Assistant DA steps down over posting
The head prosecutor for Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg’s trial division resigned Monday after posting a meme on Facebook last week that equated protesters who remove Confederate statues with Nazis.
The meme posted by Assistant District Attorney Kaylynn Williford last week shows a black-and-white photograph of hands holding a massive bin of rings.
It says, “Wedding bands that were removed from Holocaust victims prior to being executed, 1945. Each ring represents a destroyed family. Never forget, Nazis tore down statues. Banned free speech. Blamed economic hardships on one group of people. Instituted gun control. Sound Familiar?”
Williford said in a statement that she took down the post after a friend’s daughter and later a Jewish lawyer told her they found it offensive to compare the two groups. Williford, a 28year veteran of the office who has tried major capital cases, said this was never her intent.
She posted it, she said, because she thought it was “thought provoking and promoted tolerance.” She interpreted it to promote working “towards solutions instead of tearing each other down.”
Williford’s departure came after a vociferous outcry about the post from lawyers and the broader public and follows other resignations over social media posts. Keith Nielsen announced he would not take over as the county leader of the GOP in Houston after he came under fire for posting a Martin Luther King Jr. quote next to a banana
following George Floyd’s death. And Houston Police Sgt. Robert Clasen abruptly retired when he faced a disciplinary hearing for a post blaming black people for problems they face.
Ogg’s first assistant, David Mitcham, announced in an officewide email Monday at 9:23 a.m. that Williford “has tendered her resignation to the Office and it has been accepted.” He said a new trial bureau chief will be named to replace her soon.
In an email that landed a few minutes earlier, Ogg wrote, “When speech made in the privacy of one’s home or on social media contradicts our core values, we take action. While not our intent to involve ourselves in employees’ personal lives, when their social media or private actions publicly contradict and violate this Office’s policies, the law allows us as an employer to investigate and implement graduated sanctions ranging from education and counseling up to termination.”
Ogg’s email did not mention the longtime veteran of her office by name. But she said the office had a duty “not to ignore” racism, was dedicated to operating a fair workplace and would implement implicit bias training.
Through her attorney, Williford clarified that Ogg did not ask for her resignation because of the post but said she would be demoted a level down, take a pay cut and spend one week off work without pay.
That demotion was a no-win, given the damage already done to her reputation and the office, Williford said. But she stated that she did not and would not equate racial justice protesters and Nazis.
“I have been judged and condemned on a shared post,” she said.
“If you truly knew me, you would know I never meant anything malicious in sharing a Facebook post,” she said. “I see now how it could be interpreted as hurtful, but again, that was never my intent.”
She referenced cases she had dismissed involving wrongful convictions after carefully reviewing evidence. She said, “I have honored my oath of office no matter who the defendant was.”
Williford has worked for the DA’s office since 1992, handling more than 100 jury trials, according to a bio on the DA’s site. She previously oversaw the asset forfeiture and financial crimes divisions.
Audia Jones, a former prosecutor who ran against Ogg in the Democratic primary, said she knew and admired Williford during her time in the office. That made her shocked to see the post.
“History has shown us: Where the head goes the body will follow,” she said. “When you have that leadership and that type of belief, you can only help but think that the prosecutors that are going to be under her guide will feel compelled to act on it as well.”
Ashton Woods, co-founder and lead organizer for Black Lives Matter Houston, similarly questioned how Williford would have been able to fairly prosecute cases against black people had she stayed at the office.
“This is indicative that we must examine all parts of our current criminal justice system,” he said. “How can one call activists Nazis when we are the ones calling out fascism?”
Tom Berg, a former top assistant to Ogg, said on Monday that Williford and others in Ogg’s office could have benefited by using the incident as a learning experience.
“Kaylynn would have been an excellent candidate for implicit bias training,” Berg said. “She was one of the most experienced lawyers in the HCDAO. It could have been a powerful teaching moment if people could have unwrapped their egos and their pride.”
The district attorney’s office’s social media policy mostly prohibits employees from speaking about their workplace or linking their title or the DA’s office to any posting, according to the employee handbook.
“Your online conduct should mirror your conduct in the office,” it reads. “Remember — nothing online is truly anonymous. Information that you post online is often permanent or, at the least, may remain present for a long period of time.”
In her email to staff Monday, Ogg said, “For anyone with a doubt, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office stands for equal justice.”