| Susan Reed | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 28, 1950 San Antonio, Texas USA |
Susan D. Reed is the Criminal District Attorney of Bexar County, Texas. Her office was involved in controversy surrounding the disputed murder conviction of Ruben Cantu, a man executed by lethal injection in 1993 by Texas. She is a member of the Republican Party.
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Reed was elected District Attorney of Bexar County (San Antonio) in 1998, becoming the first woman to hold the office. She served as Judge of the 144th District Court (San Antonio) from 1986 to 1998. She served as an Assistant District Attorney for Bexar County from 1974 to 1982, including duties as chief prosecutor for court districts 144 and 187. Reed was in private practice from 1982 to 1986, with the firm Soules and Reed, specializing in business litigation.
During her tenure as a 144th District Court Judge, she helped create a "Gang Unit" in the Adult Probation department. As Bexar County District Attorney, she has created a new "Elder Fraud Unit" and successfully lobbied the Texas Legislature to increase penalties for crimes against the elderly. Reed is a member of the National Advisory Council on Violence Against Women. She was appointed to the Criminal Justice Policy Council for Governor Bill Clements. Later, Governor George W. Bush appointed her to serve on the Governor’s Juvenile Justice Advisory Board. She continues to serve on that board under Governor Rick Perry.[1]
Susan Reed (among other Bexar County employees) bought and traveled on stolen southwest airlines flight vouchers. Reed took at least 3 trips on these stolen vouchers. Her personal driver purchased 200 of these stolen travel vouchers from a court bailiff. Though judges, bailiffs, other court servants accepted these vouchers only the court bailiff and his wife who originally defrauded southwest airlines were charged with crimes. Reed claimed total ignorance of any crime being perpetrated.[2]
The 1985 conviction and 1993 execution of Ruben Cantu were the subject of a series of investigative articles by Houston Chronicle reporter Lise Olsen in 2005 and 2006. In those articles, Olsen claimed to have uncovered evidence that undermined the Cantu conviction. According to Olsen, the jury Forewoman, the then-District Attorney, the trial Judge, the co-defendant, and the surviving victim all expressed misgivings about the outcome of the Cantu case. The only evidence linking Cantu to the crime was the testimony of Juan Moreno, the surviving victim, but he since recanted his testimony, claiming he had felt threatened by police.[3]
As the District Attorney, Susan Reed investigated the claims of wrongful conviction in the Cantu case. Her office concluded that Cantu was justifiably executed in 1993 and that no credible evidence existed to support the witnesses' claims of innocence. The report concluded that Moreno had been induced to change his testimony by those seeking to undermine the integrity of Cantu's conviction.[4]