50 lawyers showed up to support Texas lawyer whose office was searched by police
Last month, I posted about Texas lawyer Keith Gore, whose office and files were searched by the police for evidence in his client's murder case. The prosecutors wanted evidence which was in Gore's possession, and a hearing had been scheduled to determine whether Gore was required to turn it over or whether it was privileged.
Instead of waiting for the hearing, the prosecution sought and received a search warrant from a different judge, searched Gore's office, and seized the materials. At a hearing last week, on motions by the defense to recuse the judge who had signed the search warrant and motions by the prosecutor to recuse the defense attorney, 50 attorneys packed the courtroom in support of Gore, including the president of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyer's Association which has filed an amicus brief in the case.
"It's a tremendous concern regarding the government's ability to raid a lawyer's office," Rick Hagen, a partner in Denton's Jackson & Hagen who is president of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, says in an interview. Hagen attended the recusal motion hearing Aug. 5 and filed an amicus brief on behalf of TCDLA with the 401st District Court in Texas v. Bell, arguing that the search violated the Fourth and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. "And you've got to understand this is not a case where Keith Gore is accused of any wrongdoing whatsoever."
