Some of you know Scott Durfee as the guy who lectures us at the Annual Update or at the State Bar's criminal law seminar. Some of you know him as the General Counsel for the DA of Harris County. Others, of course, the lucky ones, know him as the extremely talented keyboardist for not only the TDCAA band, A.P. and the Lesser Includeds, but for the first (at least in Texas) prosecutor band Death By Injection.

It was nice today to see the Houston Chronicle give Scott a big, well-deserved shout out in their editorial complaining against the creation of a public information office at the HCDA's office.

Without regard to my opinion on the Chronicle's opinion of the issue of the public information office creation, I thought it was very nice for the Chronicle Editors to compliment our collegue and my bandmate.

"Magidson insists that this procedural change will not restrict the flow of information, but how could it not? The flow of information will be restricted to a single channel. His general counsel, Scott Durfee, who is acting as the office's spokesman until the press division is created, said access to assistant district attorneys will be limited. Durfee himself has been among the most accessible employees of the district attorney's office. It will be a loss to the public's right to know if Durfee, a bank of institutional memory, is muzzled by the new media policy."

Here's the link:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/5769222.html

For a contrasting view, here's what prosecutorial blogger AHCL has to say about the editorial:

http://harriscountycriminaljustice.blogspot.com/2008/05/cry-me-river.html

Scott "bank of institutional memory" Durfee

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Originally posted by David Newell:
Scott "bank of institutional memory" Durfee

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Which, ironically, is also true regarding his musical knowledge. Musically speaking, he has the sensibilities of a classically trained pianist, the rough edges of a New Orleans Bourbon Street blues piano wailer, and the inventiveness of the 60's and 70's english keyboardists who blazed new trails in rock and roll.

In keyboard talk, a bank is a group of sounds kept in the instrument memory (i.e. piano, organ, synth, etc) that are available for the keyboardist to use. Those who know Scott musically also know that his musical knowledge runs through many musical genres, and thus David's suggested nickname of BOIM shall be a good one.

And BOIM is a much better nickname than "The Muzzled One".

Pardon me, but since when did the media have the right to talk to any employee at any time? In an office of any size, and certainly in an office the size of Harris County, it is important that there be a single point of contact for media. Narrowing the initial point of contact does not necessarily mean that there is less information going out. It only means that there is some organized flow of that information.

There are also ethical considerations when an attorney talks to the press. Minimizing the point of contact can help make sure there aren't any rules violations.

And BOIM is much better than "flak" (the Chronicle's proposed nickname).

[This message was edited by David Newell on 05-11-08 at .]

Almost a quarter of a million bucks to fund a PIO? What problem does this fix? How did they manage all these years without one?

Perhaps they didn't manage.

I guess it's more of "didn't manage." Our office has three attorneys-- one who does only civil, and one who splits civil and criminal. The split attorney spends the majority of his time responding to open records requests for the courthouse. They are usually long, and vague, and time consuming.

They may need someone to respond to policy questions, but the trial prosecutors should still be allowed to make statements and respond to questions following a verdict.

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Originally posted by Ken Sparks:
They may need someone to respond to policy questions, but the trial prosecutors should still be allowed to make statements and respond to questions following a verdict.

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Agree with Ken, but I realize that most governmental or corporate entities the size of Harris County do have a spokesperson. Still, I think the trial prosecutors should be allowed to make statements and answer questions at the end of a trial, particularly one where the defense tries their case to the media before and during trial while the State "no comments".

Perhaps the best lecture I have heard on the subject was ten years ago by then-Union County Soliciter Tommy Pope, who lectured a group of us at the NAC in Columbia, South Carolina on his experiences during the Susan Smith trial.

My personal opinion is that prosecutors do their best prosecuting when they are not distracted by counter-spinning their case in the media. Our policy is that no one (not even the elected DA) comments through a public interview on a case when it is pending.

By having such a policy, the media, over time, does actually avoid approaching lawyers and asking questions or expecting answers before and during trial.

We may be naive, but I must say that defense attorneys in WC do a pretty good job of staying away from inflammatory comments as well, at least before and during trial. There is the occasional big city lawyer who works to spin the case throughout trial. Even then, we work to make our case in court speak for us.

That means that, at least immediately before and during trial, the media makes it sound like the case is all in favor of the defendant. And then the verdict speaks a different story. That is a good moment. It also means that the media is much more likely to tell the story at the end that is told by the prosecutor. History is told by the winner.

Harris Co. DA gets OK to create public information office

Cost to county is expected to be $270,000 a year
By LIZ AUSTIN PETERSON
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

On the heels of unprecedented scrutiny of the Harris County District Attorney's Office, interim District Attorney Ken Magidson won approval from Commissioners Court on Tuesday to create a public information office at a cost of about $270,000 a year.

In documents submitted to the court, Magidson said the office's current policy of allowing investigators and assistant district attorneys to talk directly with the media has become difficult to supervise. He described his plan for a public information attorney and public information officer to serve as the "face and voice" of the office in his absence and said they would serve as the liaison between the news media and the staff.


Details.