By Rob Kepple
TDCAA Executive Director in Austin
As you have seen over the last few years, the Texas Legislative Council has been busy updating and rewriting many of Texas’s antiquated codes, including the Code of Criminal Procedure. The project has a noble purpose, as we can all agree that much like our garages, reorganization can really help find useful stuff. The only rule: Don’t throw anything out, meaning, in the end, there should be no substantive changes. The reorganization does lead to some changes, such as the venerable term “3g” now being referred to as Article 42A.054, but it’s for the greater good, right?
In 2023 the legislature went all-in on numerous reorganizations of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Chapters 2, 13, 31, 45, and 55 were all rewritten, and they re-emerge on January 1, 2025, as chapters 2A, 2B, 13A, 31A, 45A, and 55A. A major complicating factor: The goal of making “non-substantive” changes did not stop the legislature from making numerous substantive changes to the original chapters, and those differences must be given their due consideration when applying the law. And on top of all that, the many special sessions in 2023 led to some substantive changes that took effect in 2024, rather than in 2023 as would normally happen.
So how on earth can one ever figure all this out? Who could possibly help? Enter Diane Beckham, TDCAA’s Publications Director and Queen of the Codebook. Given the huge number of changes, she produced and published a version of the Code of Criminal Procedure that contains the changes effective in 2024 and 2025. (It is available now for purchase at TDCAA.com.) Indeed, the book is so valuable that the Court of Criminal Appeals has allowed us to send one copy to every prosecutor office in the state—meaning, someone in your office already has it on his desk! If you want your very own, you can order it by visiting our website.
National Association of Prosecutor Coordinators
The National Association of Prosecutor Coordinators (NAPC) is the national group of people who do what TDCAA does: serve state prosecutors. Naturally, there are 50 members, one for each state, and we gather twice a year to discuss training, national trends, and the challenges that face state prosecutors. Another very important part of what we do is helping each other’s members when they are having trouble. For instance, our friends in Washington recently needed help with an Article IV prosecution; that is where a Mexican citizen will be tried in Mexico for a crime committed in the United States, all based on documentation provided by U.S. prosecutors (in this case, from Washington). The Washingtonians called TDCAA, and I was able to hook them up with prosecutors in El Paso, who are skilled at Article IV prosecutions.
But it works the other way too. Do you need jail records or pen packets from another state but are having a hard time with the out-of-state clerks? Do you need to interview a witness in Ohio? Are you looking for a witness in New York? We can make the connections for you. Just call us here at TDCAA. And I can tell you our counterparts are more than happy to help out. And heck, if we need to go to Hawaii for you, we will be more than happy to go above and beyond that way!
Is student loan forgiveness back?
Student loan forgiveness has been a real rollercoaster in the last couple decades. In the early 2000s, the John R. Justice Act promised a strong national response to the student debt problems that faced state prosecutors, but funding evaporated and Texas abandoned the program. Later, the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness program seemed like a great deal, but many folks struggled with the paperwork hurdles.
We may be on the upswing here, and if you have loans it may be worth looking into. The current presidential administration has just announced another round of loan forgiveness, including $1.2 billion in public service loans. You can check it out at www.cbsnews.com/news/ biden-administration-student-loan-forgiveness-1-2-billion-who-qualifies. In addition, I have been hearing that the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program has again ramped up, and some prosecutors are seeing their loans forgiven after 10 years of service. That may be worth checking out at www.laurelroad.com/public-service-loan-forgiveness/what-is-public-service-loan-forgiveness-program.
“Chris Spendlove’s rookie year”
The June 2024 edition of the Texas Bar Journal featured an article about a newly minted assistant prosecutor in McLennan County titled, “Chris Spendlove’s Rookie Year.” The journal spent quite some time following Chris, a recent Baylor Law School graduate, as he got his feet wet at the office, in the courtroom, and at a TDCAA conference. When you read the article, much of it will resonate with you, whether you have been a prosecutor one year or 30. But what comes through is the passion to serve his community and be a positive force. “I want to inspire my kids with what I do,” he tells the reporter in the story. “A big part of the reason why I took the job is to show them that you can have a career as a public servant and do a lot of good.”
Good for you, Chris—and all the new prosecutors you represent!
Texas Crime Lab Records Connect
In 2023 the legislature funded an ambitious project at the Department of Public Safety (DPS) Crime Lab to make forensic crime lab records accessible to both the prosecution and defense online. The purpose was to streamline discovery for all parties involved. The lab is working diligently to get the program up and running, with no firm start date yet; however, they did share their first newsletter in July HERE. They do make one suggestion, and that is how to pronounce their acronym, TCLRC. They prefer “Texas Clear Connect.” I say we have our own contest on how to say it. I like “Tickle Wreck.” Your thoughts?
A longtime prosecutor retires
Kerye Ashmore, the longtime first assistant CDA in Grayson County, hung up his hat in July. He started his career in prosecution in 1983 as an ADA in Lamar County, eventually being elected DA of that county for a term before taking on the first assistant job in Grayson County. He had served in that capacity under two administrations, Joe Brown and current DA J. Brett Smith, since 2004. In all, he worked in prosecution just over 40 years. Amazing!
His boss, Brett Smith, shared that Kerye tried more than 350 felony jury trials to verdict, including seven death sentences, more than 75 life sentences, and 70-plus sentences over 40 years. Brett remembered his own experience working with Kerye as incredibly rewarding and life-changing. In his first murder trial in 2008, where the two of them had certified a very troubled juvenile offender as an adult, “Kerye Ashmore ‘held my hand’ during the entire process, walking me through investigation, legal theories, filing, and of course, he sat second chair during the trial,” Brett tells us. They secured a guilty verdict, and the jury handed the offender 99 years.
“I will never forget coming into the work the following Monday thinking I was the cat’s meow,” Brett says. “I walked into Kerye’s office, where he promptly congratulated me on the victory and then handed me a large stack of files, including another murder case, and told me to get back to work. Frankly, I was a bit set back and shocked. It took me a long time to understand his paternal motivation, but to this day I never forgot the lessons learned: 1) You are only as good as your next endeavor, 2) you cannot rest on your laurels, and 3) success can inflate an ego.
“Those of us who had the honor of working with Kerye are forever impacted by his tutelage, and those lessons will continue on in the prosecutors who shall follow in his footsteps.” We couldn’t have said it better. Good wishes in retirement, Kerye!
Welcome to Christina Sanchez
Welcome to our newest county attorney in El Paso, Christina Sanchez. Christina was appointed to succeed Jo Anne Bernal, who was a force in government service in her county, the state, and here at TDCAA. Christina, an experienced former assistant in the El Paso office, brings a lot of firepower to the job. Welcome, Christina!
Who plays you in the movie?
I was looking at my Neflix offerings this summer and came across one that sent me in the way-back machine: Hitman. It is the story of a mild-mannered fellow who serves as a fake hitman to foil a murder-for-hire plot. Co-producer and director Richard Linklater freely acknowledges taking liberties with the truth, but the movie is based on the life and career of a former Harris County DA investigator, Gary Johnson. I had the privilege of knowing Gary back in the ’80s. He was a tall, lanky, quiet, ponytailed man who often played the role of a hitman for hire to obtain sufficient evidence of solicitation of capital murder.
The movie is fun, but what I loved was who played Gary: Glen Powell, an Austin native and the latest Hollywood action hero and heartthrob. Which got me to thinking: Who would play you in a movie? Gary got pretty lucky with Glen Powell. Panola County CDA Danny Buck Davidson also did well when Matthew McConaughey played him in the movie Bernie. Guy James Gray, former Jasper County CDA, was played by Ron White in the movie Jasper, Texas. One thing is for sure: When you play a Texas prosecutor, you gotta go big!
AI and Draft One
Prosecutors have been struggling to keep up with the quick advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) applications in criminal law. We have seen some missteps, such as AI-generated briefs that contain fabricated legal citations, but make no mistake, AI soon will be permeating everything we do. Many of you are already employing AI for data processing, transcript production, and the like.
One of our first challenges may be to keep on top of how law enforcement is using AI. Many of us shuddered when we heard that Axon, a popular law enforcement technology company, launched Draft One. You can learn about it at www.axon.com/products/draft-one.
I know what you are thinking: A computer program that turns body camera footage into an offense report, which the officer then signs off on? What could possibly go wrong? I am still trying to wrap my head around the potential cross-examination of the officer about who—or what—actually wrote the report. Was it the officer or a machine?
My point is this: I have talked to the folks at Axon and expressed my concerns. Their response was straightforward and unapologetic: This technology is coming, whether it has potential problems or not. Rather than ignore it at our peril, it is time to get involved and make sure guardrails are in place. We will be talking a lot more about this as we move forward, but what if we could indeed use AI to make our jobs easier? What would that look like?