This is a reprint of the September 3, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. My first published book might not be set in London in the Spring of 1881 after all. It could well be about Judge Franklin and her predecessor, Judge Pratt. I have more than enough information to fill a book. Click here to read about this truly too-sleazy-to-believe scenario: an amicus attorney appointed to represent a child in a nasty custody case decides to run for judge and accepts a large campaign contribution from a party to the case. Sadly, Alicia Franklin, is the protagonist in this wretched story as well. Ms. Franklin was appointed an amicus attorney for a young boy in a hotly contested custody case by Judge Lisa Millard in case no. 2012-04106 on April 20, 2012. This case involved parents and grandparents. On October 15, 2013, Ms. Franklin and the grandparents' attorney filed a joint motion for enforcement against the mother for not obeying a court order on visitation. It is extremely unusual for an ... Read More >
Alicia Franklin Scandal – Count Two: Billing for CPS Work After She Became Judge
This is a reprint from the September 3, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. Here is a shocker: judges cannot practice law! There is a specific provision in the Texas Canons of Judicial Ethics, Canon 4(G) that says a judge cannot practice law. It would also apparently shock and surprise some that it is illegal to bill the county for work you did not do. So, taking those two basic principles in mind, consider this: Judge Franklin, after she was sworn into office as a judge, submitted a pay voucher to the county for lawyer work on a CPS case done after she became a judge. Moreover, Franklin tried to mislead the Houston Chronicle editorial board last week in replying to this allegation by telling them that she started work on the bench on June 18, 2014. Franklin knew she had to tell the editors that she started work on June 18 because she had submitted a handwritten invoice for CPS work signed by her on June 17 for legal work she had done on June 13, 16 and 17, including one hour ... Read More >
Alicia Franklin Scandal – Count One: Submitting CPS Pay Vouchers That Simply Cannot Be True
This is a reprint from the September 3, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. This is a long article and my proof consists of many pages of pay vouchers that Alicia Franklin submitted the month before she became a judge. Click here to read my complete, 19 page article: "Alicia Franklin Submitted CPS Pay Vouchers That Simply Cannot Be True." This article includes my legal explanation of why knowingly submitting a false CPS pay voucher to the county for payment is a crime. Here is the executive summary of my article: Attorneys, like Alicia Franklin, appointed by judges to represent abused children or their parents in CPS cases, must sign the pay vouchers they submit to the county. In the family courts, the vouchers say that they are submitted "under penalty of perjury." I looked at four consecutive work days in May 2014 and pulled her charges for those days from dozens of pay vouchers submitted by Franklin. I then added up the hours she billed for each day. Here is what I found Franklin ... Read More >
Judge Alicia Franklin: Please Provide an Explanation!
Reprinted from August 26, 2014 Mongoose newsletter. I take a fair airing of facts about Judge Alicia Franklin and her work as an appointed CPS attorney very seriously. I played a significant role in the chain of events that resulted in Franklin becoming a judge and I genuinely like her. I have helped Franklin in ways no other lawyer could and I contributed financially to her campaign when she was running against Denise Pratt. I also know and really like the Democrat running against Franklin, Sherri Cothrun. Cothrun provided me most of the information described below, but I have done my own home work as well. I write below about facts I have verified, not partisan attacks from the opposing candidate. I now have a box of copies of every fee invoice Ms. Franklin ever submitted to the county and I have someone doing my own independent, non-political analysis of those vouchers. I really hope to announce soon that I have found a sterling example of how ad litem attorneys should do ... Read More >