Houston, TX – Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg’s office has cut yet another sweetheart deal with a violent criminal to help him avoid serving any time in prison.
Career criminal Clayton Brown, an offender with a “lengthy, violent criminal history,” was arrested in 2018 for shooting two people at a Houston block party, Houston Police Officers’ Union (HPOU) President Joe Gamaldi announced last Tuesday.
One of his victims was a 15-year-old girl.
Brown was released on bond, but ended up back in custody a short while later for shooting yet another person, Gamaldi said.
“Now you would think DA Kim Ogg and her office would throw the book at him,” the union president noted on social media. “You would be wrong.”
In exchange for Brown’s guilty plea in one of the shootings, Ogg agreed to “dismiss two cases, then gave him deferred adjudication [no jail time] on the third,” Gamaldi railed.
Despite having been arrested and charged for having shot three people in two separate incidents, Brown was allowed to plead guilty to only one “and received no jail time,” he added.
“With shootings occurring daily in our community, the DA owes the public an explanation,” Gamaldi wrote. “An explanation as to why she is weak on criminals who commit violent crimes with guns and show no regard for human life.”
“This madness has to stop,” he added.
During an interview with KRIV on Tuesday, the HPOU president reiterated his belief that Ogg needs to be removed from office, regardless as to whether it was her or one of the attorneys in her office who brokered Brown’s plea deal.
“The buck stops with her,” Gamaldi said. “She’s the boss. She’s the elected district attorney of Harris County.”
He noted that Ogg “laid off 39 of her most experienced prosecutors” when she first took over as district attorney, and that 100 more people have either resigned or been fired since then.
“That kind of tumultuous environment breeds bad decision making,” Gamaldi argued. “So, now you have DAs that maybe aren’t experienced cutting these sweetheart deals. And this isn’t the only one!”
The community should be “outraged” that so many violent offenders are being released into the community with little-to-no jail time, he said.
“No mistake – we absolutely want her gone, Houston police officers want her gone,” Gamaldi reiterated.
Ogg’s office blasted Gamaldi for speaking out about the multitude of cases where violent offenders have been allowed to walk free, he said.
“You know what they said today? It’s not my place to criticize the district attorney,” Gamaldi told KRIV. “Well, with all due respect, I’m the elected representation of the 5,200 brave men and women who put a uniform on every single day to protect this community. It is absolutely our place to question the decision-making of the district attorney here in Harris County.”
Furthermore, local law enforcement officers are also citizens of the very community that is being placed at risk, he added.
“We’re members of this community. We love this community and we care about it,” Gamaldi said. “We don’t want to see people getting shot dead in the streets because the DA keeps letting them out.”
