Oops.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office on Thursday said it was not opposed to a holding a criminal contempt hearing against former District Attorney Kim Ogg.
The announcement increased the likelihood that Ogg could be called to court, and potentially punished, for comments she made in a local news interview about one of the men accused of killing 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray.
Judge Josh Hill didn’t make an immediate decision on holding a contempt hearing. Lawyers, however, said they would be available for proceedings in July.
Lawyers for Franklin Peña last week said they believed Ogg, who left office in January, violated a judicial gag order that was supposed to prevent lawyers involved in the capital murder case from talking to the media.
Ogg on May 29 appeared on Fox 26, and revealed that a woman had told the DA’s office that Peña had assaulted her in Costa Rica.
In a motion filed Wednesday, the defense attorneys wrote that Ogg’s interview violated the parts of the gag order that were meant to prevent media interviews that could possibly prejudice a future jury against their client.
“At this point, the acts have already happened and the court must hold her in criminal contempt to vindicate the court’s authority,” the lawyers wrote. “Not doing so would set a dangerous precedent that any attorney involved in this capital murder case could go to as many media outlets as they please with no consequences whatsoever.”
The defense team also said that Ogg should be punished for an interview she gave to Fox & Friends in December, when she announced the DA’s office would seek the death penalty against Peña and Johan Martinez-Rangel.
[…]
Last week, prosecutors and defense attorneys both told Hill they believed Ogg violated the gag order and agreed it still applied to her despite her being removed by voters.
Both sides said they had filed complaints about Ogg to the State Bar of Texas, which would decide if Ogg violated ethics rules.
See here for the background. It should be noted that the general counsel for the DA’s office has said that he didn’t think Ogg crossed the line on criminal contempt. I’m sure the judge will take that into consideration. Let this stand as a lesson in discretion and knowing when to keep your mouth closed.
Good. I think what she did was incredibly stupid. She could have criticized the DA’s office any number of ways without endangering a capital murder case.
“Last week, prosecutors and defense attorneys both told Hill they believed Ogg violated the gag order and agreed it still applied to her despite her being removed by voters.
Both sides said they had filed complaints about Ogg to the State Bar of Texas, which would decide if Ogg violated ethics rules.”
Yeah, that’s a pretty good sign you screwed up, when both the prosecution and defense are upset by what you did.