HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – Former Harris County Assistant District Attorney Sean Teare responded Friday to legal scrutiny by his ex-employer for allegedly delivering a pretrial deal to a suspect accused of fleeing the scene of a deadly hit-and-run crash in 2020.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office and the attorneys of a man who was indicted in the hit-and-run crash met with a judge Friday to discuss the situation further. Teare also testified.
The meeting came after the DA’s Office said Teare, who resigned from the DA’s Office Vehicular Crimes Unit in February after six years, reportedly entered into a contract with attorneys without the DA’s Office’s knowledge. Teare, who is planning to run against his former boss Kim Ogg as Harris County DA, said the move was in the best interest of the case.
“There are a number of factors where I was very concerned and still am that we will be successful in trying to obtain convictions. I in no way wanted to put Ms. Harris (the victim’s mother) through a very public trial,” the attorney said. “In my opinion, it is very unlikely that a conviction comes from this case. I think we have a hung jury or possibly a dismissal.”
In 2021, Mansoor Ali Abbasi was indicted for failing to stop and render aid after he crashed his SUV into Dontrae Broussard on Highway 6. The crash sent Broussard flying into the air and ultimately killed him, according to court documents.
Investigators said Abbasi stopped after the crash, but only long enough to look at what he had done. Court documents said Abbasi looked at Broussard’s body but did not call an ambulance, try to perform CPR or check for a pulse. Instead, Abbasi allegedly returned to his vehicle and fled the scene.
When police contacted Abbasi, they said he admitted to his involvement in the crash and said he drove home after the incident and went to sleep.
Now, more than three years later, the DA’s Office said Teare inappropriately brokered a deal on his last day without going through the proper protocols.
First Assistant District Attorney David Mitcham said, hours before Teare left their office to work at a private law firm, he entered into a pretrial intervention agreement with the attorneys of Abbasi.
The contract reportedly doesn’t require any judicial intervention and can be canceled at any time under the discretion of the DA’s Office.
Mitcham said Abbasi’s attorneys wanted to strike two clauses out of the contract, which got the attention of the DA’s Office, which said it immediately turned down the counteroffer because there is no valid pretrial agreement on their end.
“If you do a counteroffer under contract law, the original offer is no longer on the table. We rejected the counteroffer of removing two paragraphs and said all deals are off the table. We look forward to taking this case to trial,” Mitcham said. “The defense of course has other ideas from their perspective. They’re taking the position that, ‘no this is a valid contract and should be performed specifically by the DA’s office,’ and that’s what they’re asking the court to force us to do, to abide by this agreement that Mr. Teare made literally as he was walking out of the door of the District Attorney’s Office.”
He added that the standard protocol is to have District Attorney Kim Ogg sign off on contracts and to have the permission of the victim’s family; two things that Teare did not reportedly have.
“All we know is that this is an inappropriate plea bargain offer in our view for this kind of case and none of the protocols were followed and it occurred at a time when the prosecutor was walking out the door. It’s sort of similar to some governor at the last 10 minutes of their office giving pardons out to campaign contributors,” said Mitcham.
Teare said he did not personally sit down with Broussard’s family because that was someone else’s responsibility in this case.
“What I do is I evaluate the case and make the recommendation and the line prosecutor who’s handling it, subsequently, sits down and explains that to the victim or to the victim’s families. In this case, Kelly Marshall was the line prosecutor,” Teare added.
Through her victim’s advocate, Celeste Byrom, Broussard’s mother, said she wants justice for her son and supports the district attorney’s office going to trial.
“Ms. Harris has relayed to me she was not consulted by anyone prior to the offer of a pretrial intervention,” Byrom said.
Teare said he was trying to prevent Mrs. Harris from having to endure a public trial.
“The tragedy that befell her, losing her only son is enough. But to have to sit in an incredibly public forum and listen to things about her son that should have been explained to her in a very private setting, and would have been explained to her in a very private setting, is wrong,” Teare added.
Jed Silverman is a criminal defense attorney and president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association. Silverman said a pretrial intervention agreement is a privilege and not a right. He said it’s essentially a contract that doesn’t require any judicial intervention.
“If the current district attorney’s office has a problem with the pretrial intervention, according to the contract that the defendant has signed in this case, they have it within their ability to revoke the offer, take back the pretrial intervention and the case will be docketed,” said Silverman. “At the end of the day, my prediction is the Motion for Specific Performance is going to be denied and this case will be docketed as per the agreement.”
Mitcham said his office was planning to take the case to trial, but Abassi’s attorneys wanted to move forward with the motion for Specific Performance, which a district court judge heard Friday morning. The judge ruled that the contract was valid.
“We have objected to the court’s ruling but we abide by what the judge ruled on that,” Mitcham said. “And it’s mooted by that provision in the contract so we’ve invoked that providing in the contract and we are prepared to proceed to trial.”
The trial has been scheduled for March 31.