Destroyed evidence ruins dozens of drug cases

HOUSTON—The Harris County District Attorney's Office has had to dismiss 90 pending misdemeanor and felony drug cases after a deputy destroyed evidence at the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable's Office.

Dick Bax, the district attorney's office general counsel, said in an email obtained by the Houston Chronicle that the DA's office is reviewing another 35 non-drug-related cases to determine if they, too, must be dismissed.

DA's spokesman Jeff McShan confirmed the authenticity of the email to the newspaper, said hundreds of other cases could be affected and added there would be no further comment.

Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman says one of his deputies destroyed the evidence in January while making room in the department's overcrowded property room. Herman says the matter came to his attention in late March or early April and that the deputy has been fired.

District Attorney Devon Anderson has ordered a review of all Precinct 4 cases closed, going as far back as 2007 and involving more than 25,000 pieces of evidence, Bax's email said.

Tyler Flood, president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association, said defense attorneys grew suspicious over the cases earlier this month after prosecutors began pressing for a plea deal with a drug defendant whose attorney claimed an illegal search. When the attorney turned down a deal for a six-year prison sentence and sought access to case evidence, he was informed that the evidence had been destroyed.

"This was a huge bluff to get my guy into some kind of prison sentence ... trying to give my guy six years (in prison) over a dopeless dope case," defense attorney Paul Morgan told the Chronicle.

Flood said he expects far more than 90 cases to be affected by the evidence destruction. "How can we trust that they have identified all of the cases and are doing the right thing?" he asked.