Special Prosecutor
| Submitted | Oct. 9, 2024 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Bernadette Feazell
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Texas Public Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
I am requesting all cases that the District Attorney's office has recused themselves on and requested special prosecutors be appointed, as well as the amount that McLennan County has paid the special prosecutors. This request includes cases that have been completed and cases that have not been set for trial or disposition as of today 10/09/2024.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Bernadette Feazell
From: Mclennan County Administrator Dustin Chapman
Good morning,
I will forward this request to the DA’s Office and to the Auditor’s Office.
Thank you
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~WRD2731
From: Mclennan County Administrator Dustin Chapman
Do you have a timeframe for this request?
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~WRD2291
From: Mclennan County Administrator Dustin Chapman
Good morning,
Please see the attached information provided by the DA’s Office and the below note from the Auditor’s Office.
There are no isolated costs associated with recusals to provide for this request.
Thank you
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~WRD0002
From: Bernadette Feazell
This does not tell me the names of the special prosecutors, it does not tell me how much was spent on the special prosecutors either. Please supply those to me as the Public certainly has a right to know how much money goes to special prosecutors who put their names on these cases.
From: Mclennan County Administrator Dustin Chapman
Good morning,
I have forwarded this to the DA’s Office and the Auditor’s Office.
Thank you
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~WRD1436
From: Mclennan County Administrator Dustin Chapman
Please see the below:
From Josh Tetens:
You would have to lookup each case at the District Clerks Offices to check the appointments...we do not have a list other than what was already sent.
Thanks,
JT
To my knowledge there's nothing spent on a Special Prosecutor...they're treated just as if they were a prosecutor in our office.
-JT
From Jon Gimble:
Further information about appointed prosecutors in cases where the DA's Office has been recused can be found either of the following ways:
1. Online - shows an index of documents filed, but doesn't have images associated with the events. Found here<https://mclennan.edoctec.com/McLennanDCWeb/start.aspx>
2. Public Computers outside of DC office - access to case management system with complete indexes and images
3) you would need to use the cause numbers previously provided to find the cases and then find the document in the case where the special prosecutor is appointed.--MWD
The documents are labeled something like Order appointing Attorney Pro-Tem on case of DA's Recusal.
__________________
On your below request, it would be possible to use the public terminals in the hall by the District Clerk's Office and manually go through cases to see what attorneys are assigned to cases by cross-referencing the list already provided with the case numbers, pulling up the case, and looking for the appointment of the special prosecutor. There is no existing report that can be run to provide this information.
There is no known cost to McLennan County for assigned prosecutors in recusal cases. This appears to be a professional courtesy extended between prosecutors. The County Auditor has no record of payments to special prosecutors.
Thank you
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image001
From: Bernadette Feazell
Can you please forward this request to FRANCES again??? We need to know how much has been spend on special prosecutors. You can't tell me that these people do things for FREE?
-B
From: Bernadette Feazell
What are the names of the Special Prosecutors? Do you just read the first line or is this on purpose. You have 18 pages of cases and no names of the Special Prosecutors who I suspect threw them out for you........
From: Mclennan County Administrator Dustin Chapman
Good morning,
I asked Mike Dixon to review your follow-up requests. Please see his response below, followed by Frances’.
Thank you
From Mike:
Dustin, as explained before, that is how the information is maintained. A requestor would have to use the public computers at the Clerk’s Office to find the case by the case number and then look for the order appointing the special prosecutor to be able to get the name of the special prosecutor. The County does not have a way to run a report for this information. I have checked into this with the District Clerk.
As to the payment issue (to the special prosecutors), I know Frances has no records of such payments, but please check with the DA’s Office to make sure are not paid out of forfeiture account or some special state program. Ask them if they get paid for their prosecutors when they cover in another county.
From Frances:
There are no explicit expenditures related to these since the cases are absorbed by the DA's office. It would be embedded in all of their salaries and office expenses.
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~WRD2701