Chuck Rosenthal Update: February 15, 2008: He’s Outta There!
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From Texas Lawyer:
Harris County DA Chuck Rosenthal ResignsAfter he was snared in a net of swirling controversies including an e-mail scandal and the high profile indictment of a sitting Supreme Court justice followed by an immediate move to dismiss that case, Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal resigned from office Feb. 15.
In a press release he sent out that same day, Rosenthal said prescription drugs had impaired his judgment.
“Although I have enjoyed excellent medical and pharmacological treatment, I have come to learn that the particular combination of drugs prescribed for me in the past has caused some impairment in my judgment,” Rosenthal wrote. “This position is much too important for anyone to be less than their best. I am currently in a different regimen of therapy from different health care professionals and am looking forward to concentrating on the restoration of my health.”
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Rosenthal’s e-troubles began last December, when e-mails he sent and received in the latter half of 2007 were disclosed as part of discovery in a federal civil rights suit, Erik Adam Ibarra, et al. v. Harris County, Texas, et al. The e-mails on his office computer included several romantic notes Rosenthal had sent to his executive assistant, Kerry Stevens. As a result, Harris County Republican leaders pressured Rosenthal to remove his name from the party’s March 4 primary ballot, which he did on Jan. 2.
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In his press release, Rosenthal says the AG investigation of him has been called off.
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Rosenthal resigned the same day a courtroom foe filed a petition in state court seeking a court order to have him and Harris County Sheriff Tommy Thomas removed from office.
On Feb. 15, Erik Ibarra, the plaintiff in the federal court suit that led to the public release of Rosenthal’s work e-mails, filed the removal petition that seeks to temporarily and permanently remove Rosenthal and Thomas from office.
Ibarra alleges Rosenthal should be removed for “intoxication, incompetence or official misconduct” under §§87.012.-013 of the Texas Local Government Code.
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Rosenthal was also criticized for the way his office handled the Jan. 17 indictments a grand jury returned against Texas Supreme Court Justice David Medina and his wife, Francisca, in connection with a June 28, 2007, fire that damaged the Medinas’ home and a neighboring house in Spring. …
