Harris County District Attorney's Office

The Harris County District Attorney’s Office (HCDAO) is responsible for prosecuting all felony offenses and Class A and B misdemeanors committed within Harris County — the third-most-populous county in the United States, home to roughly 4.8 million residents and the City of Houston.

The office employs approximately 900 staff, including assistant district attorneys, criminal investigators, and victim services coordinators. It is one of the largest county prosecution offices in the country. Sean Teare, a former defense attorney and ex-prosecutor under predecessor Kim Ogg, won the 2024 Democratic primary and general election and took office January 1, 2025.

Objective Wire covers the Harris County DA’s office as a core Houston accountability beat, tracking prosecutorial patterns, public records filings, grand jury activity, and the office’s response to HPD officer-involved shooting cases. See Houston investigative coverage for OW reporting tied to this office.

Kim Ogg served two terms as Harris County DA (2017–2024), making her one of the longest-tenured DAs in the county’s recent history. Her tenure was marked by early bail reform support and later feuds with the Harris County Commissioners Court and controversy over office management. Ogg lost the 2024 Democratic primary to Sean Teare.

Teare worked as an assistant district attorney under Ogg before leaving for private defense practice, giving him a dual perspective on the office’s internal workings. His transition priorities upon taking office included restructuring the Intake Division, which critics said had accumulated backlogs and inconsistent charging standards under Ogg.

Teare has also publicly committed to recusing himself from any prosecution decisions involving the former staff of Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, owing to conflicts that arose during the Ogg era regarding the Hidalgo administration prosecution controversy.

The HCDAO is organized into specialized divisions that handle different offense categories and special functions:

• Felony Division — Major crimes, murder, robbery, sexual assault, gang prosecutions, and violent offense units.
• Misdemeanor Division — Class A and B misdemeanor prosecution in Harris County Criminal Court at Law.
• Domestic Violence Bureau — Specialized prosecutors and investigators focused on family violence felonies and misdemeanors, including lethality assessment.
• Intake Division — The front-door unit that screens all incoming arrests submitted by HPD, constables, and the Sheriff’s office and makes initial charging decisions. Teare identified this as a priority reform area.
• Special Crimes Bureau — Public corruption, organized crime, fraud, and government misconduct.
• Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) — Reviews claims of wrongful conviction and manages post-conviction DNA requests.
• Victim Services — Counselors and advocates embedded in prosecution teams for trauma-informed case handling.

Sean Teare entered office with four publicly stated reform priorities:

1. Intake Division Reform — Reduce case screening delays and inconsistent charging decisions by restructuring the intake team and improving communication with law enforcement agencies submitting arrests.
2. Domestic Violence Bureau Strengthening — Increase case follow-through rates, reduce victim recantation-driven dismissals, and improve coordination with DV shelters and victim advocates.
3. Misdemeanor Bail Reform — Shift misdemeanor bail practices from ability-to-pay to risk-based pretrial assessment, consistent with the O’Donnell consent decree that reformed Harris County bail.
4. Non-violent Drug Diversion — Expand diversion pathways for first-time and non-violent drug offenders to reduce cycling through the jail, freeing prosecutor resources for violent crime.

The Harris County DA’s Office is a governmental body subject to the Texas Public Information Act (TPIA, Government Code Ch. 552). Written TPIA requests should be submitted to the Public Information Officer at 1201 Franklin St, Houston, TX 77002, or electronically through the office’s website.

Key records categories to request from the HCDAO:

• Charging decisions by offense category and division (aggregate, redacted)
• Case declination rates — arrests submitted vs. charges filed, by law enforcement agency
• Officer-involved shooting referrals — which cases were sent to grand jury vs. declined
• Conviction Integrity Unit case inventory and disposition log
• Internal office policies and training materials on intake screening
• Budget submissions and salary schedules (attorney retention data)

The office must respond within 10 business days. Cost-exceeding responses require a written estimate before production. Withheld records can be appealed to the Texas Attorney General’s Open Records Division (texasattorneygeneral.gov) within 60 days of the withholding notice.

Priority investigative beats for the Harris County DA’s Office:

• HPD use-of-force prosecutorial decisions — Track which officer-involved shooting cases are referred to grand jury, declined, or deferred year-over-year. Compare before and after the Teare transition.
• Intake Division throughput — Compare arrest submission volumes from HPD and constable precincts against charges filed, by month and division. Identify categories with high declination or delay.
• Domestic violence case attrition — Map case filing rates, dismissal rates, and conviction rates under Ogg vs. Teare, specifically for family violence felonies.
• Diversion program enrollment — Once Teare’s new diversion programs launch, track enrollment numbers, graduation rates, and recidivism data as public interest metrics.
• Conviction Integrity Unit — Cases under active review, DNA testing requests pending, exonerations completed, and timelines. Harris County has a history of wrongful convictions under prior administrations.
• Staffing and attrition — Attorney vacancy rates, pay-scale comparisons to Travis County and Dallas County, and year-over-year turnover under new leadership.