"The Exonerator," Texan of the Year

If you had Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins in your office's Dallas Morning News Texan of the Year pool, well, collect your winnings. (This no doubt displeases Dallas County Commissioner Ken Mayfield, who says in the piece that Watkins and his DNA exonerations are "costing the taxpayers $480,000 per...

By Robert Wilonsky

December 26, 2008

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "18855504",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "17105533",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18349797",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17105532",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18349797",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17105535",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        }
      ]

If you had Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins in your office's Dallas Morning News Texan of the Year pool, well, collect your winnings. (This no doubt displeases Dallas County Commissioner Ken Mayfield, who says in the piece that Watkins and his DNA exonerations are "costing the taxpayers $480,000 per year that's needless," with which a few wrongly imprisoned men might disagree.) Watkins's win, of course, displaces last year's champ, The Illegal Immigrant. --Robert Wilonsky

KEEP THE OBSERVER FREE... Since we started the Dallas Observer, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Dallas, and we'd like to keep it that way. Your membership allows us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls. You can support us by joining as a member for as little as $1.