Have a case involving Mexican Mafia, got a guilty verdict. Is retaliation a concern? I have heard various opinions. I generally feel that they have bigger and more important things to do, and they would not want to bring down alot of attention on themselves. But would like to hear alot of opinions from others. The jury was freeked out. I am really worried for the witness.

Congratulations on your guilty verdict, Mr. Smith!

Every prosecutor looks over his or her should for a week or so after a verdict in a tough case. Particularly so when the defendant is part of a gang.

Amazingly, though, the person who must most worry for their safety is the defense attorney, followed by the judge, followed by the victim, if still living. Prosecutors are pretty far down the food chain in American justice.

Not to try to raise an old conflict, but I feel this subject would be best discussed in a secure on-line forum or listserve, via email or at a seminar. Bad guys have internet access too. And we already know lots of folks that are not prosecutors or law enforcement officers read this site regularly.

I'm not slamming you, Larry, and I hope this doesn't offend you because it is certainly not intended to. It has been bantered about before on this board, but I think a secure area on this site for non-electeds to share concerns such as these, leaving these public threads intact, is a need.

As a former law enforcement officer myself, I try to always consider security in all aspects of my life. Thankfully, I have two wonderful men, Deputy Sheriff Victor Slanina and D.A. Investigator extraordinare David Lewis, to watch my back while I am in trial. In our county, we have enough violent crime that 90% of our defendants going to trial are "real bad dudes/dudettes".

[This message was edited by Greg Gilleland on 06-15-06 at .]

[This message was edited by Greg Gilleland on 06-16-06 at .]

Dang Greg I thought Bastrop looked like such a nice peaceful town! Are there any small towns in Texas that aren't having problems with gangs?

John Bradley wrote, "Prosecutors are pretty far down the food chain in American justice." I hope John is right. He is certainly in a better position to know than a creaky and cranky old county attorney. But consider these three developments.

a. A military prosecutor who worked for me in years gone by had a previous "food chain" encounter. The defendant he just convicted burst into the prosecutor's office and fired off two rounds, one of which barely grazed his head and lodged in the prosecutor's law school diploma, where I'm told it still rests to this day.

b. At a military base in Washington state, an airman was discharged because of a mental diagnosis. The next day, the airman calmly walked into the psych ward and murdered the psychiatrist. An armed security police officer on bicycle patrol heard the radio traffic, saw the airman fleeing, got down on one knee, and shot the fleeing murderer in the head at 50 yards with a Beretta 9mm pistol.

c. From TDCAA 2005 Legislative Note: "HB 2110 added district attorneys, criminal district attorneys, and county attorneys who are licensed to carry a concealed handgun to the list of people exempted from prosecution under 46.02 and 46.03..." "This change was brought about after the Smith County Courthouse shootout in Tyler in February 2005." Apparently some of our brethren and legislators felt a modicum of "food chain" protection for prosecutors might be prudent, and I thank them for it. Especially when our entire CA staff of two souls are isolated on the third floor of the courthouse, and the nearest LEO is across the street and then must climb up 54 stair steps to get to our office (elevator broken for 9 months now,) and even then, the only available deputy is out somewhere running radar.

It was great that the legislature added elected DA's & CA's to the list of "licensed to carry" but they forgot to include us Assistants in the list. Since we are the ones seeing most of the courtroom time, it would seem to me we warrant a little protection too.

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Originally posted by Paul Houston:
It was great that the legislature added elected DA's & CA's to the list of "licensed to carry" but they forgot to include us Assistants in the list. Since we are the ones seeing most of the courtroom time, it would seem to me we warrant a little protection too.

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Has there been any renewed interest or push to add ADAs and ACAs to the list?

I think not, WB. We are getting some documented MS13 overflow, as is Guadalupe and San Marcos. Too much heat in San Antonio for them. We recently had some well known california members of other gangs in our jail as well on minor charges.

I met with the feds recently about this problem, and they are really stepping up to the plate here in the Western District as far as firearms prosecutions.

The word is that these gangbangers are moving to smaller areas, knowing LE budgets are less, in an attempt to avoid the attention they receive in larger cities.

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Originally posted by warnerbee:
Dang Greg I thought Bastrop looked like such a nice peaceful town! Are there any small towns in Texas that aren't having problems with gangs?

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Larry's just trying to find a way to make us start letting him car pool with us again. We banned him. Told him is was for our safety, but really it's b/c we got tired of listening to talk about that case, both before and after.

(In all seriousness, LB did an awesome job. I just won't tell him that to his face. Doorways in our office are barely wide enough for his head as we speak.)

How is Bexar County scaring the gangs into our little towns? Are there any small towns who have used restaining orders and injunctions against the gangs that I read about the bigger jurisdictions using? If I survive my first set of organized crime cases involving a murder of an x member ( see I still don't know the lingo...sounds like "ecke") I'd sure like to see TDCAA add this to our training. My Judges know less than I do which is pretty scary. Thanks gang prosecutors in Nueces and Victoria for sharing your knowledge.