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Appellate Division
The Appellate Division handles all post-conviction criminal matters for the Collin County Criminal District Attorney’s Office. Its responsibilities include appeals in misdemeanor, felony, and death penalty cases, motions for rehearing, petitions for discretionary review, and state and some federal writs of habeas corpus in misdemeanor, felony, and death penalty cases. The Appellate Division also handles petitions for expunction and non-disclosure.
Typically, the Appellate Division attorneys research the law and apply it to the facts in preparing written documents. The greatest part of the work involves responses to documents prepared by the defense, but on occasion, the staff will initiate an appeal challenging the ruling of a trial court or a motion for rehearing and a petition for review challenging the decision of an appellate court. The attorneys also prepare and present oral arguments before the state’s fifteen criminal appellate courts and, sometimes, in hearings before Collin County’s thirteen trial courts. On a daily basis, the Appellate Division staff provides support to the fifty-plus trial attorneys of the office both before and during trial. In addition, the staff prepares and presents continuing legal education programs both for the office and for criminal law practitioners across the state.
The Appellate Division strives for excellence. Each attorney is committed to zealously representing the citizens of Collin County by supporting the Trial Divisions in obtaining well-won convictions and sentences, by defending the results of the Trial Divisions, by ensuring the spirit and the letter of the law is followed by all participants in the criminal justice system, by seeking changes in the law to better protect the public, and by maintaining communication with victims and their families.
Presently, five attorneys and two secretaries utilize computers, electronic research tools, and written materials to accomplish their tasks. The staff frequently coordinates with the staffs of other appellate divisions around the state, the State Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, the Post-Conviction Litigation Division of the Attorney General’s Office, and various law enforcement agencies. The attorneys are licensed to appear in all the state courts, the northern and eastern districts of Texas’s federal courts, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.
John Rolater , Chief of the Appellate Division, received a Finance degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1989, and he received his Juris Doctorate degree from the Texas Tech University School of Law in 1994. At Texas Tech, he was on Law Review and elected to the Order of the Coif. He served for one year as briefing attorney to Honorable Paul McCollum and the Honorable Ann Crawford McClure at the Eighth District Court of Appeals in El Paso. He then spent over eleven years at the Dallas County District Attorney's Office, where he rose to Deputy Chief of the Appellate Division and served two terms as Legislative Liaison. He has co-authored a book on confessions and taught continuing legal education courses for the State Bar of Texas and the Texas District and County Attorneys Association. John Rolater - Ext. 4715; jrolater@co.collin.tx.us |
Jeffrey S. Garon received his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Minnesota in 1991 and his Juris Doctorate from Southern Methodist University in 1994. He began practicing Criminal Law with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice as a staff attorney assisting indigent inmates. After two years, he continued his criminal law practice at the Court of Criminal Appeals, where he spent three and a half years in the Central Staff reviewing petitions for extraordinary relief for the Court. In September of 2001, he joined the Appellate Division where he screens all applications for habeas corpus relief and responds to capital appeals and writs, as well handling other appellate matters.
Katharine Decker received her English degree from Baylor University and her law degree from the University of Texas at Austin. She was an associate in the banking and finance department at Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays & Handler in New York City, representing lending institutions in secured asset-based lending, and then practiced general corporate law at Whiteman Osterman & Hanna in Albany, New York. Later she wrote lobbying memos for the Environmental Planning Lobby in Albany. Before joining the Appellate Division in April 2002, Ms. Decker was a freelance editor and proofhandler for Word Publishing Company.
Emily Johnson-Liu graduated with honors from the University of Texas School of Law and has a Bachelor’s degree in English from Rice University. Before joining the Collin County Criminal District Attorney’s Office in 2002, she served as a briefing attorney to Justice Scott A. Brister (now a Justice on the Texas Supreme Court) while he was Chief Justice of the Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston. During law school, Ms. Johnson-Liu worked as an appellate clerk for the Travis County District Attorney’s Office.
Andrea Westerfeld received her Bachelor of Arts in International Studies with a concentration in Political Science from Wells College in 2000. While an undergraduate she traveled to Germany to study the European Union, European law and the German language. In 2003 she received her J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology, with a certificate in International and Comparative Law. Ms. Westerfeld’s professional organizations include the Federalist Society. She joined the Collin County District Attorney’s Office in March, 2004.
Crissy Hinojosa started as receptionist with the District Attorney's office in January 2001. She has since worked in misdemeanor intake, secretary in County Court at Law number 4 and has been with the appellate section since October 2003.
Legal Secretary Lara Jaramillo has been with the District Attorney's office since September, 2003. Before joining the D.A.'s office, Ms. Jaramillo was a Legal Secretary in the Monterey County District Attorney's Office in Salinas, California, and also worked as a Legal Clerk at the Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad, California. Ms. Jaramillo also has over ten years experience as a Claims Service and Underwriting Assistant with State Farm Insurance.
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