Resignation Letters Reveal A District Attorney's Office in Disarray

“As prosecutors we are supposed to be serving justice, not just punching a clock for a paycheck … [and] I could not have worked any harder for this job in which I took extreme pride,”Assistant District Attorney Frank Economou wrote to District Attorney Kim Ogg in his resignation letter dated October 2022: 

“It is with deep regret that I offer my resignation to the Harris County District Attorney's Office effective immediately. I hope you take the time to read the entirety of this letter  … Prior to my position with the Harris County District Attorney's Office, I had served in the United States Army as an Infantry Platoon Leader and, subsequently, spent 20 years on Wall Street as a portfolio manager. Places where results matter. 

...

My Daily Routine was to wake up at 3:30 am, screen cases and file bond conditions. I would generally get into the office between 6 and 7 am and begin my day. After docket I would answer emails, prepare case evaluations, motion and subpoena cases, in addition to preparing for the following day's docket … I was proud of the fact that I had more trials than anybody in the Misdemeanor Division and got a guilty verdict on every trial but one... I knew from my previous work experience that preparation is the key to success, and I spent countless nights and weekend hours in the office. I was usually the only one in the office working past 8 pm and sometimes working as late as midnight. 

Why would a hard-working justice-minded prosecutor quit being a prosecutor? 

Mr. Economou wrote that office leadership “was not approachable”, supervisors were “quick to ridicule and be demeaning when asked questions,” and “quick to find fault[.]” Economou also claimed “retaliation” for raising these concerns, including a demotion, which human resources announced to the entire Harris County District Attorney’s Office via email. 

This is just one of *190* resignation letters from Harris County District Attorney’s Office employees that Houston Watch obtained pursuant to a public records request. We’ve reviewed every resignation submitted since January 1st, 2022, all of them under Kim Ogg’s leadership. The story that emerges is one of an almost Biblical exodus—and an equal amount of rage at the office’s leadership, including D.A. Ogg. 

“I recall being so excited to be an ADA when I was initially hired,” Assistant District Attorney Jessica Jefferson wrote in her resignation later dated October 2022. … I was excited to make a difference. That excitement eventually died down with time.” Why? In a consistent theme, Jefferson noted “[t]he constant ridicule was taking a toll on my mental well-being.” Specifically:

“I was made to feel like I should just know things I was never made aware of. I was placed under Chiefs who had only been at the office for sometimes as little as two years and also did not know much. I was told by different people how things are done and each time it would be a different way. I was ridiculed for things I did and sometimes for things that I hadn't done but a predecessor did…  I [also] wish that I received more training when I first accepted the job which would have allowed me to be a better ADA.”

The resignation letters from Economou and Jefferson both echo themes captured in an independent audit of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office commissioned by the Harris County Commissioners Court.

The firm, PFM Consulting Group, concluded that Ogg’s system for prioritizing and processing cases is “inherently inefficient” to the point where prosecutors simply “do not feel responsible for working up the case, tracking down discovery, and ensuring that it moves forward.” Due to these chronic problems, the chiefs who run the various divisions within the office told the researchers that “attorneys burn out quickly and resign,” which leads to a staff composed of “inexperienced prosecutors [who] lack the knowledge and insight that comes from prosecuting cases.”

Prosecutors have also referred to leadership as “bad”, “toxic,”  “horrible”, “hostile” and “mismanaged beyond comprehension” and guilty of “staggering incompetence.” As one former employee wrote on a public forum: “This place has the worst work environment ever, and caters to the incompetent and lazy.” 

The toxicity, chaos, and chronic failure of leadership forced resignations, not just among prosecutors, but also among the administrative staff. For example, on February 11, 2023, Kandice Young, an administrative assistant, resigned her position:

“In the almost two years that I have worked in the DA’s office, we have not had a single full staff meeting to make sure that information is relayed to everybody at exactly the same time… The turnover is high in Intake due to the above reasons. The department runs on no direction and information is heard through the grapevine. There is no process and procedure manual in place for new hires, and whenever a person is hired on, they are trained by multiple people and each trainer teaches different information.”

Notably, the inefficiencies in the Intake team have been blamed for significantly contributing to the case backlog in Harris County, which has delayed—and, in a number of cases where witnesses are no longer available, denied—justice including in serious cases such as DUI, sexual assault, and murder prosecutions. 

Ms. Young also notes that she is resigning because of “ “the unprofessionalism, the “favoritism,” “nonexistence of any positive feedback,” and a “lack of communication.” Ms. Young noted that while her supervisor was known for her “condescending,” “unprofessional” and “rude emails”  and “face to face communications,” not all employees received the same treatment. 

In what Ms. Young deemed “nepotism,” she discussed how one employee was so rude and unprofessional that even the police officers that the office works with complained about her conduct. Nonetheless, that employee, who happens to be the cousin of the same supervisor and reports directly to her, was “promoted”. Ms. Young also notes that other employees who received favoritism from supervisors regularly engage in “inappropriate behavior” such as “sleeping at their desk” during the work day. 

One theme that clearly resonates throughout the resignation letters is the deep respect and love that people have for the job of protecting the community. Indeed, employees seem to love the office and profession, just not Ogg or her senior leadership. 

Perhaps no resignation letter communicated this sentiment better than that of the former Chief of the Human Trafficking and Adult Sex Crimes Division, Johna Stallings, who submitted her resignation to D.A. Ogg earlier this year, pleading with the District Attorney to create an office where “supervisors at the highest level will begin to work with, not contrive against, other supervisors to create a happy, healthy environment for HCDAO employees” and not “marginalize or degrade investigators, support staff and others who allow us to do our best in the courtroom.”

Finally, Stallings left Ogg with a biting reminder that those at the top face accountability eventually:

“One of my favorite quotes I like to use in closing arguments is from Robert Louis Stevenson, who said, ‘Sooner or later we all sit down to a banquet of consequences.’ It's a pretty good idiom to repeat to ourselves on occasion, regardless of how high in an organization we have found ourselves.”