Carol Vance

Last updated

Carol S. Vance was a former district attorney of Harris County (Houston), Texas, who served in that office from 1966 to 1979, and a former board member of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, which governs the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Vance was born in 1933.

Contents

For a period Vance was a resident of the Westbury area of Houston. [1] In 1992, Governor of Texas Ann Richards named Vance as the head of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice. [2]

Vance attended Houston public schools and graduated from the law school at the University of Texas in Austin. He served as Harris County assistant district attorney in 1958, shortly after graduating from law school, first under Dan Walton and then under Frank Briscoe.[ citation needed ]

He was appointed by Governor of Texas John Connally to fill the vacated district attorney’s spot when Frank Briscoe resigned to run for Congress in 1966 (Briscoe lost to Republican George H. W. Bush). At age 32, he became the second-youngest district attorney in Harris County history (only 21-year-old Peter Gray, chosen in 1842, was younger). He ran in the next election and won the position in his own right.[ citation needed ]

Vance served as district attorney from 1966 until resigning in 1979. He was unopposed in each of his elections.[ citation needed ]

Vance died on June 24, 2022, at the age of 88. [3]

Trials

Some of the trials Vance was involved in, either as prosecutor or as district attorney, include the Elmer Wayne Henley/Houston mass murder case, the Joan Robinson Hill/John Hill murder cases, the Deep Throat v. Vance Supreme Court case, the Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Yarbrough impeachment case, the Lee Otis Johnson marijuana possession case, the Texas Southern University riot prosecutions, and the District Judge Garth Bates case.

Honors

Vance served as president of the National District Attorneys Association and the Texas District and County Attorneys Association. He was selected as a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

In the 1990s, Vance asked state officials to implement the first Christian faith-based prison program at the Jester II Unit, a prison in Fort Bend County, Texas. State officials began to implement the program in 1996. [4] The prison was renamed the Carol S. Vance Unit after Vance. [5]

Vance retired as an employee from the law partnership Bracewell & Giuliani. In 2010 the book Boomtown DA, written by Vance, was published by Whitecaps Media. The book, using first person narration, begins with the Elmer Wayne Henley prosecution and roughly chronologically goes through Vance's terms from 1966 to 1979. Mary Flood of the Houston Chronicle stated "it appears a comfortable and engaging read". [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberty County, Texas</span> County in Texas, United States

Liberty County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 91,628. The county seat is Liberty. It was founded in 1831, as a municipality in Mexico as Villa de la Santísima Trinidad de la Libertad by commissioner José Francisco Madero and organized as a county of the Republic of Texas in 1836. Its name was anglicized as Liberty based on the ideal of American liberty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Bend County, Texas</span> County in Texas, United States

Fort Bend County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. The county was founded in 1837 and organized the next year. It is named for a blockhouse at a bend of the Brazos River. The community developed around the fort in early days.The county seat is Richmond. The largest city located entirely within the county borders is Sugar Land. The largest city by population in the county is Houston; however, most of Houston's population is located in neighboring Harris County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richmond, Texas</span> City in Texas, United States

Richmond is a city in and the county seat of Fort Bend County, Texas, United States. The city is located within the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city population was 11,627. It is home to the founders of the former company Oswego, Nick Mide and Trace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westbury, Houston</span>

Westbury is a neighborhood in the Brays Oaks district of Southwest Houston, Texas, United States. It is located east of Bob White Road, north of U.S. Highway 90 Alternate, and west of South Post Oak Road, adjacent to the Fondren Southwest and Meyerland neighborhoods, just west of the southwest corner of the 610 Loop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital punishment in Texas</span> Overview of capital punishment in the U.S. state of Texas

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Texas for murder, and participation in a felony resulting in death if committed by an individual who has attained or is over the age of 18.

Bracewell LLP is an international law firm based in Houston, Texas, that began in 1945. The firm has approximately 350 lawyers, and has United States offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Hartford, San Antonio, Seattle, Dallas and Austin, as well as offices in Dubai and London.

The Texas Courts of Appeals are part of the Texas judicial system. In Texas, all cases appealed from district and county courts, criminal and civil, go to one of the fourteen intermediate courts of appeals, with one exception: death penalty cases. The latter are taken directly to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the court of last resort for criminal matters in the State of Texas. The highest court for civil and juvenile matters is the Texas Supreme Court. While the Supreme Court (SCOTX) and the Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) each have nine members per the Texas Constitution, the sizes of the intermediate courts of appeals are set by statute and vary greatly, depending on historical case filings and so that the justices on each court can timely adjudicate the volume of cases regularly before them. The total number of intermediate appellate court seats currently stands at 80, ranging from three, four, six, seven, nine, and thirteen (Dallas) per court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High School for Law and Justice</span> Magnet school in Texas, United States

High School for Law and Justice (HSLJ), formerly the High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, is a high school located in Houston, Texas, United States. The school serves grades 9 through 12 and is a part of the Houston Independent School District.

Charles A. Rosenthal was an American lawyer and former District Attorney of Harris County, Texas.

The 2006 Harris County, Texas hate crime assault was the beating, torture, and sexual assault of a Latino student, by two white youths during the early morning of April 22, 2006, in an unincorporated section of Harris County, Texas, United States in Greater Houston. The details of the attack led to the publication of the story in various media outlets in and outside the United States. The victim of the assault, whose identity was not made public until months after the attack, committed suicide a year after the incident.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Texas Department of Criminal Justice</span> Department of the government of Texas

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is a department of the government of the U.S. state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails, and private correctional facilities, funding and certain oversight of community supervision, and supervision of offenders released from prison on parole or mandatory supervision. The TDCJ operates the largest prison system in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue Ridge, Houston</span>

Blue Ridge is a community in Houston, Texas, United States that used to be a distinct unincorporated area in northeast Fort Bend County. The community, which was also known as Hobby, is located on a ridge of Oyster Creek, 16 miles (26 km) east of Richmond. The section of Blue Ridge within the Houston City Limits is known as the Fort Bend-Houston Super Neighborhood #41.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Hittner</span> American judge (born 1939)

David Hittner is a senior United States District Judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. He also has served by temporary assignment on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, as well as the U.S. District Courts for the Southern District of New York and the District of Arizona. His tenure as a federal jurist began in 1986, when he was nominated for the lifetime position by President Ronald Reagan and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Prior to his appointment to the federal bench in 1986, Hittner served from 1978 to 1986 as the elected judge of the 133rd Judicial District Court of Harris County, Texas, based in Houston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyrus Vance Jr.</span> American attorney and politician (born 1954)

Cyrus Roberts Vance Jr. is an American attorney and politician who served as the District Attorney of New York County, New York, also known as the Manhattan District Attorney. He was previously a principal partner at the law firm of Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason, Anello, & Bohrer, P.C. He is the son of Cyrus Vance Sr., former Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter. Vance did not seek reelection as District Attorney in the 2021 election, and was succeeded by Alvin Bragg. He is currently a partner at Baker McKenzie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carol Vance Unit</span> Prison in Fort Bend County, Texas

Carol S. Vance Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) prison located in unincorporated central Fort Bend County, Texas. The unit, located in flatlands, is along U.S. Highway 90A, 4 miles (6.4 km) east of central Richmond. The facility is in proximity to Sugar Land, and it is about 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Downtown Houston. The unit, with about 940 acres (380 ha) of land, is co-located with Jester I Unit, Jester III Unit, and Jester IV Unit. The unit consists of four steel buildings and two brick buildings. The prison is the home of the Prison Fellowship Academy Christian prison program. It is located on the Jester State Prison Farm property.

The J. Dale Wainwright Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) prison for men, located in unincorporated Houston County, Texas. Formerly called the Eastham Unit or "The Ham," the prison was renamed the J. Dale Wainwright Unit after a former chairman of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice. The 12,789 acres (5,176 ha) prison is located on Farm to Market Road 230, near Lovelady and 13 miles (21 km) west of Trinity.

Mark W. Stiles Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice men's prison located in an unincorporated area of Jefferson County, Texas, near Beaumont. The unit, located along Farm to Market Road 3514, is 4 miles (6.4 km) southeast of downtown Beaumont. The approximately 776 acres (314 ha) unit is co-located with the Gist Unit and the LeBlanc Unit.

Dempsie Henley State Jail is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice state jail for women located in unincorporated Liberty County, Texas. It is located on Texas State Highway 321, 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Dayton. The facility, on an approximately 394-acre (159 ha) plot of land, is co-located with the Hightower Prison Unit and the Plane State Jail. Henley is designed to hold around 500 prisoners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael P. Fleming</span>

Michael P. Fleming was a Houston, Texas based attorney and elected official. Fleming was board certified in personal injury law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Fleming was the managing partner of Fleming Law, P.C. Fleming was elected as county attorney in Harris County, Texas in 1996 and reelected the following term in 2000. Fleming was the lead attorney for Harris County before the Supreme Court of the United States in the case Christensen v. Harris County, a case that defined the limits of the Fair Labor and Standards Act and the authority of opinion letters issued by Department of Labor. Fleming came from a family with several generations of politicians. His grandfather was Harry Raymond Fleming and great-grandfather was George William Kyte. He and his widow Natalie, the elected judge of Harris County Criminal Court at Law Number 3, had six children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kim Ogg</span> American lawyer and prosecutor

Kim Ogg is an American lawyer and prosecutor. She is the Harris County District Attorney in Texas and assumed office on January 1, 2017. Her current term ends on December 31, 2024. She was previously the City of Houston’s first appointed Anti-Gang Task Force Director, and the executive director of Crime Stoppers of Houston. She is a member of the Democratic Party.

References

  1. Vance, Carol S. Boomtown DA. Whitecaps Media, 2010. 3. ISBN   978-0-9826353-1-5 .
  2. "Richards picks new chairman for criminal justice board." Fort Worth Star-Telegram . October 15, 1992. 26 Texas. Retrieved on July 30, 2010.
  3. "Former Harris County DA Carol Vance dead at 88." Houston Chronicle . June 26, 2022. Retrieved on May 16, 2023.
  4. Staff and Wire Reports. "Prison unit has new name." Houston Chronicle . Wednesday September 15, 1999. A26. Retrieved on May 9, 2010.
  5. Reavis, Dick J. "Convict HEAVEN New faith-based prison unit appears to be a success." San Antonio Express-News . September 1, 2001. Religion 7B. Retrieved on July 30, 2010. "Named after a longtime Harris County district attorney"
  6. Flood, Mary. "Boomtown DA Carol Vance writes the book." Houston Chronicle . April 23, 2010. Retrieved on July 30, 2010.