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Law License Of Dallas DA Temporarily Suspended

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Dec 27, 2007 1:50 pm US/Central

Law License Of Dallas DA Temporarily Suspended

Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins had his law license temporarily suspended. During the period he was not eligible to practice law in the State of Texas.

Watkins license was suspended December 14th because he failed to pay his bar dues of $235. He was notified of the delinquency and informed that the fine added to the bill brought the total due to $400.

The Dallas DA rectified the situation today, but the suspension was in effect for two weeks.

Watkins released a statement Thursday that said, in part, - "When it was brought to my attention today that my State Bar card had been temporarily suspended due to non-payment of fees, I took care of it immediately by contacting the State Bar of Texas and making the full payment." 

Watkins, who is a Democrat, is the first African American to lead the Dallas County District Attorney's office. He was elected to the office in 2006 and took office in January.

In his statement Watkins, a Dallas native, went on to say – "I apologize to the citizens of Dallas County and accept full responsibility for this payment oversight, and I will make sure that this does not happen again.  Most importantly, no Dallas County cases are in jeopardy."

As Dallas district attorney, Watkins manages a total of 230 prosecutors.

Watkins has most recently been in the news for allowing the Texas affiliate of the Innocence Project to review hundreds of Dallas County cases dating back to 1970 to decide whether DNA tests should be conducted to validate past convictions.

Dallas has more post-conviction DNA exonerations than any county in the nation.

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