Posted on a bulletin board on the 11th floor of the Frank Crowley Courthouse in Dallas is a dated circular announcing an Oct. 25 criminal law CLE seminar co-sponsored by the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and the Criminal Law Section of the Dallas Bar Association. But one thing seemed odd about the posting. The 11th floor houses the offices of Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins. No criminal-defense attorneys work there.
Traditionally, the Dallas County DA’s office did not encourage prosecutors to attend seminars geared toward criminal-defense attorneys, says Toby Shook, a former felony bureau chief with the office who Watkins narrowly upset in the November 2006 election.
