Mark Bennett | June 14, 2008
Given that Americans’ second most common justification for the death penalty’s fairness is its provision of “satisfaction and closure” to the victim’s loved ones, it’s astounding to me that Kelly Siegler (“Prosecutor-for-Hire”, according to her tagline) admits in a blog post that there’s no such thing as closure (H/T AHCL). A successful death penalty prosecutor […]
Mark Bennett | May 10, 2008
Kelly Siegler, having left the Harris County DA’s Office, will be working as a special prosecutor on a capital murder case in Wharton County. My admittedly cursory legal research on the question hasn’t revealed legal authority for anyone other than an assistant attorney general to assist in the prosecution of criminal cases, unless the district […]
Mark Bennett | April 8, 2008
Pat Lykos, clearly the less-qualified candidate for Harris County District Attorney, has beaten Kelly Siegler, the champion of the Office’s old guard, in the Republican primary. And so the Holmes-Rosenthal era ends: not with a bang but with a whimper. We defense lawyers have reached no consensus on whether this will improve our lives or […]
Mark Bennett | April 2, 2008
I’m glad the Harris County DA’s race is almost over. Partisan politics and offices in the criminal justice really shouldn’t mix. In this election, both sides have tried to deceive the public. Over at the Elect Kelly Siegler Kelly Blog you can read about Pat Lykos’s deceptions; here’s one from Siegler’s campaign. Kelly Siegler’s campaign […]
Mark Bennett | March 24, 2008
When I pointed yesterday to the fact that Kelly Siegler’s advice to other prosecutors to “make people afraid” it was intended to be a Sunday-afternoon placeholder until I had time to deal with Kelly’s admonishment in more depth. Judge Caprice Cosper says that there are people whom we punish because we’re mad at them, and people […]
Mark Bennett | March 23, 2008
The Chronicle reports that, “in a 2002 trial skills presentation in Austin, [Harris County DA candidate Kelly] Siegler’s worksheet on final arguments included, ‘Make jury afraid.’”
Mark Bennett | March 22, 2008
Anonymous blogger AHCL writes a critique of my mood: He’s darker. More angry. More morose. .… Where he starts getting mean is in the comments. he argues that Kelly Siegler “bought” Steven Hotze’s support. he states he thinks its “fair” for Kelly to pay for Chuck’s sins (obviously not thinking that “mere presence” applies when […]
Mark Bennett | March 19, 2008
Kelly Siegler is behind 4–1 in the informal poll I’ve conducted down at the courthouse this week of people whose continued employment doesn’t depend on Kelly Siegler’s election. • A former Harris County prosecutor (now a prosecutor elsewhere) who served in Judge Lykos’s court would vote for Pat Lykos over Kelly Siegler, whom he describes […]
Mark Bennett | March 17, 2008
There are many reasons people commit crimes: addiction, anger, avarice, arrogance, fear, ignorance, and disease, to name just a few. Typically more than one reason can be identified for the commission of a particular crime. Addiction and avarice, for example, or ignorance and fear. Arrogance can cause crime if a person know that the rules apply […]
Mark Bennett | March 13, 2008
I had an email conversation recently with a friend who’s a prosecutor. I wrote: Our next DA needs to know that he or she is not part of a dynasty, is only temporary, is human and fallible, and answers ultimately to the families of the accused, who greatly outnumber the families of the victims. He wrote: […]
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