When serving as DA, court records show he repeatedly allowed men charged with violent sexual assault of a child to serve no jail time
For Immediate Release May 13, 2024 Kaufman, Texas - Kaufman County Criminal Court records have been discovered showing that when Rick Harrison served as District Attorney, he repeatedly allowed violent defendants charged with serious first-degree and second-degree felony crimes of sexual assault of a child to have their charges reduced to the much less serious charge of injur y to a child.
“As a law enforcement officer and as a father, I am sickened by the actions of then-District Attorney Rick Harrison,” said Ernie Zepeda, Kemp Police Chief and former Captain with the Kaufman Sheriff ’s Office.
“His actions prove he is incapable or unwilling to take the actions necessary to protect the most vulnerable in our community. He absolutely has no business serving as Judge of the County Court at Law. That’s why I am joining Republicans across Kaufman County to vote for Joseph Russell in the May 28th runoff.”
Rick Harrison was second behind conservative Joseph Russell in the March 4th GOP primary for Kaufman County Court at Law. Since neither candidate received 50.1% of the vote in the four person race, they will face off in the May 28 GOP primary runoff.
Court records show that while serving as District Attorney, he allowed original charges that include aggravated sexual assault of a child, sexual assault of a child, indecency with a child, and indecency with a child with sexual contact, to be reduced to less serious charges.
While some of the original charges were so severe they carried a sentence of up to life in prison, each of these cases in the attached document was reduced to a lesser charge that allowed the defendant to:
• Avoid jail time and only serve a short probation period
• Have the conviction on the lesser charge removed from their record upon completing probation
• Not be required to register as a sex offender
“The actions of Rick Harrison have put countless families and children at risk,” said Linda Mott, a GOP leader and School Board Trustee in Kaufman County. “Allowing dangerous criminals charged with felony sex assaults of children to walk free with no jail time proves he is not serious about protecting our community from violent crime. I find it indefensible that Mr. Harrison made it possible for these criminals to now live close to our schools and playgrounds with no means to monitor them.” Mrs. Mott served as a Kaufman ISD principal for twenty-four years.
It is important to note that current Kaufman County District Attorney Erleigh Wiley has dramatically improved the prosecution rate of defendants charged with sexual assault of Kaufman County children. She has created a Special Victims Unit within her office focusing on putting child molesters behind bars and away from our families.
“Our current District Attorney, Erleigh Wiley, has done an incredible job of prosecuting dangerous child molesters in our county,” said Joseph Russell. “In the three terms she served as Kaufman County’s lead prosecutor, she has thoroughly cleaned up Mr. Harrison’s way of doing business. Thanks to her strong leadership, the days of soft plea bargains and putting violent criminals back into our neighborhoods are over.”
Since being voted out of the District Attorney’s Office after serving one term from 2007 to 2010, Harrison began practicing criminal defense again. In promoting his firm, he boasts of helping a client charged with Possession of Child Pornography have his criminal case dismissed on a search warrant technicality, despite admitting his client had 16,000 images of child pornography on his home computer.
Harrison also boasts of helping reduce sentences or having cases dismissed for defendants charged with the following:
• Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child
• Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child/Stepdaughter • Juvenile-Sexual Assault of a Child
• Injur y To Elderly
• Indecent Exposure to a Child
• Murder
• Drug possession and drug distribution The discovery of court documents showing Harrison’s disturbing pattern of offering soft sentences to violent sexual predators comes after Harrison acknowledged on his latest campaign finance report that his campaign is funded by many liberal political operatives, criminal defense attorneys, and Democratic leaders – almost all from Dallas.
Many of his contributions come from the same high-dollar contributors from Dallas who have funded efforts for Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Beto O’Rourke. His contributors have also funded or led efforts to defund the police and open our borders to illegal immigration.
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