Dallas Commissioners OK Controversial Move

By Bill Zeeble, KERA News

Dallas, TX –

On a 3 to 2 vote, Dallas County Commissioners approved Judge Jim Foster's order from last week. That's when he told county workers to seize Constable Jaime Cortes's computer hard drive from his office. KERA's Bill Zeeble reports on the controversial move.

District Attorney Craig Watkins says County workers cannot legally do what Foster ordered, and the DA cited case law from the Attorney General and district judges.

Watkins: They were outside of their legal authority to seize that information and unfortunately they chose to go ahead and ratify that move which is an illegal act.

Watkins says Foster's decision sets the stage for Commissioners to seize any county employee's computer whenever they want, without a court order, due process, or a subpoena. But Foster says he followed the rules, because 2 other Commissioners ok'd the seizure in advance.

Foster: The majority of the court was aware of what was transpiring.

Commissioner Price says that move alone may have broken the state's open meetings law, because it involved a majority of Commissioners making a decision without the public's knowledge.

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