Asked 11 months ago - Dallas, TX
FlagFelony charges were filed that were later dismissed, the Sheriffs Dept. Investigator that prepared the case that went to the grand jury swore under oath in his deposition, that he got documents that he sent to the DA's office without reading them. The testimony given to the grand jury was false. He agreed that what he put in his report was incorrect but blames it on what the DA told him and not on what he read? I know this is improper, does it rise to the level of misconduct? The DA should have no part in the Sheriffs Dept investigation.
Not sure exactly what happened here from the summary you give. But, I will try to answer. First, the DA actually does have a role in a sheriff's investigation. That role is to advise on legal issues, and to suggest directions he or she would like the investigation to go. For example, I am presently special prosecutor for a felony investigation. Part of my job is to tell the investigator what I want investigated. Because grand jury proceedings are secret by law in Texas, I am concerned that you say the testimony to the grand jury was false. Unless you were present in the room, how would you be privy to that? Or, is there a civil suit pending? If so, you need to talk about the questions you are raising with your lawyer in that case.
The DA's office is who presents to the Grand Jury whatever information gets presented, and they can request more information from the Sheriff if they want to. Since the charge was dismissed, this falls into the No Harm, No Foul category. In other words, even if anything was improper, which is not clear to me, no one is going to spend time and resources looking into it when they have more pressing cases.
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