The new Collin County District Attorney has asked a visiting judge to remove the Texas General Attorney from prosecuting District Judge Suzanne Wooten on bribery and money laundering charges.
John Roach Sr. was the previous district attorney. He and the state attorney general investigated Judge Wooten after she beat Judge Charles Sandoval. The DA and AG took almost two years and four grand juries before they indicted Wooten and three other “co-conspirators.” DA Roach recused his office and asked the AG to act as a special prosecutor.
In a motion filed yesterday, Willis wrote, “This matter has been mired in politics, speculation, and allegations of conflicts of interest since its inception. Regardless of the existence of actual conflicts of interest, this prosecution is cloaked in the appearance of impropriety and should not continue on its present course.”
Willis says that only Roach was recused, but the Willis administration can and will object to the special prosecutors. After Willis blasted Roach and the AG prosecutors, he stated, “The citizens of Collin County deserve to have an impartial and disinterested attorney appointed by this Court to assess and determine how this prosecution should move forward.”
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DA Greg Willis is worried about conflicts of interest, that it’s “cloaked in the appearance of impropriety”. Couldn’t agree more! From an article regarding this same matter from the Collin County Observer on 8/16/11 – this paragraph seems pertinent here:
“The most bizarre event of the hearing took place when an attorney for Judge Jill Willis, the wife of Collin County’s current District Attorney, requested a ruling on a motion to quash a subpoena issued to Judge Willis. The subpoena requested testimony from Willis regarding a closed door meeting with a dozen senior Collin County judges sometime before September 2009. When informed that no record of the meeting was made, Judge Russell stated the idea of a closed-door meeting between judges with no record being made of it was “foreign” to him. Other judges, Rusch and Roach, Jr., had cooperated with Mr. White, but Judge Willis has refused to speak with him. Judge Willis’ attorney, Mr. Michael Pezzulli is an expert on attorney-client privilege and has co-authored a book on the subject for the American Bar Association. Pezzulli argued the subpoena for Judge Willis’ testimony should be denied on the grounds that an attorney-client privilege existed during the meeting of the judges. Judge Russell seemed baffled by Mr. Pezzulli’s claim that attorney-client privilege would exist in a meeting with other judges. When he asked for some citation to statutes or case law in support of the motion to quash the subpoena, Mr. Pezzulli was stumped for an answer. Harry White opposed the motion to quash and stated, “We believe there is a personal relationship between Wooten and Willis.” Judge Russell took the motion to quash under review and made no ruling on it. ”
That would be DA Greg Willis’ Wife, Judge Jill Willis. In the State’s response brief to the court regarding Judge Willis’ Motion to Quash her subpoena, a few things leap out as pertinent too, these are paraphrased from the document.
1) FACTS – The State has subpoenaed Judge Jill Willis to testify in criminal proceedings against Suzanne H. Wooten, David Cary, Stacy Stine Cary and Stephen Spencer. The State seeks to question Judge Willis about conversations she had with Wooten and the other defendants. The State believes that statements made to her by the defendants are material. A. Judge Willis is a fact witness in these cases. Judge Willis will be asked questions in all of these cases unrelated to her position as a district judge. She has relationships with several of the defendants outside of position on the bench.
Judge Willis has relationships with the defendants, hmmm. At Judge Jill Willis’ investiture in 2009 the room was full of other politicians and officials and a select few close friends. In the front row with her husband, DA Greg Willis? David and Stacy Cary.
It sure seems to me that DA Greg Willis has a conflict of interest with these prosecutions, he’s friends with the defendants, but worse is that his wife is personally involved with the case itself. If Mr. Willis truly has worries about conflicts of interest, shouldn’t he keep his mitts off this case altogether?
White/Chandler/Glicker/”Texann” should you really be commenting? Shame on you!
Hey Glicker… How did your fundraiser go?? I hear you looked a little worried…