PERSON: Devon Anderson
Employer
Harris County, Texas
Position
District attorney
Biography
Governor Rick Perry appointed Devon Anderson Harris County District Attorney on September 26, 2013. She succeeds her late husband, Mike Anderson. On November 4, 2014, Anderson was reelected to her first term which officially began in January 2015.
Anderson has a long history of fighting for justice. She was a prosecutor for 12 years at the Harris County District Attorney’s office trying some of the worst criminals including, the “Railroad Killer,” Angel Maturino Resendiz. Anderson rose through the ranks of the office prosecuting offenses at every level. She was a Chief Felony prosecutor for 5 years and tried over 100 felony jury trials including 7 capital murders.
In 2005, Devon left the Harris County District Attorney’s Office after being elected to serve as State District Judge in the 177th Criminal District Court. While serving as District Judge, Anderson presided over an average of fifty jury trials a year involving all levels of felony offenses including capital murder, murder, child abuse, kidnapping, arson, and drug and property crimes. She supervised hundreds of probationers and monitored their compliance with conditions of their probation to ensure community safety and to promote rehabilitation. Anderson also volunteered to supervise a special docket of non-violent offenders who struggled with substance abuse addictions. A poll conducted by the Houston Bar Association in 2007 ranked Judge Anderson second among local criminal district judges.
In 2009, Anderson left the bench and started her own criminal defense firm. Her firm’s focus was on the representation of citizens accused of state and federal criminal offenses. In November 2012, Anderson left her practice when her husband was elected Harris County District Attorney.
Anderson earned her undergraduate and law degree from The University of Texas. She is a graduate of the Career Prosecutors Course at the National College of District Attorneys. After she completed the course, the National College invited her back as a faculty adviser and trial advocacy instructor. She has also taught continuing legal education classes for the State Bar of Texas and the Texas District and County Attorneys Association.
Anderson has been the recipient of several prestigious awards for her work in 2014 including:
2014 Premier Women in Law, Association of Women Attorneys
2014 Policy Setter Award, MADD
2014 Early Leader Award, Waco ISD Advanced Academic Services
2014 Houston’s 50 Most Influential Women
During her tenure as District Attorney, Anderson has added more prosecutors to the Human Trafficking Section, Animal Cruelty Section, Organized Crime Section, and Mental Health Division. She helped create a new misdemeanor prostitution court and misdemeanor Veterans court. In cooperation with the Criminal District Court judges, Anderson also helped implement a Court to focus on felony backlog cases starting with Capital Murders. In its first year, the program reduced the average pending age of Capital Murder cases from 3.5 years to 1.5 years.
In cooperation with the Houston Police Department and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, Anderson also created the First Chance Intervention Program to help non-violent offenders charged with marijuana possession avoid a criminal conviction on their record. “Our goal is to keep these individuals from entering the revolving door of the criminal justice system,” said Anderson.
She has concentrated on community outreach programs promoting the office’s services and making prosecutors more accessible to the community. “I think if you want to avoid being a crime victim you need to educate yourself,” said Anderson. “We realize that our office is very reactive. We become involved in most cases after they have been solved but we can also do a big service to the community by teaching them about current crime trends and scams.” This outreach effort has included the implementation of an animal cruelty program called “Helping Our Pets through Education” (HOPE) that teaches young children about responsible pet ownership.
Anderson grew up in Waco, Texas. She now lives in Bellaire with her son, Sam and daughter, Brynn. They are members of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church.
Anderson has a long history of fighting for justice. She was a prosecutor for 12 years at the Harris County District Attorney’s office trying some of the worst criminals including, the “Railroad Killer,” Angel Maturino Resendiz. Anderson rose through the ranks of the office prosecuting offenses at every level. She was a Chief Felony prosecutor for 5 years and tried over 100 felony jury trials including 7 capital murders.
In 2005, Devon left the Harris County District Attorney’s Office after being elected to serve as State District Judge in the 177th Criminal District Court. While serving as District Judge, Anderson presided over an average of fifty jury trials a year involving all levels of felony offenses including capital murder, murder, child abuse, kidnapping, arson, and drug and property crimes. She supervised hundreds of probationers and monitored their compliance with conditions of their probation to ensure community safety and to promote rehabilitation. Anderson also volunteered to supervise a special docket of non-violent offenders who struggled with substance abuse addictions. A poll conducted by the Houston Bar Association in 2007 ranked Judge Anderson second among local criminal district judges.
In 2009, Anderson left the bench and started her own criminal defense firm. Her firm’s focus was on the representation of citizens accused of state and federal criminal offenses. In November 2012, Anderson left her practice when her husband was elected Harris County District Attorney.
Anderson earned her undergraduate and law degree from The University of Texas. She is a graduate of the Career Prosecutors Course at the National College of District Attorneys. After she completed the course, the National College invited her back as a faculty adviser and trial advocacy instructor. She has also taught continuing legal education classes for the State Bar of Texas and the Texas District and County Attorneys Association.
Anderson has been the recipient of several prestigious awards for her work in 2014 including:
2014 Premier Women in Law, Association of Women Attorneys
2014 Policy Setter Award, MADD
2014 Early Leader Award, Waco ISD Advanced Academic Services
2014 Houston’s 50 Most Influential Women
During her tenure as District Attorney, Anderson has added more prosecutors to the Human Trafficking Section, Animal Cruelty Section, Organized Crime Section, and Mental Health Division. She helped create a new misdemeanor prostitution court and misdemeanor Veterans court. In cooperation with the Criminal District Court judges, Anderson also helped implement a Court to focus on felony backlog cases starting with Capital Murders. In its first year, the program reduced the average pending age of Capital Murder cases from 3.5 years to 1.5 years.
In cooperation with the Houston Police Department and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, Anderson also created the First Chance Intervention Program to help non-violent offenders charged with marijuana possession avoid a criminal conviction on their record. “Our goal is to keep these individuals from entering the revolving door of the criminal justice system,” said Anderson.
She has concentrated on community outreach programs promoting the office’s services and making prosecutors more accessible to the community. “I think if you want to avoid being a crime victim you need to educate yourself,” said Anderson. “We realize that our office is very reactive. We become involved in most cases after they have been solved but we can also do a big service to the community by teaching them about current crime trends and scams.” This outreach effort has included the implementation of an animal cruelty program called “Helping Our Pets through Education” (HOPE) that teaches young children about responsible pet ownership.
Anderson grew up in Waco, Texas. She now lives in Bellaire with her son, Sam and daughter, Brynn. They are members of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church.
ClipsBank
Full
Compact
NewsBase
Full
Compact
RadioBank
Full
Compact
PodBank
Full
Compact
TranscriptBank
Full
Compact
No data found
