Internal audit reveals policy violations at Smith County DA’s office; DA candidate Jacob Putman tallies highest number

Published 1:52 pm Tuesday, January 23, 2018

The Smith County Courthouse in downtown Tyler is shown. (Chelsea Purgahn/Tyler Morning Telegraph/File)

An internal audit of the Smith County district attorney’s office shows nine prosecutors violated office policy related to the dismissal or reduction of charges, and district attorney candidate and prosecutor Jacob Putman was the chief offender, according to information provided by District Attorney Matt Bingham. 

Out of 674 cases in which charges were dismissed or reduced, 204, or 30 percent, were done in violation of office policy during the past five years, according to the DA’s internal audit. That represents just under 2 percent of the more than 10,000 criminal cases the office handled during that time. 



Of the 204 handled incorrectly, Putman dismissed or reduced 79 cases without getting the proper signatures on court paperwork, according to the internal audit. The next highest offenders were Bryan Jiral at 47 cases and Jeff Wood at 42. 

The audit became necessary when it came to Bingham’s attention that Putman dismissed and reduced charges in a Smith County felony case against the man charged in the Thanksgiving Day shooting death of Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Damon Allen in Freestone County. 

“I’m upset that this happened during my term and that it will be part of my legacy,” Bingham said Tuesday after releasing the audit results. 

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Bingham’s standing office policy requires prosecutors to get permission from him or the first assistant DA if there is a need to dismiss or reduce charges. However, the audit shows not all prosecutors followed this policy. 

The office decided to go back five years because the majority of the prosecutors were working in the DA’s office at that time. 

“This is the first audit of this kind that we have done,” Bingham said. “This was a good starting point for us because of access to records and because that is when most of the prosecutors who are working here started to work felony cases.” 

Bingham said he counseled and educated prosecutors on his staff about violating the policies on dismissals and reductions and chose to help them and retain them on his staff rather than fire them. 

“I talked to Bryan Jiral and Jeff Wood in 2015,” he said. “They both admitted to it during a heated discussion and I assumed it had stopped. They also cited a misunderstanding of the office policy.”

Wood left the DA’s office in 2015. 

The data indicate most of the dismissals occurred in 2014. 

“I had no reason to question Putman’s work,” Bingham said. “I thought he was one of those who was prosecuting his cases and handling things in court according to our policies.”

However, in August 2016 Bingham said he took notice when Putman dismissed a felony child abuse case and spoke to him about it. The DA’s office provided letters from two other office employees who recalled the morning meeting when the topic was discussed. 

Putman incorrectly dismissed or reduced 29 cases in 2016, some after the meeting with Bingham, according to the audit. 

Putman released a statement Tuesday indicating he was reviewing the information.

Bingham said Putman also failed to follow the law in a case in which a man was tried and convicted of witness tampering, according to a case review by the DA’s office. The man also had four prior felony convictions for human trafficking activities, according to Bingham and court documents in the case.  

Documents in the audit said the man was tried and convicted by a jury in August 2016 on a witness tampering case.

After a jury found the man guilty of that offense, Putman made a deal with the defense attorney to dismiss that case without approval from the DA’s office, the review shows. This allowed the man to plead guilty to a forgery charge and receive an eight-year prison sentence versus the 30-year sentence he was offered, according to information in the audit. 

“Putman said he remembers the meeting with me in 2016, but didn’t realize I was correcting him,” Bingham said. “Putman ought to know better. He should at least know what the law is.” 

Bingham said a lot of information came to light in the audit.

He said he has made it clear any violation of office policies would result in discipline up to termination. 

In November, Bingham said he would not terminate Putman and felt it was important to keep him in the office so he could gain experience in the role before taking it over. At the time Putman was the only candidate in the DA’s race. 

Though Alicia Cashell Barkley entered the race on Dec. 11, the final day to file, Bingham said he still feels he needs to prepare Putman to run the office. 

“I care deeply about this office,” he said. “I want to make sure he knows more than he does now and can run the office. I want to make sure he knows how to prosecute death penalty cases and capital murder trials.”

Bingham said he has reached out to at least three victims in the cases and apologized for Putman’s decisions. 

Putman still was employed as of Tuesday and earns a salary of $100,000, according to Smith County personnel records. 

In the statement Putman released Tuesday, he said he was aware of the internal audit and reviewing it.

“I am in trial doing the job the citizens of Smith County expect me to do, and my focus is singularly on the trial,” the statement read. “As a seasoned prosecutor, it is never my habit to comment on or make statements about information until I have had a chance to thoroughly review it first. I will evaluate the information that was presented and make a statement about it at the appropriate time.”

Phone calls and messages to Putman went unanswered Tuesday evening. 

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