The current criminal cases against three former Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo workers are being recused by Sean Teare, the recently sworn-in Harris County District Attorney, and his office.
According to Harris County court records, Teare submitted a motion for recusal on Thursday, and Judge Hazel Jones granted the request. At Teare’s request, the cases will be prosecuted by the Texas Attorney General’s Office.
Teare stated in a news release on Thursday that “the investigation and orderly administration of justice of these cases have been marred for years by the worst kind of politics.” “Our community deserves a DA who not only keeps politics out of the prosecution of any criminal matter, but who will go above and beyond to prevent even the appearance of any conflict of interest, even though I have never been engaged in the prosecution or defense of any of these individuals. I hope that these matters will be decided swiftly, equitably, and honorably in the future.
Teare has previously worked for the legal company that represented Alex Triantaphyllis, a former Hidalgo employee who is accused. Hidalgo also endorsed Teare when he ran against former Harris County DA Kim Ogg in the primary race.
In a dispute that has lasted for years over the alleged bid-rigging of a $11 million county contract to a preferred vendor, Teare’s recusal is the most recent development.
Elevate Strategies was given the contract for a COVID-19 vaccine awareness initiative in June 2021. Even though the contract was eventually terminated, Ogg’s office apparently discovered earlier correspondence between Felicity Pereyra, the creator of Elevated Strategies, and three of Hidalgo’s former employees.
A few months later, in March 2022, Texas Rangers stormed the Harris County Administration Building and took laptops, smartphones, and Google account access. Three former Hidalgo employees, Triantaphyllis, Aaron Dunn, and Wallis Nader, were indicted by a grand jury the following month for allegedly trying to influence the $11 million contract to Elevate Strategies.
Hidalgo has accused Ogg of using false evidence and denied any wrongdoing.
In March of last year, Teare defeated Oggby by a margin of over 55 percentage points in the Democratic primary election. Ogg declared that she would be handing over the criminal investigation into Hidalgo’s former staffers to the Texas Attorney General’s Office, just over a month after Teare’s primary victory.
At the time, Ogg defended her choice, stating that she wanted to make sure the probe would not be impacted by the recent primary results.
“With the results of the election, and the uncertainty about when the case will be tried, I felt it was my duty to get it to an office that I knew would not allow this case to be swept under the rug,” Ogg stated in March.
Ogg also attacked Teare, claiming that because he was working for the Cogdell Law Firm, which represented Triantaphyllis, he had a conflict of interest in the case. Additionally, throughout the primary, Hidalgo had endorsed Teare.
In the general election for district attorney in November, Teare defeated Republican Dan Simons by a slim margin. On Wednesday, Teare took the oath of office.
Below is Teare’s complete statement.
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