HOUSTON, TX – As the old saying goes, politics makes strange bedfellows.
And a romantic relationship between an assistant district attorney and a disgraced HPD officer is heating up the race for Harris County district attorney.
Ryan Chandler was fired earlier this year for mishandling at least 20 Houston homicide cases.
Now Kim Ogg, candidate for district attorney, is accusing current D.A. Devon Anderson of mishandling the investigation.
“It’s time for the public to be told by our D.A. exactly how and when she began handling the investigation of Ryan Chandler, and why she handled it in the manner that she did,” Ogg said.
Chandler just so happened to be engaged to assistant district attorney Inger Hampton at the time he was investigated by HPD internal affairs.
Anderson’s office says that conflict of interest is why they filed a motion to recuse, sending the case to montgomery county to handle.
But Ogg says punting a case to another jurisdiction is virtually unheard of.
“The district attorneys office has almost 250 attorneys,” she said. “When one is conflicted, there are necessarily 240 something assistant D.A.s who could perform that investigation.”
Ogg also questions why the order to transfer the case to Montgomery County was sealed, meaning even the name of the judge who issued the order is kept secret.
Anderson’s office has an answer for that, saying it was sealed “to protect the investigation” because Chandler was not aware of the investigation at that time.
Fair enough, but why not unseal those records now?
“I’m asking district attorney Devon Anderson to agree to unseal all the related documents, including the name of the judge who issued that order,” Ogg said.
Looks like the ball is in Anderson’s court for now.
We’re sure we’ll hear more from these two attorneys who just so happen to argue for a living.
