Craig Watkins, 2008 Texan of the Year

In another editorial, the Dallas Morning News named the Dallas County District Attorney its Texan of the Year.  LINK  Here's a brief excerpt from the editorial:

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.

For his efforts to reform an imperfect criminal justice system and for his willingness to stake out politically precarious territory somewhere between "hug a thug" and "convict at all costs," Mr. Watkins is the 2008 Dallas Morning News Texan of the Year.

Admittedly, this small-time defense lawyer-turned big-deal DA is a lucky guy. He swept into office on a wave of Republican malaise, arrived just as improved DNA technology was employed to overturn convictions, and found himself in one of the few places in the country where evidence was preserved for years after cases were closed.

"Life is all about timing," Mr. Watkins says. "I just happen to be a person with a progressive point of view who is garnering the rewards for this good timing."