Wait and see

Robert Kepple, the executive director of the Texas District & County Attorneys Association (TDCAA) in Austin, a nonprofit representing prosecutors' interests with the Legislature, will not be attending the "Prevention of Wrongful Convictions" round-table discussions scheduled today. Instead, Kepple says, he has dispatched Shannon Edmonds, a TDCAA staff lawyer and director of government relations, to the meeting. State Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) scheduled the gathering and invited Kepple, other prosecutors and members of the criminal justice system around the state. Kepple says it is premature for him to "endorse anything," as far as proposals to address the number of wrongful convictions recently exposed by Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins and Watkins' suggestion in the media that prosecutors should face potential criminal sanctions if they withhold crucial evidence from defendants. Kepple says State Bar of Texas rules currently regulate prosecutors in that regard. And Kepple's not ready to embrace potential state legislation to discipline prosecutors that don't play by the rules. He will be paying attention to what comes from Ellis' meeting, Kepple says. "I'm curious to see how it goes. You're asking for solutions, but I'm just saying, 'Let's see how it develops,' " says Kepple.
-- Miriam Rozen