To The
Editor:
Do we the people of Cooke
County want Janice Warder as our District Attorney?
She was involved in a
murder case in 1986 for Gerald Pabst. A murder charge against Pabst was dropped
and his brother-in-law, Clay Chabot was sent to prison for life for murder and
rape. The DA in Dallas County is now sifting through court files and preparing
a capital murder against Mr. Pabst.
Court hearings are set for
February 27-29,2008 in the Dallas District Court of the honorable Mike Snipes,
regarding Warder’s conduct. Why was a dismissal sought in the original murder
case?
"The prosecutor,
Janice Warder, may have made a deal with Mr. Pabst in exchange for the
testimony that lead to the 1986 conviction of his brother-in-law". (1)
"As a prosecutor,
Janice Warder convicted Clay Chabot of capital murder (life sentence) using
perjured testimony from the real rapist. The recent DNA test shows that Mr.
Pabst was the real rapist."(2)
"The State (Warder)
made a deal with the killer because it gave them a witness…..At a Federal
hearing on this matter in 1994, Ms. Warder testified that the previous
affidavit was false…. She just totally changed her story when she realized the
law put a duty on her to disclose the deal." (3)
"Warde’s court has
been among the most expensive in recent years, both in total costs and net
costs per disposition." (4) Ms. Warder "ranked second from the bottom
of 52 lawyers/ candidates in the Dallas County bar poll" (5)
In Dallas County fifteen
men convicted of crimes have been cleared through DNA testing since 2001. This
is the highest one county total in the country. Texas leads the nation with 30
DNA exonerations.
The case will be even more
difficult for prosecutors to retry as evidence in the 1986 case is gone. (The
weapon and bloody shirt of the original rapist)
Can we afford the same type
of mistakes, mistrust, and lying in Cooke County? Choose your DA wisely. Crime
and drug cases are down in the last three years and the cases disposed of are
up by 200 cases per year. Will change serve justice? See you at the polls on
Tuesday March 4th.
(1) and (3) Dallas Morning News , Jennifer Emily, Sunday
August 19th 2007
Dallas Morning News, August 2, 2007
Dallas Morning News , Sept. 25,2006
pol. Ad paid for by www.cookecitizens.org, Steve Gaylord, Treasurer