Thursday, November 20, 2014

How times have changed: Reed gone in Bexar, McCrum cleared

How quickly circumstances can change. Readers may recall this post from February suggesting that Bexar DA Susan Reed sought contempt charges against attorney Michael McCrum (for allegedly telling a witness to "get lost") in retaliation for court filings in other cases alleging misconduct by Reed and her office, including an alleged (and denied) sexual affair by Reed herself with a defendant in one of his cases.

Since then, somewhat unthinkably, Susan Reed has been voted out of office while McCrum, somewhat less surprisingly, rose to statewide prominence as special prosecutor against Gov. Rick Perry (about which, still). However, it's not for that reason but to update that February post that Grits reports news that, "The special prosecutor in the criminal case against Gov. Rick Perry was cleared Monday in San Antonio of an unrelated contempt of court charge against him," according to the Austin Statesman, referring to the above-mentioned allegations by Reed, now a lame duck, against McCrum.

So that completes the loop on that. With this ruling delivered right after Reed's ouster at the polls, she's no longer in a position to threaten either McCrum nor the apostate judge who failed to follow her dictum. Perhaps her replacement will be no better, but in the small world of Texas criminal justice, her departure remains a seismic shift. And the vicissitudes of Fate continue to mock all who offer certain predictions.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

thank goodness her legacy of revenge has ended, low information voters had prevailed in her favor for year despite her flirtations with corrupt dealings and unethical management

Gritsforbreakfast said...

What supposedly sent her over the edge vs. McCrum weren't allegations of "corrupt dealings and unethical management" but alleged "flirtations" of another sort entirely in a Las Vegas hotel room, if memory serves. ;)

The Homeless Cowboy said...

I am continually amazed how we don't think a thing about skirting criminal behavior here in Texas, we have so much, "Wink Wink, Nudge Nudge" going on it is sometimes as hilarious as Monty Python, but Sex? OH HELL NO. It really is sometimes comical. I guess I shouldn't just say Texas, It is anywhere really.

Anonymous said...

Well, let's hope that the new Bexar County DA has the cojones to set up a Conviction Integrity Unit, and to have some of the former convictions in that county re-examined. It would be interesting to see what floats to the surface with Reed no longer there to terrorize the county.

Anonymous said...


Rumor has it that LaHood is setting up such a unit.


Well, let's hope that the new Bexar County DA has the cojones to set up a Conviction Integrity Unit, and to have some of the former convictions in that county re-examined. It would be interesting to see what floats to the surface with Reed no longer there to terrorize the county.

11/21/2014 12:54:00 PM