should bear a certain amount of the blame. Back in the Stone Age, we had 3 TV stations and kids grew up on a steady diet of Father Knows Best and Andy Griffith. The worst violence we ever saw was in westerns or war movies, and then it was only the sanitized killing of bad guys - and always in self-defense. I'm sure there have been kidnap/rape/kill cases since the beginning of time, but I'm guessing the idea of doing something like this would pop up in fewer people's heads if they weren't exposed to it daily since birth.

Please excuse the rantings of the senile.

My first thought, John, was crackhead or methfreak, then I found out he was a sex offender. He needs the needle.