BELL COUNTY, Texas — In Bell County there is a mistrial in the books, the district attorney is under fire, and local defense lawyers want the whole district attorney's office to be reviewed.
There is a single case that has blown it all open and that is the State of Texas v. Demeterious Woods. He was charged with a felony count of injury to a child after allegedly hitting a child "with a belt, a rope or a stick" in 2022.
According to the Bell County online docket portal, Bell County Judge Wade Faulkner declared a mistrial in Woods' case on Aug. 29 after determining the District Attorney's office did not disclose a piece of evidence to the defense in a timely manner, which they are required to do under the Michael Morton Act, named after a man who was wrongfully convicted due to prosecutors withholding evidence in Williamson County.
It's the case that Jeffrey Linick and the rest of the team at the Law Office of Brett Pritchard have been working on.
"Needless to say they failed in spectacular fashion of meeting their duty in this case," Linick told 6 News in a sit-down interview. "There's questions of whether it's negligence or intentional, or how much is on the part of the Nolanville Police Department, how much is on the part of the District Attorney's office. At the end of the day, had we not caught this in time, Mr Woods very well may have been looking at a wrongful conviction and incarceration against him."
Linick said evidence not being handed over is a systemic problem in the Bell County District Attorney's Office that needs attention.
"It highlights a very serious flaw in the system that and in the policies that Mr. [Henry] Garza has running his office and so I think it needs a top to bottom review and in a complete overhaul."
The defense attorney said this is the first time the Michael Morton Act has been ruled to be violated in Bell County. Linick described it as concerning and that is why he talked to 6 News about it, as he wants the public to better understand what has happened in the case against Woods.
"This is pretty significant negligence coming from a state agency that has the power ultimately to incarcerate individuals, deprive them of their freedom and even if it's just negligence on their part that should be seriously concerning," Linick added.
Although there has been a mistrial declared, 6 News legal analyst and former prosecutor Liz Mitchell said this could be just the beginning of the case.
"Second part of this is taking a look at whether or not there was a prosecutorial misconduct case here because of a blatant Brady violation," Mitchell explained
Mitchell said there should never be doubt by prosecuting lawyers if all evidence has been shared with defense, it is required by law. After reading public online records, she has a hard time understanding how it could have happened in the Woods case.
"The state brings the charges thus they must gather all of the evidence, the good, the bad and the ugly," Mitchell said. "It is hard for me to imagine that the prosecutor wouldn't have gathered CPS reports in this case. When you're dealing with a child abuse case, there are going to be voluminous records with regards to child advocacy centers, CPS, forensic interviews, but this is an actual report generated by another government agency, so there really is no excuse for the prosecutors to not have it in their possession and more importantly to turn it over to the defense."
The evidence in question for Woods case was a 17-page police report filed by the Nolanville Police Department recapping an interview of the alleged victim's mother with Child Protective Services.
In the interview, the mother reportedly admits to striking the alleged victim with a switch and a belt "and offering her opinion that her mother may have coached the alleged victim to make certain statements implicating Woods."
Mitchell explained that sort of evidence is what is consider 'exculpatory evidence.' That means it is evidence in the prosecutor's possession that could be helpful to the defendant's case. The prosecutors are legally required to turn it over. If not, it is a Brady violation.
"When there are Brady violations, then you do have prosecutorial misconduct, which could mean that the District Attorney's bar card is in jeopardy, they could be sued civilly... and see possible jail time." Mitchell said.
Henry Garza, the Bell County district attorney, said in his statement, "There are active cases pending concerning Mr. Woods, we intend to proceed at a later date on the cases and will reserve the remainder of the comments for the courtroom."
In response to Pritchard's claims, Garza said, "we take issue with several points that he mentions and have a different perspective of what and how this matter came to be an issue in the case. Regardless of Mr. Pritchard's perspective or my office's perspective the one perspective that should be looked at is the Judge's perspective of the events and are controlling."
Pritchard's full statement to 6 News can be read at this link.
Pritchard said his firm intends to obtain a transcript of the proceedings and make them available.
More from 6 News: