Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg was recently honored with the Lone Star Award from the Association of Substance Abuse Programs, in recognition of her outstanding leadership and distinctive contributions to substance use and recovery support services in Texas.

After the award reception, Ogg answered a few questions about her philosophy when it comes to reforming how the criminal justice system addresses mental health.

Read more

A 22-year-old gang member who bragged on social media that he followed a rival gang member’s family from a funeral and then shot at them in two separate drive-by shootings has been sentenced to 70 years in prison for his actions in a city-wide crime spree, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Monday.

“This gang member staked out a funeral so that he could terrorize a grieving family and tried to gun them down as they mourned,” Ogg said. “The families of his victims deserve to know that he will spend decades in prison for his intentional disregard for people and the rule of law.”

Read more

An MS-13 gang member, who drove a witness who was cooperating with police to a park to be gunned down by other gang members, has been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to murder, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Saturday.

“Gang violence is an insidious and treacherous cycle of brutality and is particularly heinous when a cooperating witness is killed,” Ogg said. “It will never have a place in our city or county.”

Read more

An MS-13 gang member pleaded guilty to his role in the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old witness in exchange for a 40-year prison sentence, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Thursday.

“Cases like this show that gang members work together to rob, kill and terrorize their own members as well as regular citizens—they are a blight on our community and have to be held accountable,” Ogg said.

Read more

The “main sniper” for a local gang, was sentenced to life in prison Monday for the murder of a Lamar High School student, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced.

“Kendrick Johnson participated in at least seven murders. It is hard to believe somebody this young could be this vicious, but the evidence showed he loved to kill and our streets and social media were his playground,” Ogg said. “He seemed to be striving for celebrity status in the gang world by killing as many people as possible.”

Read more

Greenpeace paid $58,450 in criminal restitution to five local police and firefighter agencies as part of a plea agreement with 25 defendants, who executed a “takeover” of the Fred Hartman Bridge, closing the Port of Houston for approximately 24 hours in September 2019, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Friday.

“Regardless of motive, it is illegal to risk the lives of law enforcement and ordinary people who must drive the bridge. They wasted the time of police officers and firefighters, who potentially could have been used to respond to real emergencies,” Ogg said.

Read more

Read more

House Bill 1325 was signed into law by the Governor last month and became immediately effective. The House Bill creates a State of Texas Hemp Production Plan, and now allows farmers to grow hemp as a crop.

The new definition of hemp necessarily changes the definition of marijuana. From HB 1325:

“Marijuana means the plant Cannabis sativa L., whether growing or not, the seeds of the plant, and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of that plant or its seeds. The term does not include ... hemp, as that term is defined by Section 121.001, Agricultural Code.”

Read more

HOUSTON- Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, flanked by law enforcement and community partners, marked the two-year anniversary of the Misdemeanor Marijuana Diversion Program during a press conference, Friday.

Over the last two years, $35,135,520 of Harris County tax dollars were redirected from the arrest and prosecution of misdemeanor marijuana offenders toward enforcement of more serious criminal laws—more than 9,000 individuals have been diverted.

The initiative, started in March 2017, is a pre-charge diversion program offered by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office to offenders who would otherwise be arrested and charged with possession of misdemeanor marijuana, regardless of criminal history.

Read more