Pubdate: Sat, 12 Aug 2000
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 2000 Houston Chronicle
Contact:  Viewpoints Editor, P.O. Box 4260 Houston, Texas 77210-4260
Fax: (713) 220-3575
Website: http://www.chron.com/
Forum: http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html
Author: Steve Brewer
Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1150/a10.html

PROSECUTOR'S REMARK DRAWS ANGER, APOLOGY

A Harris County prosecutor apologized Friday for a remark he made about an 
appellate court ruling that angered a group of local defense lawyers.

Calvin Hartmann, the chief of the appellate division of the Harris County 
district attorney's office, said he did not intend to insult or intimidate 
a panel of 14th Court of Appeals justices who overturned a conviction 
against Robert Demond Lavern.

Lavern was a drug dealer involved in a 1998 gunfight with two undercover 
Houston police officers that left one of them partially paralyzed.

The appellate panel ruled Thursday that one of the convictions against 
Lavern involving the aggravated assault on a public servant must be 
overturned because jurors in one of his trials were not given a special 
instruction on self-defense.

Hartmann told the Chronicle on Thursday that the ruling might not bode well 
for officers who do undercover work and in the process he cracked: "If I 
was a police officer, I might think twice about drawing a gun to protect 
those judges."

Richard Frankoff, the president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers 
Association, said his organization was considering filing a grievance with 
the State Bar of Texas.

"This was an absolutely outrageous comment, totally unprofessional and 
maybe unethical," Frankoff said. "We're taking a real serious look at this 
... . This is almost an intimidation of the judges."

Hartmann said Friday he was only trying to make a point about how officers 
would see the ruling, considering that the case against Lavern involved an 
assault on public servants and judges are public servants. But he added 
that his mention of the justices in that context was probably unwise.

"I think people misread the statement," Hartmann said. "The statement was 
not intended to state that anybody should go shooting up judges or that 
police should not perform their duties in protecting judges."

Hartmann said he was trying to say that the opinion might be sending a bad 
message to police officers about when they have the right to draw their 
weapons.

"Clearly, I'm sorry that the statement might have been misconstrued," 
Hartmann said. "It bothers me to think that people would think I was saying 
anything else ... . If a public apology is necessary, please construe this 
as a public apology."

Harris County District Attorney John B. Holmes Jr., who himself has a 
penchant for remarks that can inflame, said he met with Hartmann after 
seeing the quote in the newspaper.

Holmes said he feels lawyers have freedom of speech rights and an 
obligation to comment on the quality of the judiciary, but he was concerned 
about the remark because it appeared to hint at some kind of retribution.

"It read bad," Holmes said, "but when he explained it to me I understood 
what he meant to say ... . He explained to me what he was trying to 
communicate, and I'm satisfied with that. I regret what he said, and I 
think he does, too."
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