The Civil Section of the Special Crimes Division handles most civil and quasi-civil matters for the Collin County District Attorney’s Office. Its responsibilities presently include all misdemeanor and felony bond forfeitures, asset forfeiture cases, public information requests, and complaints and mental health cases.

The attorneys in the Civil Section initiate bond forfeiture filings for both felony and misdemeanor cases and track bond forfeiture cases until the final judgment has been paid. The goal of this bond forfeiture effort is two-fold: (1) to see that fugitive defendants are arrested and brought to justice; and (2) to obtain the money due for each bond forfeiture in order to recoup for Collin County the costs involved when criminal defendants fail to show up for their court date. There are, on average, in excess of 300 bond forfeiture cases pending in Collin County at any given time.

Asset forfeiture cases are filed with the Civil Section when a police officer seizes property, which includes currency, vehicles, real estate, or personal property, from an individual who has used or intended to use that property to commit a criminal offense, or when the property is proceeds from a criminal offense or was acquired with proceeds from a criminal offense. The goals are to prevent criminals from being able to enjoy the fruits of their criminal activity and to deprive them of the means of committing future crimes.

Each attorney handles their own active case load. These cases, although arising out of a criminal offense, are civil in nature and governed by the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. These cases involve filing an original petition; filing and answering discovery motions; preparing cases for trial; and disposing of the cases by settlement or trial. Asset forfeiture proceeds are shared by law enforcement agencies and the District Attorney’s Office, with the majority of the proceeds going to law enforcement agencies to be used solely for law enforcement purposes.

Public information requests and complaints do not consist of a regular docket, but when presented with such a request the attorneys must drop everything to meet certain deadlines. The goal of the District Attorney’s Office is to provide citizens, as quickly as possible, with information that is public while at the same time protecting documents from public disclosure that are privileged or the release of which would interfere with the investigation or prosecution of cases.

Deborah F. Harrison, Chief of the Civil Section, received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Baylor University in 1992 and pursuant to a special program offered by the University received her law degree from Baylor University just two years later in 1994. Since joining the Collin County District Attorney’s Office in 1995, Ms. Harrison has practiced in both misdemeanor and felony trial courts and has served as a felony court chief. She has tried numerous criminal cases including murder, capital murder and has handled capital murder post-conviction matters. Her assignment in the Special Crimes Division has been to create policies, forms and procedures for the newly created Civil Section and to supervise all cases in the division.

Deborah F. Harrison - Ext. 4343; dfharrison@co.collin.tx.us