Recusal Effort Irks Judge in Case Involving DA's Deleted E-Mail
Although a politically sensitive federal civil rights trial in Texas still hasn’t gotten started as scheduled, the case this month has nonetheless been action-packed.
First, the Harris County District Attorney admitted he’d accidentally deleted some 2,500 e-mails that he was supposed to produce as evidence. And now, as the jury was about to hear opening arguments, defense attorneys for four Harris County sheriff’s deputies have filed, under seal, an apparently wide-ranging recusal motion, reports the Houston Chronicle. The deputies are accused of having improperly arresting two men after one took photographs of a 2002 drug bust.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt wasn’t pleased about the effort to force him off the case, and chided defense attorneys from the bench yesterday for bolstering their original recusal motion with additional material dating back several years, the newspaper reports.
An observer notes that a recusal effort is a risky strategy. “The point of a recusal motion is when you shoot at a king you better hit him,” says trial attorney David Berg, who is not involved in the case. “I don’t think it’s a good idea unless you are dead certain you have the evidence that he would be unfair or appear to be. If you lose, you’re in for a hell of a ride.”
