Giving respect where respect is due: voted Houston’s best criminal defense attorney
When the free weekly Houston Press tabloid newsletter published its annual “Best Of” issue this month, and named the best criminal defense attorney in Houston, it wasn’t one of my high-dollar brethren or sistren. It was Danalyn Recer of the Gulf Regional Advocacy Center (GRACe).
Danalyn came to the Houston Press’s attention for (along with David Lane of Denver) saving the life of Juan Quintero (and in the process driving Houston’s booboisie of so-called conservatives batshit insane with rage). Danalyn is in the business of keeping the government from executing people — in the most execution-happy county in the United States. She’s representing people who don’t have the money to hire competent counsel. She’s doing it for next to nothing — no six-figure biglaw salaries here. And she’s very, very good at it — I’m pretty sure she’s never had a client sentenced to death at trial.
It’s hard for an outsider to know that a lawyer who makes a good living defending people is doing it for reasons other than money. Not so with Danalyn. It’s understandable that those who would trust the government to decide who lives and who dies are outraged by the fact that she’s able to do what she does, and perplexed by the fact that she’s not doing it for lucre. So in my view there’s nobody better to represent the Houston criminal defense bar — not only what we are, but also what we should be and aspire to be — in the public view.
