Whipped Cream Difficulties

The Texas Rangers searched the Harris County DA’s office yesterday, and took documents and computers with them.

DA Lykos says she asked the Rangers to investigate, and promised full cooperation.

More on this when we know more. Don’t hold your breath; you’ll just turn an unattractive shade of blue.

There isn’t a whole lot known at this point, but various news sources are reporting that the Texas Rangers and FBI are questioning staff members at the Harris County DA’s office.

Both the HouChron and KTRK are reporting that the questioning allegedly involves the DA’s investigation into the grand jury, and not the BAT vans that the grand jury was investigating.

More on this when we know more.

More 185th Grand Jury stuff:

Lykos and her defenders were claiming they didn’t do anything out of the ordinary; they were just Googling folks, which, after all, anyone can do.

Not quite. It seems that the Harris County DA’s investigator also used something called Accurint. Accurint is not a publicly accessible system; it is a service that the county pays for, and which requires that you certify a “permissible use” before obtaining information. Defense attorney Mark Bennett has more about Accurint over at his blog, “Defending People”, which I commend to your attention.

And, of course, The Hon. Murray Newman is on the case as well.

The 185th Grand Jury – that would be the one investigating the Harris County DA’s office – ended their term today. (Previously: here, here, here, here, and here.)

And?

No indictments. But the grand jury is not pleased with the DA’s office:

[Grand jury foreman Trisha] Pollard signed off on a one-page report blasting the DA’s office for “unexpected resistance” and accusing the office of launching an investigation into the grand jurors, the special prosecutors and judges.
The grand jury also harshly criticized Rachel Palmer, a prosecutor who invoked her fifth amendment right to refuse to testify.
“The stain upon the HCDAO will remain regardless of any media statements issued or press conferences issued by anyone,” according to the statement.

The current Chron article is a bit short; I expect a longer version later today. Murray Newman had a good piece up this morning with his predictions; I would expect commentary from him once he’s had a chance to read and digest the grand jury report.

Edited to add: The Hon. Mr. Newman has the statement, and his thoughts, up over at his blog.

Edited to add 2/1: Longer story from the HouChron. Note the fine copy editing (which I hope will be fixed when you see it):

We have previously covered the grand jury investigation into the Harris County DA’s Office. We have not posted on this in a while, mostly because up until the past few days, there was not much going on.

The latest development is that prosecutor Rachel Palmer was summoned to appear before the grand jury and refused to answer questions.

This Lisa Falkenberg column contains a good summary of the most recent developments. And The Hon. Murray Newman is still all over this as well.

Previously on “As The Grand Jury Turns”, two prosecutors and two court reporters were summoned before a judge to answer contempt of court charges. Specifically, the two prosecutors are accused of obtaining transcripts of confidential proceedings from a grand jury that is investigating the DA’s office; the court reporters are (as far as we can tell) accused of being the ones who gave the prosecutors the transcripts.

Anyway, the hearing was today, and…the judge in the contempt case ended up having to recuse herself, as she may be called as a witness in the contempt case as well.

Chalk up another point for The Hon. Murray Newman.