The Packaging of Prosecution

In a culture that packages everything from fast foods to politicians, it’s no wonder Dallas lawyers are now engaged in “packaging prosecutions.” This service is available to a limited number of victims: those fooled, defrauded, and otherwise parted from their money by white collar criminals, If you fall into this category, as do a growing number of Dallasites, you might consider a white collar counselor who may expedite your case by packaging your prosecution.

Let’s say you’re a Dallas businessman who. during better times, had hoped to shelter some extra profits from the long arm of Uncle Sam. You met a promoter, an oil and gas syndicator who convinced you to invest with him in drilling for oil on some ranch land in West Texas. Later, you learn the promoter never secured the mineral rights to the land. He has absconded with your money. You’ve been conned.

You contact assistant district attorney Ted Steinke, chief of the Specialized Crime Division of the Dallas County District Attorney’s office, demanding justice be done-you also want your money back. Steinke encourages you to file a complaint, says it will be thoroughly reviewed but may take six to nine months to investigate. The office has a tremendous backlog.

So you seek outside help from one of several lawyers in town-many of them former prosecutors-who are hanging out a new shingle.

The most active of these new hired guns is Richard Zadina, formerly chief of specialized crime under District Attorney Henry Wade and now in private practice. For a fee, Zadina will interview witnesses, take affidavits, and prepare a complete narrative of the case. He will organize evidence, mark it, label it, draft grand jury subpoenas, and prepare a sample indictment. “I literally work the case up for the prosecution.’1 says Zadina. Then he takes the prosecution package, neatly tabbed, color-coded, and indexed, and presents it to Ted Steinke’s white collar unit. What might have taken months for the DA has been accomplished by a private lawyer in a matter of weeks.

If there’s anything wrong with this procedure, Steinke doesn’t see it. He says that the surge in white collar crimes has generated more business than he can handle. “In the old days, we could investigate every complaint. We don’t have that luxury anymore.” Seriously understaffed, Steinke has no problems with private lawyers and investigators taking up the slack. “About Five percent of the complaints come in that way,” he says. Although Steinke admits that prosecution packages make his job easier, he’s quick to insist that no one’s getting special favors. “We don’t decide whether to prosecute someone because of the form it’s in.” The Specialized Crime Division independently verifies each package, interviewing witnesses, corroborating evidence, and expanding the investigation if necessary. “The decision on whether or not to prosecute is still ours,” says Steinke.

Prosecution packaging is not without its critics. Some attorneys believe that the increase in packaged prosecution is directly related to the attitude of new District Attorney John Vance toward white collar crime. Despite the steep rise in white collar criminal activity in Dallas County, no new personnel have been added to beef up the white collar unit. Says one courthouse observer: “White collar crime is not really a highly favored section with Vance. He tends to put more emphasis on street crimes-robberies, rapes, murders, that sort of thing.” Ted Steinke disagrees, “John Vance has been very supportive of the specialized crime division in our efforts to investigate and prosecute all phases of white collar crime in Dallas.”

Still other attorneys see packaged prosecution as a form of privatization; they don’t want private attorneys, unaccountable to the electorate, doing the work of public officials. “They don’t represent the people of Texas,” says Dallas attorney Stuart Parker. “They represent the victims-or people packaged as victims.” Since packages are paid for by these victims, lawyers naturally have an obligation to present the facts in a light most favorable to their clients. “That’s different from the prosecutor’s job,” says Parker. “He takes an oath to see that justice is done.”