Jump to: site navigation, content.

Friday, January 4, 2008

Dallas Weekly names Dallas DA Craig Watkins Man of the Year


His first 365 days in office, Mr. Watkins has catapulted to national and international status as the man who will not only convict the guilty but also free the innocent.

Craig Watkins

Craig Watkins

When District Attorney Craig Watkins was sworn in on January 1, 2007, Pastor Frederick D. Haynes III of Friendship-West Baptist Church referred to the occasion as ushering in a "new era."

During the campaign, he talked about making a change and working throughout the community to deal with some of the root causes of crime, like poverty and a lack of educational and employment opportunities. He also talked about finding a way to help the formerly incarcerated become productive citizens. And while others were touting a get-tough-on-crime message, Mr. Watkins was talking about being "smart on crime."

"I'm going to punish you for a purpose," he said. "The Republicans were tough on crime. I am not going to have a knee-jerk reaction. We still need to be tough on crime, but we also need to make sure that when you get out you are ready to live as a productive citizen!"

Along the campaign trail he told citizens, "When you have crime, you have victims. I want to figure out why things are happening and deal with some of those issues."

His first 365 days in office, Mr. Watkins has catapulted to national and international status as the man who will not only convict the guilty but also free the innocent.

Journalist Joyce King is writing a book about the 13 individuals who have been exonerated by DNA. It's a foregone conclusion that Mr. Watkins will be included especially since his office partnered with The Innocence Project of Texas to review DNA requests.

He has said time and time again that he knows innocent people have been sent to prison and in the past year, despite naysayers, he has proven himself to be true.

For stepping up to the plate and rising to the occasion, this Prairie View A&M University alum and Kappa Alpha Psi member is just the person to recognize as Newsmaker of the Year for 2007 and we are betting that he will be a hard act to follow in 2008!

Pegasus News content partner - The Dallas Weekly

Pegasus News content partner - The Dallas Weekly



Share: 
del.icio.us Digg DZone Facebook Fark Google Google Reader Reddit Slashdot StumbleUpon Technorati Twitter YahooBuzz YahooMyWeb YCombinator


Sponsored Links

(This comment was removed by the site staff.)

2 years, 4 months ago

Travis Bush, verified:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedconte...

Very sad story and yes VERY disappointing that the DA didn't step in and put the hammer down on those punks. But, typical, IMO..from that article..

"It's unfortunate – they're young people, and we don't want to destroy a young person's life or anything like that,"

2 years, 4 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

Mike Orren, verified:

Removed Brian's comment for profanity. Brian, you can try again if you don't try to cheat our profanity filter.

2 years, 4 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

What do you think?

:

:

 Find out how to share this comment with Facebook

See more stories in:


Faved or commented on by...

Latest comments...

Dallas Morning News attacks ice cream trucks

Actually, according to Dallas City Hall, ice cream trucks can no longer have any sound amplification


Photos: Basement speakeasy called Hi/Lo opens underneath Mason Bar in Uptown Dallas

Hipster Doofus hangout. Spoken by somebody that thinks the Olive Garden has some kick-ass Italian f


Photos: Basement speakeasy called Hi/Lo opens underneath Mason Bar in Uptown Dallas

twslv, Mason Bar does still have dinner, though it's not available downstairs in Hi/Lo unless it's b


Stay connected