Chuck Rosenthal Found In Contempt Of Court

It seems that ole Chucky Boy got off lightly.

A federal judge on Friday ordered former Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal to pay $18,900 in sanctions after finding him in contempt of court for deleting more than 2,500 e-mails that had been subpoenaed for a federal civil rights lawsuit.

Additionally, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt determined Scott Durfee, general counsel for the district attorney's office, was jointly responsible for paying $5,000 of that, finding Durfee failed to appropriately advise Rosenthal on how to comply with the subpoena.

Both Rosenthal and Durfee have until April 30 to pay their respective fines.

Some people didn't get off so easily when he was DA.

Chuck Rosenthal's Legal Bills

Have you ever wondered who was paying DA's Chuck Rosenthal's legal bills for his contempt charges? Well, wonder no more; it's you.

District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal has hired former U.S. Attorney Ron Woods to represent him while the Texas attorney general investigates whether Rosenthal broke the law by using his county computer for political campaigning.

County taxpayers, meanwhile, are paying for other lawyers to defend Rosenthal from an effort to have him held in criminal contempt for deleting e-mail that had been subpoenaed for a civil lawsuit.

Woods' confirmation that he is now working for Rosenthal comes almost a week after attorneys for the county's top prosecutor halted a contempt hearing in which Rosenthal admitted making erroneous statements in a sworn affidavit about deleting several hundred e-mails.

What do you think about the taxpayers paying for Chuck Rosenthal's defense?