THE ROLE OF VICARIOUS LIABILITY AT THE HARRIS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE

John B. Holmes is often compared, of late, to Charles "Chuck" Rosenthal and even Pat Lykos.
Holmes is a Republican who served Harris County as the elected DA and THAT is his ONLY substantive commonality with the  Rosenthal-Lykos regimes.

Holmes lived by President Harry S. Truman's (a Democrat) philosophy of , "The Buck Stops Here"; while the "Lykos-Rosenthal Philosophy" is, "Pass The Buck".

Holmes was respected for leading by example and instilling in his troops the principle of doing the right thing simply BECAUSE it was the right thing to do.  He exercised common sense over political correctness and was intolerant of "damn fool results".
Holmes' character and principled leadership would never have allowed the corruption and chaos at the Harris County District Attorney's Office that has festered since his retirement. Johnny Holmes was respected and took responsibility..............if you were right, Johnny didn't stick you in the back, he had your back.
JBH understood  consequences, was a real leader and a real prosecutor............he was not a victim or an excuse maker.

Chuck Rosenthal and Pat Lykos are many things; but they are not worthy of sitting at the table with the legendary John B. Holmes.

For the non-lawyers who might read this blog, the legal principle of vicarious liability applies to hold one person liable for the actions of another when engaged in some form of joint or collective activity.
The doctrine of respondeat superior arose from this principle and is based on the employer-employee relationship. The doctrine makes the employer responsible for a lack of care on the part of an employee in relation to those to whom the employer owes a duty of care. For respondeat superior to apply, the employee's negligence must occur within the scope of his/her employment

Section 7.02 of the Texas Penal Code (Law of Parties) outlines the following: A person is criminally responsible for an offense committed by the conduct of another if "acting with intent to promote or assist the commission of the offense he solicits, encourages, directs, aids or attempts to aid the other persons to commit the offense" or "If, in the attempt to carry out a conspiracy to commit one felony, another felony is committed by one of the conspirators, all conspirators are guilty of the felony actually committed, though having no intent to commit it, if the offense was committed in furtherance of the unlawful purpose and was one that should have been anticipated as a result of the carrying out of the conspiracy."

Four (4) years ago, almost to the date, the Harris County Republican Party and the local media essentially applied the Law of Parties to the Rosenthal administration......ironic on many levels.  Although Rosenthal's notorious arrogance rendered him oblivious to the unheeded advice of his his top ADAs; these same ADAs, most notably former Bureau Chief of Special Crimes Kelly Siegler, were condemned as "partners in a culture of corruption" because they "should have anticipated" that Rosenthal's substance abuse would lead him to commit adultery, lie about it, send racist and pornographic emails on county time on a county computer, campaign on the county dime, defy a Federal Judge's court order, commit obstruction of justice, perjure himself, etc.

Today, the Harris County Republican Party and the media are applying a reverse vicarious liability theory on the current improper conduct exploding at the Harris County DAs office in an effort to protect their anointed one, DA Patsy Lykos.
Reminiscent of a reverse mortgage on grandma's home........only it's the ADAs and the citizens of Harris County getting screwed for Lykos' bad behavior instead of the bank screwing grandma.

An ADA should NOT be held responsible for the improper behavior of his/her boss simply by virtue of employment.

Due process requires a balancing of public and private interests. When  making an individual vicariously liable for another’s actions, the private interests affected (i.e. employment, damaged reputation, etc) outweigh the public interests, especially when there are alternative means to reach the same end.

The courts historically hold EMPLOYERS responsible for the illegal or negligent conduct of their EMPLOYEES and the PRINCIPLE responsible for his AGENT; BUT at 1201 Franklin The Lykos-Rosenthal Principle holds the employees responsible for the improper conduct of the employer.

Lykos and Rosenthal do not appear concerned with DUE PROCESS and the RULE OF LAW.......................they are above all that!?

The Harris County Republican Party leadership treats elections more like an Easter egg hunt than a quest to find qualified candidates to serve the citizens of Harris County.
They are content to collect the cracked and/or old rotten eggs just because they have an inscribed "R"; while skipping over the fresh solid eggs of "R" future..........it is no wonder their baskets stink.