Incoming Fort Bend DA fires 15 staffers
Fort Bend County’s new district attorney, moving quickly to reshape his office and achieve criminal justice reform, has fired 12 prosecutors, two investigators and an administrator.
“None of these choices were easy, but they were all evidencebased,” said Brian Middleton, who made history as the first African-American, and first Democrat in 26 years, to become the suburban county’s top prosecutor.
“No one was terminated without cause,” added Middleton, 46. “All of these were very careful decisions that were made after careful deliberations. We also looked at job performance and personnel files.”
Middleton, a Democrat who previously ran a Houston-based law firm, defeated Republican Cliff Vacek in November in the campaign to replace the GOP incumbent, John Healey, who retired after 26 years as district attorney in the fast-growing county.
Middleton said his transition team asked all employees to resubmit their applications and résumés and submit to interviews. A hiring committee made recommendations to Middleton, who decided which employees would be retained and which replaced.
“They were screened to see if they could adhere to policies that followed my philosophy,” he said. “That was the main focus. Our overarching policy is that we need to have fair, evidence-based prosecution. The final objective is to keep Fort Bend County safe.”
In the coming weeks, Middleton said, he will work with the hiring committee to restructure the 73 prosecutor positions in the office.
Middleton said he and his colleagues had identified a number of experienced attorneys with a variety of ethnic and ideological backgrounds as potential new hires.
“I am keeping through with my
promises from my campaign to embrace diversity but to also try to build a team that has the best trial attorneys in Texas,” Middleton said. “I feel confident that when we get everyone on board, the community will see that they were good decisions and that this office will grow as a result of it.”
The reorganization of the DA’s office did not come without “trepidation and some anxiety” among staffers, Middleton said.
“But as I communicated my philosophy, the enthusiasm around here has increased,” he said. “I think people are happy with the changes that I am suggesting.”
Healey said Friday he was not surprised by the staff changes, noting that such moves are “fairly common” for a new administration. He said, however, that after he first gained the office in the 1990s, he handled staff transition differently.
“I was appointed district attorney, and didn’t release anybody from the office until I had a chance to work with them for about two years as the district attorney,” Healey said.“I made changes once I was elected to the position of district attorney by releasing three of approximately 15 prosecutors.”
Those who kept their jobs during Healey’s tenure were “people who had value to the county and who could perform their job well,” he said.
“It had nothing to do with whether they were supporting my vision or not supporting my vision,” he added. “That would become obvious to me that they couldn’t work with me or that they couldn’t support the changes that I wanted to make in the office.”
Middleton’s staff shakeup was similar to the action taken by Kim Ogg when she was elected Harris County district attorney in 2016. Ogg told roughly 40 prosecutors they would be without a job in the new year.