Whipped Cream Difficulties

Travis County DA Rosemary Lehmberg is out of jail.

Lehmberg, who was sentenced April 19, served half of her jail term under a law that gives two days credit for every day served for good behavior.

(I think that’s pretty much SOP, but I Am Not A Lawyer. Just want to make it clear that I don’t think she got any special treatment.)

“In the coming days, Rosemary will be making arrangements to seek professional treatment and better understand her behavior,” the statement said. “She will also meet with members of her staff with whom she been communicating throughout the last 3 weeks.”

Travis County DA Rosemary Lehmberg says she’s not going to run for re-election in 2016. She also says she plans to seek “professional help and guidance” once she’s released.

It may seem that I’ve been gloating about this case. I’m not. Truthfully, I feel bad for Ms. Lehmberg. I’m not an expert in substance abuse, but if she had blown a .09, I could chalk that up as the kind of mistake anyone could make. Driving around with a .239 BAC and an open bottle of vodka in the passenger seat makes me think there’s a problem. I respect Ms. Lehmberg for standing up and taking responsibility for her actions – including entering a guilty plea right away, rather than forcing a trial and all the conflicts that would result from her office prosecuting her. I think she’s doing the right thing by seeking professional help.

But I also feel that her actions have compromised the office. And as I’ve said before, the law is the law, and says she can be removed from office for intoxication. There’s no “good person” exception.

I hope Ms. Lehmberg gets help, and I hope she remains a respected member of the Travis County legal community. I hope she uses this experience to help other people in similar situations. But I believe she needs to do so as a defense lawyer, not as an elected prosecutor.

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Lehmberg had been placed in an isolation cell for protective custody but she refused several orders to stop kicking the cell door and was put in “the emergency restraint chair,” the records say.

More:

According to an inmate incident report, Lehmberg also resisted a pat-down, refused to comply with officers, tried to scratch and grab an officer’s hand and yelled.
She was handcuffed and “leg-ironed,” according to the report.

And updating: in addition to the 45 days in jail, she was fined $4,000 and her license has been suspended for 180 days.

I know what you’re wondering: who will run the show while she’s doing hard time? Answer: “operational aspects of the office will be handled by senior staff“.

But DA Lehmberg isn’t the only local DA who has run aground on the shoals of the law. And at least she didn’t hurt anybody.

Former Williamson County District Attorney Ken Anderson was ordered arrested and booked into jail for the “intentionally harmful act” of hiding favorable evidence to secure Michael Morton’s 1987 conviction for murder, the court of inquiry found.
“This court cannot think of a more intentionally harmful act than a prosecutor’s conscious choice to hide mitigating evidence so as to create an uneven playing field for a defendant facing a murder charge and a life sentence,” District Judge Louis Sturns ruled.

I did not write a lot about the Michael Morton case and the court of inquiry into Anderson’s conduct because…well, I was a little distracted at the time, the case is complex, and it was being well covered by other people. Texas Monthly did a two-part series on the case itself, and covered the court of inquiry as well.

The short version of the story: Morton came home from work one day in 1986 and found his wife had been murdered. Morton was charged with and convicted of her murder, and served 25 years in prison. In 2011, DNA testing established another man committed the crime: Morton was released from prison, exonerated, and the other man was convicted of the murder in late March of this year. During the proceedings leading to Morton’s release, there were accusations that Anderson and the Williamson County DA’s office had intentionally withheld evidence from Morton and his defense during the original murder trial: these accusations resulted in the court of inquiry and the charges against Anderson.

Not Boston: Travis County DA Rosesmary Lehmberg has pled guilty to DWI and been sentenced to 45 days in jail.

The Statesman reports she had a 0.23 BAC when she was stopped. The significance of this:

First-offense drunken driving is a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by as much as six months in jail and a $2,000 fine. But last legislative session, lawmakers upped the charge to a Class A misdemeanor if a suspect’s breath or blood test shows a blood alcohol level of 0.15 or above. A Class A misdemeanor carries a sentence of up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.