Last week, the Third Court of Appeals, in an opinion written by the former presiding judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals, held that Jack Warren Davis was fairly convicted for the capital murder of an innocent woman. What makes the case so very amazing, is that very few people ever thought justice would be achieved. I want prosecutors to know about that case and applaud the hard, dedicated work of Lisa Tanner, a special prosecutor who works for the prosecutor assistance division of the Attorney General's Office.

Jack Davis was convicted and sentenced to life in prison over a decade ago. But, the DNA and blood evidence in the case was the subject of testimony by another criminal: Fred Zain, the alleged expert state witness.

As many of you may recall, Zain proved to be a charlatan. He wasn't an expert. He was more of a braggart.

So, the case blew up. National TV shows came in and pointed fingers. Suddenly, Davis was an innocent man railroaded into prison. Several prosecutors stepped aside for various reasons.

And then Lisa Tanner stepped up to the plate. She worked the case all over again. She had to remove all the Zain taint and get blood and DNA evidence fairly admitted without any reference to his work.

And, she had to deal with the ego of Stanley Schneider, a well-known criminal defense attorney, who had gotten the case reversed for the Zain misconduct.

Well, she did. But she faced great odds on direct appeal. Was it possible to go back and recreate a crime scene after all the Zain problems? Again and again during trial Schneider tried to resurrect Zain, making him the bogeyman.

The jury convicted and Davis was resentenced to life in prison. And last week, the Third Court of Appeals paid Lisa the ultimate comment: they quoted extensively from her brief in summarizing the facts of the case. They found her work in authenticating the evidence proper. (And they gave the defense attorney on appeal a virtual spanking for his poor briefing.)

This case makes me very proud to be a prosecutor. It makes me believe that we can and will ride through the current media blitz against law enforcement. Because there are prosecutors who do the right thing, regardless of the potential consequences. Good job, Lisa.

Lisa Tanner has been a friend since law school. She is just awesome. She prosecuted a cop who was a child abuse investigator who was later found to have molested a kid himself. Seeing her name attached to high quality work is no surprise. The rest of the Special Prosecution division isn't too shabby, either. Eagles tend to associate with other eagles.

When Lisa (as an ADA) had a trial going in court, I always wanted to watch at least part of it, because she does such good work and you can always learn something watching her. She is a PROSECUTOR and has a bulldog attitude that is just great. It is nice to know others share my heartfelt opinion.