DMN says Dallas (Democratic) DA Craig Watkins is Texan of the year. [View All]

(snip) Here in the state that sanctions killing more often than any other, Craig Watkins is not just another cog in the machinery of death. The first-term Dallas County district attorney has quickly emerged as a transformational figure who has made a name not by securing convictions, but by clearing the way for them to be overturned.

Under his watch, the prison door has swung open again and again, as the wrongly convicted have walked out as free men. He is a prosecutor who has sought the death penalty because it is his professional responsibility but who is personally conflicted.

Mr. Watkins has trained a spotlight on the flaws in the system, and two years after becoming the state's first black district attorney, he is suddenly the new face of Texas jurisprudence.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/texanofyear/stories/DN-toy1_28edi.State.Edition1.204965b.html