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SOUTHEAST TEXAS RECORD

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Harris County DA doesn't have to produce files for inmate serving 99-year sentence, state appeals panel affirms

Lawsuits
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Texas Fourteenth Court of Appeals Justice Kevin Jewell | txcourts.gov/

HOUSTON — Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg will not have to produce files for an incarcerated inmate's legal malpractice case against his former criminal defense attorney, a state appeals court recently affirmed.

In its seven-page memorandum opinion issued Feb. 11, a Texas Fourteenth Court of Appeals three-justice panel said it agreed with a lower court's ruling that Ogg has the discretion to deny the request by Artis Charles Harrell.

Harrell, 52, is being held at the William G. McConnell Unit about a mile from Beeville in Bee County, where he is serving a 99-year sentence for a July 2005 armed robbery conviction, according to an online inmate search.


Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg | facebook.com/pg/Harris-County-District-Attorneys-Office-150891285427503

Harrell requested the files from Ogg under the Texas Public Information Act, claiming he needs records that Ogg holds for a civil malpractice case against the attorney who represented him during his criminal trial, according to the memorandum opinion.

"Because we agree that Harrell's suit lacks an arguable basis in law, we affirm the trial court's judgment," the memorandum opinion said.

Justice Kevin Jewell wrote the memorandum opinion in which Justice Ken Wise and Justice Margaret "Meg" Poissant concurred.

Harrell sued Ogg after she denied his request under a state law to allow the district attorney discretion to do so, according to the background portion of the memorandum opinion.

Harrell sough to have the state law declared unconstitutional as applied.

Ogg moved to have Harrell's complaint dismissed, claiming it was frivolous, and her motion was granted by a Harris County District Court.

Harrell appealed, arguing "in his only relevant issue that the trial court's dismissal order is erroneous," the memorandum opinion said.

The appeals court panel held that Harrell's constitutional rights were not violated and that the state law is not unconstitutional as it applies to Harrell.

"Because Harrell's declaratory relief claim has no arguable basis in law, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in granting Ogg's motion to dismiss Harrell's suit as frivolous," the memorandum opinion said. "We overrule Harrell's first issue."

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