Okay friends, this story is a bumpy ride, but it ends with a scorched earth letter of resignation, so you know it’s going to be worth it.
So, here’s what you need to know. In the early days of COVID-19, Harris County, Texas district attorney Kim Ogg was criticized for being slow to respond to the pandemic and have her office work remotely and adopt accommodations that would, in short order, become commonplace. But the office did do something in preparation for the coronavirus. As Texas Monthly reports, a division chief emailed a spreadsheet titled “Employees Seriously Ill or Who Have Passed Away Due to COVID-19.” And yeah, that so-called “death chart” didn’t go over too well:
The “death chart,” as it came to be known, was just a template—no names were listed—but it prompted gallows humor among the prosecutors who received it. Were they expected to report their own deaths to the district attorney? One of them took a photo of the spreadsheet with a personal phone and texted it to six fellow prosecutors, some of whom were in different divisions and hadn’t yet seen the document. The photo ended up in the possession of Houston defense attorney Ed McClees, a former prosecutor in the DA’s office who made his name prosecuting organized crime and fraud before moving to criminal defense. McClees had become one of Ogg’s most vocal critics on social media but maintains good relationships with many prosecutors in the office. He thought the spreadsheet was amusing and posted it on his personal Facebook page.
Once the death chart went public, that sparked what some have called a “witch hunt” (a three-week long investigation — amid a pandemic, no less) to find exactly who leaked the death chart. Texas Monthly says the investigation entailed interviews with the seven assistant district attorneys who were the initial recipients of the spreadsheet and demands for their work computers, work phone as well as their personal phones. As you might imagine, the ADAs balked at sharing their personal phones with their employer.
McClees even came forward with a statement to the office that he had not received the email from the seven under investigation:
“I never had the goal of putting anyone in an embarrassing situation—quite the opposite,” McClees recently told Texas Monthly. “I certainly didn’t think the office would conduct a Stalin-style purge to try to find out who took a picture and who or who did not send what ultimately is a public document and is subject to public disclosure anyway.”
Another employee (outside the initial seven recipients) confessed to sending the chart outside of the office (and was promptly fired for her honesty). Despite this, the seven ADAs received letters of reprimand, which were placed in their personal files, for not allowing their employer to have access to their personal phones:
“The failure by all of the involved office prosecutors to allow examination of their personal phones frustrated the investigation and made it impossible to validate any of the prosecutors’ statements. All of the ADAs involved were insubordinate.”
A spokesperson for the district attorney’s office, said of Texas Monthly’s report, “The narrative you shared from partisan sources is incomplete, misleading, and in some instances, outright false; we have no further comment.”
But what is clear, is that one of the ADAs investigated, Cheryl Williamson Chapell, had quite enough of Ogg’s tactics and resigned from her position. And yeah, this is the resignation letter you have to read. Williamson Chapell says of the investigation into the leaked email, “Your paranoia regarding an innocuous message and blatant disrespect for your employees exposes your true character.” She goes on accuse Ogg of using the murder of George Floyd to advance her career, “At a time when disparities in the criminal justice system are at the forefront of the world’s conscience, you used your office and employees as instruments of unwarranted oppression in a transparent effort to heighten your political stature.”
And it gets even better:
And just last night, you implicitly threatened your attorneys if they chose not to attend a “volunteer” voter registration drive at which you will appear — undoubtedly in a political capacity. Your repeated misused of county resources and inaction in response to extraordinary worldwide crises demonstrates a lack of professionalism and leadership, and shows what is truly important to you. Indeed, you seem to have emboldened dishonesty. I simply cannot work for you any longer.
Boom.
As the criminally underrated Don’t Trust the B– in Apt. 23 noted, “You have to walk away from the past in slow motion as it explodes behind you like in a John Woo movie.”
You can read the entire letter below.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).