By Shannon Edmonds
TDCAA Executive Director in Austin
TDCAA’s new “Mandatory Brady Training” program is now live and available on our website for free. What is it, and why is it “mandatory?” Read Joe Hooker’s column in this issue for all the details.
Before moving on, I want to recognize everyone who appears in the video portions of this CLE program to share their perspectives on this important topic with our audience. Huge props to these folks:
Tonya Ahlschwede, 452nd Judicial District Attorney
Isidro “Chilo” Alaniz, District Attorney for Webb and Zapata Counties
Kenda Culpepper, Criminal District Attorney in Rockwall County
James Hicks, Criminal District Attorney in Taylor County
Landon Lambert, County Attorney in Donley County
Brian Middleton, District Attorney in Fort Bend County
Jarvis Parsons, District Attorney in Brazos County
Jacob Putman, Criminal District Attorney in Smith County
Jack Roady, retired Criminal District Attorney in Galveston County
Daphne Session, District Attorney in Houston County
Josh Tetens, Criminal District Attorney in McLennan County
Jennifer Tharp, Criminal District Attorney in Comal County
Erleigh Wiley, Criminal District Attorney in Kaufman County
Greg Willis, Criminal District Attorney in Collin County
The Honorable Sid Harle, Presiding Judge of the Fourth Administrative Region; and
Mr. Michael Morton, who provided a powerful video introduction to this program.
Our thanks go out to him and to the public servants who gave of their time and wisdom to help us create this tool for improving our criminal justice system. We hope you find it enlightening!
Association awards
It’s Annual Conference season, which means we get to lift up members of our profession for well-deserved accolades! Your association is proud to announce the following award recipients for 2026 who were recognized at our Annual Criminal & Civil Law Conference in Waco:
Prosecutor of the Year: Rickie Redman, County & District Attorney, Lamb County
Lone Star Awards: James M. Stainton, 271st Judicial District Attorney, and Charann Thompson, Assistant District Attorney, Fort Bend County
Kepple Award: C. Scott Brumley, County Attorney, Potter County
C. Chris Marshall Distinguished Faculty Award: Kristin Burns, First Assistant Criminal District Attorney, Bastrop County
I also have the privilege of announcing TDCAA’s new Rising Star Prosecutor recognitions. Those recipients are:
Levi Camden, Assistant District Attorney in Montgomery County
Kaitlin Freudenberg, Assistant County Attorney in Chambers County
W. Jackson Heard, Assistant Criminal District Attorney in Kaufman County
Connor D. Leigh, Assistant District Attorney in Bell County
Madison Schrock, Assistant District Attorney in Montgomery County
Judy Tejeda-Gonzales, Assistant District Attorney in the 106th Judicial District
Dawson Townsend, Assistant County & District Attorney in Colorado County
Mallory Vargas, Assistant District Attorney in Chambers County
These inaugural Rising Star prosecutors will be recognized in person in each recipient’s jurisdiction starting later this fall. If you hear about one of those events happening in your area, come join us to celebrate some bright young prosecutors who are making their communities better places to live and work!
To learn more about these awards mentioned above, visit www.tdcaa.com/association-awards. Nominations for the 2027 cycle will begin early next year.
“The Jury Experience”
I know that many of your jurisdictions have trouble getting panelists to show up for jury duty. But have you considered setting up a concession stand so they can buy snacks and adult beverages during voir dire?
Seriously, that appears to be a factor behind the success of a theater production that started advertising on social media platforms last year called “The Jury Experience.” This theatrical version of everyone’s (least?) favorite civic duty is currently being offered in several cities in Texas and around the country. And get this: People are paying to serve as “jurors” rather than the other way around! Perhaps it’s the short time commitment (60–90 minutes), the technological interactivity (votes are submitted by phone), the dramatic license taken by the production’s writers, or the bar set up out in the hallway—whatever the hook, it seems to be popular. What does that tell us?
To me, it’s a reminder that people are still fascinated by our criminal justice system. Television, movies, books, and podcasts are rife with “true crime” stories and murder mysteries. But when it comes time to ask our fellow citizens to participate in that process on the back end, jury summonses go unanswered and social media threads go viral by featuring the most outlandish excuses to avoid that civic duty. I don’t have any easy solutions to fix that problem, but the popularity of this theater production makes me believe that we can learn something from it. After all, if a popcorn and a Coke (or a Jack & Coke!) can convince people to overcome their aversion to (fictional) jury duty, surely we can find other creative solutions to addressing the (factual) jury service problem!
A look inside
This issue of our association journal is full of great material, including articles on credit card skimmers, datacenters, and how prosecutor offices are handling some new TCOLE (Texas Commission on Law Enforcement) policies. I hope you enjoy them!
And as always, if you ever have any questions about TDCAA or what we do, please don’t hesitate to reach out for answers. We are here to serve you.