Pat Lykos

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Patricia R. "Pat" Lykos (born February 20, 1942)^[1] is an American lawyer who is the District Attorney of Harris County, Texas, United States. She defeated Democrat Brad Bradford in the general election on November 4, 2008.^[2] She survived the March 2008 primary, coming in second and receiving enough votes to qualify for the April 2008 runoff election. In the April 8, 2008 runoff, she defeated prosecutor Kelly Siegler 52.6% to 47.3%.^[3] The Harris County District Attorney position became open after the former DA Chuck Rosenthal resigned in response to scandal that happened after racial and sexist messages and jokes were found on county computers, under Rosenthal's control.^[4]

Biography

Lykos, a graduate of the University of Houston and South Texas College of Law, was employed as a Houston police officer, and then started her own private practice as a litigator. In 1980, the Harris County Commissioners' Court appointed her to the newly-created bench of County Criminal Court No. 10, and she won election that year.

In 1981, Republican Governor Bill Clements appointed her as Judge of the 180th State Criminal District Court. Lykos ran for re-election to the criminal court for three terms, in 1982, 1986 and 1990 being re-elected each time. Lykos has served as a senior district judge, a special assignments judge, and as Director of Special Projects for County Judge Robert Eckels, and Director of Judicial and Legal Issues for County Judge Ed Emmett.^{[citation needed]}

She was the former chief judge of the Harris County criminal district courts, served three terms as President of the Retired, Senior and Former Judges of Texas, and taught in programs for the Texas Center for the Judiciary, the American Bar Association, and the State Bar of Texas. She is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Houston Bar Foundation, of which she is a founding member. She has been an adjunct professor at South Texas College of Law, and taught at the National Judicial College.^{[citation needed]}

Lykos has appeared on television news programs such as Nightline, 48 Hours and Crime in America.

Tenure as the Harris County District Attorney

First Three Years

Lykos began her tenure as the Harris County District Attorney on January 1, 2009. Her elected predecessor, Charles Rosenthal, Jr., had resigned in the wake of a scandal.^[5] She ran on a platform of change and transparency.^[6] She fulfilled the promise and is credited with bringing changes to the Harris County District Attorney's Office including refusing to prosecute certain drug related offenses and virtually eliminating the death penalty as an option for capital murder cases (except for cases that were sent back reversed on appeal, where a jury had already rendered a verdict of death).^[7] These decisions, along with other policy changes and an alleged inability to communicate with her employees, drove a large number of experienced prosecutors from her office.^[8] Lykos also started a controversial program for allowing persons charged with Driving While Intoxicated to abide by certain conditions for a set term and have their case dismissed. This would allow circumvention of Texas law that prohibited persons charged with Driving While Intoxicated from getting a deferred adjudication type probation (a probation that allows a person to avoid a conviction on their record).^[9] There were a few minor controversies during her first three years as District Attorney, but her policy and personnel changes were the focus. As with any policy and personnel changes, they were applauded by some but were highly criticized by others.

Law Enforcement Response

Lykos has been tenacious in her change in policies which has been applauded by a number of organizations. However, in late 2011, these policies along with an alleged growing dissatisfaction in her leadership of the Harris County District Attorney's Office, caused a number of police officers unions, including the two largest (the Houston Police Department and Harris County Sheriff's Office) to hold a press conference and issue a vote of "No Confidence" in Lykos leadership abilities. ^[10] Again, this is believed to be a first in Texas. This has caused a former Harris County prosecutor and Harris County District Court Judge to run against Lykos in the Republican primary despite her incumbent status. ^[11]

Grand Jury Investigation

In mid- to late-2011 a potentially large scandal was uncovered. The scandal centers on the use of BAT vans (Breath Alcohol Testing) by the Houston Police Department.^[12] An employee of the Houston Police Department had quit stating she was concerned with the BAT van reliability, essentially becoming a whistleblower. Lykos was accused of retaliating against her for doing such by asking the Harris County Commissioners Court to cancel a large contract with her current employer, which the Court did.^[13] The Grand Jury for the 185th District Court of Harris County, Texas began an official investigation into the District Attorney's Office and whether they had retaliated and hid evidence regarding these BAT vans.^[14] The investigation is ongoing but has had a number of reported incidents, the largest of which was a top prosecutor in Lykos's administration, Rachel Palmer, exercising her fifth amendment privileges in response to some of the Grand Jury's questions.^[15] Palmer was a head of the division that handled the BAT van cases, and refused to answer the Grand Jury's questions regarding any criminal actions that she may have taken while working under Lykos in that capacity.^[16] Lykos was furthered criticized for refusing to take action against Palmer, instead promoting her to a different position in the Harris County District Attorney's Office, though her representatives claimed she would not punish someone for exercising their constitutional rights.^[17] Lykos, under subpoena, testified before that Grand Jury on January 17, 2012 regarding these matters.^[18] It is believed to be the first time in Texas history a sitting District Attorney has been subpoenaed by a Grand Jury regarding potential misconduct in the office.^[19] On January 31, 2012 the Grand Jury returned no indictments but did publish a letter criticizing the District Attorney.^[20] The same day, Lykos then held a press conference to announce that the Grand Jury had not found probable cause to indict her or her team's criminal conduct. However, she was confronted by questions regarding an illicit investigation she authorized into the Grand Jury itself.^[21]

Lykos's Probe into the Grand Jury

On January 31, 2012 Lykos called a press conference to announce the Grand Jury could not find enough evidence to indict her or her administration for their conduct regarding the BAT van scandal. However at that conference she was questioned about an investigation she authorized regarding that Grand Jury, its members, the Judge who empaneled that Grand Jury, the Judge's husband, and her opponent in the Republican primary.^[22] Lykos at first denied ever having authorized any investigation, however she later relented and stated she had authorized a "cursory internet search" regarding the aforementioned persons to try and determine if in fact they had launched a political conspiracy against her (though none was found).^[23] It was later discovered, through a leak in Lykos' administration, that her chief investigator (who she brought on when she was elected) had used a county equipment and a county paid for database to conduct these searches.^[24] These searches constituted further possible violations of the law by the Lykos. On February 7, 2012 the Texas Rangers, a police force under the supervision of the Texas Attorney General who investigates political corruption among other things, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrived at the offices of the Harris County District Attorney and launched their own investigation into Lykos' conduct.^[25] The investigation is ongoing.

Footnotes

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