Texas Judge to Weigh Contempt Charges Against Prosecutor for Deleted E-Mail

Liz Austin Peterson

The Associated Press

January 31, 2008

Harris County, Texas DA Charles Rosenthal Jr.
image: Stacey Cramp/Legal Times

The e-mail scandal engulfing one of Texas' most powerful prosecutors will come to life in a courtroom as a federal judge tries to decide whether he should be punished for deleting more than 2,500 messages after he was ordered to produce them.

Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal could be fined or jailed if U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt finds him in contempt of court after Thursday's hearing.

Among the hundreds of e-mails Rosenthal has handed over are dozens of pornographic, racist and political messages, along with love notes between the married prosecutor and his secretary.

The Republican district attorney has been forced to abort his re-election bid and has faced almost daily calls to resign since those notes were made public.

Rosenthal has said in court documents he thought the e-mails were backed up elsewhere and has called the decision to erase them an error in judgment.

A host of prominent figures in the scandal are expected to take the stand on Thursday, from Rosenthal and his secretary, Kerry Stevens, to Harris County Sheriff Tommy Thomas and the county's chief executive, Ed Emmett.

The attorney who requested the e-mails as part of a civil rights lawsuit against the sheriff's department has said he also wants to question Kelly Siegler, the assistant district attorney vying to replace Rosenthal, and her husband, Sam, who forwarded Rosenthal some of the offensive notes.

Rosenthal's lawyer has said he wants to question the plaintiff's attorney, Lloyd Kelley, and a television reporter who broke the story about the racially and sexually explicit messages.

The saga began in late December when Hoyt briefly released to the media one batch of e-mails that included the affectionate notes. He later re-sealed the e-mails, saying he had only intended to make public Rosenthal's request that they be kept confidential.

The second batch of e-mails was released in early January after Hoyt said they were not subject to a protective order.

Rosenthal, who was first elected in 2000, presides over an office that sends more convicts to death row than any other prosecutors' office in the nation.