It was the last case on the docket of the last criminal court of the month in Austin County, about ninety minutes west of Houston. The gallery was empty, and the defendant was an undocumented immigrant from Honduras. He spoke only Spanish, and the only translator available was his defense attorney. The defendant, who quickly became emotional, was ready to take the plea deal.“I want to be done,” he said, with his attorney translating.But something wasn’t sitting right with Travis Koehn, the state prosecutor. Standing across from the young man who was rubbing tears from his eyes with the shoulder of his striped, jail-issued jumpsuit, Koehn could tell the defendant didn’t have all the information. The man didn’t seem to understand how that day’s decision…
The post One of Texas’s Longest-Serving District Attorneys Made Representation a Rural Value appeared first on Texas Monthly.
Read: Read More