The Harris County District Attorney’s Office provided $165,000 to help fund a new partnership to make qualified sexual assault nurse examiners available on-demand to seven area universities, District Attorney Kim Ogg announced at a press conference at Rice University on Thursday.

“We’ve taken asset forfeiture dollars and re-invested them in victims and victims’ services by helping Texas Forensic Nurse Examiners (TXFNE) hire, train and use more forensic interviewers,” Ogg said. “Combine that with seminars on preventing sexual assault, a dedicated hotline and access to support groups and students have more help in preventing and dealing with sexual assault.”

She noted that forensic interviewers, like certified sexual assault nurse examiners (SANEs), have been trained to gather better evidence to help convict attackers. That evidence might be physical matter, like DNA, or it could be information gleaned by asking questions that are sensitive to the victim’s ordeal.

The initiative expands the outreach for TXFNE, which already provides sexual assault nurse examiners on demand in many criminal justice situations.

By funding the new partnership between TXFNE and seven Houston area universities, students will now have free access to sexual assault examinations by a qualified interviewer including transportation to the interview, a sexual assault hotline, assistance with legal services, access to support groups, a tailor-made response for treatment. Campus communities will also have access to future seminars on preventing sexual assault presented by the District Attorney’s Office.

Colleges and universities participating so far include Rice University, the University of Houston, Prairie View A&M, Houston Community College, Texas Southern University, Lee College and the South Texas College of Law.

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To honor the life and legacy of the late Rosa Parks, whose efforts sparked a national civil rights movement for racial equality, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) will reserve a seat at the front of every DART bus this week to commemorate her historic and unwavering efforts in support of equality for all.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama when she refused to give up her bus seat to make room for a white passenger. Her act of defiance in the face of an unjust law led to the Montgomery bus boycott, which lasted several months and led to both the desegregation of public transportation in our country and the beginning of the modern civil rights movement.

Rosa Parks’ lifelong dedication to civil rights played a pivotal role in raising both national and international awareness of the unjust plight of African Americans and the civil rights struggle.

During the 87th Texas Legislative Session, DART and its Board of Directors fully supported House Bill 3481, authored by State Representative Toni Rose and sponsored by State Senator Royce West, which officially designates December 1 as Rosa Parks Day in Texas.

State Representative Toni Rose, who authored House Bill 3481, issued the following statement: “December 1st is a historic day in which we honor a courageous African American woman whose legacy encompasses the everyday acts of resistance that defines America’s long fight for racial equality. Rosa Parks Day allows us and future generations to remember our progress as a nation and continue the movement towards freedom for all Americans.”

House Bill 3481 was a bipartisan bill that unanimously passed both the House and Senate chambers and was signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott.

SOURCE: dart.org/

A Houston man, who worked as a nanny for a single mother with two boys, was sentenced to prison for 30 years for molesting the children, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Wednesday.

“The law against the continuous sexual abuse of a child in Texas ensures this predator will spend every single day of his 30-year-sentence in prison,” Ogg said. “He will never be eligible for parole.”

Lee Smith III, 32, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual abuse of a child Tuesday and agreed to the sentence.

Smith, who at times used an alias name of Justin, spent more than a year molesting the two boys in his care. Both were around nine years old at the time.

After he stopped working as their nanny, the boys told their mother what had happened to them, and eventually went to authorities.

Smith was charged in 2019.

Now the victims don’t have to testify, or go through any trial, and he will be in his sixties by the time he gets out,” said Assistant District Attorney Lara Hogue of the Sex Crimes Division.

The case was investigated by Houston Police.