Whipped Cream Difficulties

Travis County DA Rosemary Lehmberg says she’s not going to run for re-election in 2016. She also says she plans to seek “professional help and guidance” once she’s released.

It may seem that I’ve been gloating about this case. I’m not. Truthfully, I feel bad for Ms. Lehmberg. I’m not an expert in substance abuse, but if she had blown a .09, I could chalk that up as the kind of mistake anyone could make. Driving around with a .239 BAC and an open bottle of vodka in the passenger seat makes me think there’s a problem. I respect Ms. Lehmberg for standing up and taking responsibility for her actions – including entering a guilty plea right away, rather than forcing a trial and all the conflicts that would result from her office prosecuting her. I think she’s doing the right thing by seeking professional help.

But I also feel that her actions have compromised the office. And as I’ve said before, the law is the law, and says she can be removed from office for intoxication. There’s no “good person” exception.

I hope Ms. Lehmberg gets help, and I hope she remains a respected member of the Travis County legal community. I hope she uses this experience to help other people in similar situations. But I believe she needs to do so as a defense lawyer, not as an elected prosecutor.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 28th, 2013 at 9:28 am and is filed under Clippings, Law, TCDA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.