John Best Announces Bid for 2016 Election of Tom Green County 119th District Attorney

When John Best, first assistant to 51^st District Attorney Allison Palmer, moved to San Angelo in 2001 from Williamson County, Texas, he dedicated himself to aggressively prosecuting violent criminals because that’s what he does. In fact, he said Friday morning, prior to announcing his bid for the 119^th District Attorney in front of the Tom Green County Court House, that his wife Karen told him to just be himself and remember that being a prosecutor is central to who he is.

“I don’t do wills,” Best said. “I prosecute criminals. It’s my passion. I enjoy making this a safer community for our families, for our children. I’ve got children; I’ve got a family. I’m proud to tell my children that I get the bad guys off the street, and I keep the bad guys off the street.”

Best, who has practiced law since 1996 and prosecuted cases in Williamson County prior to his family’s move to San Angelo, said keeping violent criminals off the street has and will always be his passion. Thus, after currently elected D.A. George McCrea made the announcement that he does not plan to seek reelection, Best felt inclined to do so in his place and represent the citizens of Tom Green, Runnels and Concho counties. The election will be held March 1, 2016, and the next 119^th D.A. will take office January of 2017.

“I believe whoever serves as district attorney needs to be dedicated to the job, needs to be committed to seeking justice and protecting our community, and needs to have the experience to get the job done,” Best stated. “I think I’m the person for that job.”

Best said he believes he’s the best candidate because of his 14 years of experience in Tom Green County alone, and every day he appears in the Tom Green County District Court and has successfully prosecuted many violent offenders in the county. During this year alone, he prosecuted three child sexual assault cases, where two of those defendants, Theodore Gregory Meyer and Tucker Wayne McCrea, received a 50- and 28-year sentence. That’s a total of 78 years in prison for those two people. Not to mention, he’s developed a strong relationship with law enforcement and the community.

“They won’t be on those streets for a long time to threaten our children and our community,” Best noted. “I’ve had a lot of success this year prosecuting cases, and I think that success speaks for itself.”

More Reasons Why Best is Right for the Job

Best said he understands why many people in San Angelo and in the county today, especially after the Thomas Boden case, feel passionately about child sexual abuse cases, and even protested on the Tom Green County Courthouse’s lawn about the outcomes of these cases. Although Best indicated he won’t mislead people in any way, the D.A. hopeful stated that going forward, if elected, his office will remain committed to aggressively prosecuting these dangerous criminals and seeking justice, and he’s committed to working closely with law enforcement and the public to make sure they continue to get the job done and effectively prosecute child molesters.

“These are the hardest, most difficult cases we can try,” Best explained. “They’re hard on the families. They’re hard on the juries that have to hear these cases. They’re hard on the prosecutors. They’re complicated cases to present. They’re hard on the children when they have to testify. We take them seriously, and will continue to take them very seriously. Going forward we’re going to continue being aggressive.”

When asked if he would change anything once in the D.A. position, Best answered, "no" because, at this time, the D.A.’s Office has a strong staff and a strong group of prosecutors.

“We have a lot of experience, and everyone in our office is dedicated and committed to our primary goal in seeing that justice is done,” he said; and as long as everyone remains committed to that goal, there’s no need for change, Best added.

Since starting his position 14 years ago, Best said historically, on average, his district has indicted about 100 cases a month.

“That goes up some months; that goes down some months. However, today, we still indict about 100 cases a month,” he said in response to whether or not he’s noticed an increase in violent crime in recent years.

Best added that there’s always been a lot of crime in San Angelo, and with two elected district attorneys, two first assistants and five assistant district attorneys, each prosecutor sees 15 to 25 new cases a month that take time to work; and on any given day, prosecutors carry varying caseloads ranging from 50-150 cases at a time.

“You never know what you’re going to get, or what crime someone is going to commit, or how horrible it’s going to be,” Best explained.

However, Best stated that San Angelo isn’t Dallas, Austin or Houston, and he feels San Angelo and Tom Green County’s law enforcement have done a good job rooting out bad defendants and helping the D.A.s out as partners to catch and prosecute these dangerous criminals.

“I’m real proud of the work they do; I’m real proud of the work we do, and I’m looking forward to continuing working with them,” he proclaimed.

Best also mentioned that before he began his career as a prosecutor, he did appellate work for a defense attorney in Austin, but then he started prosecuting and never looked back. Although he has little experience in defense, Best said he tries to keep an open mind when handling a case.

“Sometimes it’s hard keeping an open mind when it’s just too bad a case,” he stated. Best added that he will try, though, to look at a defense attorney’s perspective. He claimed his job is to seek justice rather than lock people in the penitentiary and throw away the key.

“But when that has to happen, it has to happen,” he added.

Best Does More Than Prosecute

In addition to prosecuting cases, Best is president of the Tom Green County Bar Association, a member of Promises for Families, a non-profit that reaches out to children of incarcerated parents to help them with tutoring and summer camps, a member of the Concho Valley Lion’s Club, and he serves on the board for Children’s Advocacy Center of Tom Green County (CAC), which is made up of several different entities, court appointed special advocates (CASA) and Hope House.

“On the board, we help oversee the operations of those agencies,” Best explained. “I work closely with those agencies to make sure everything is operating smoothly.”

Also, as a prosecutor, the D.A. hopeful works more closely with Hope House, specifically when children are taken out of their environment after making an outcry of sexual or physical abuse. In fact, this year Best had the opportunity to use Hope House to pre-recorded testimony in one of his cases.

“Of course, in every case that involves crimes against children, we’re typically going to have a Hope House interview,” he said, but emphasized that doesn’t include every case.

Best noted that he’s been a member of the CAC Board for six years, and that position has helped him as a prosecutor overall.

“I believe one of the most important responsibilities that I have with the Children’s Advocacy Center is my work on what’s called the multidisciplinary team,” he continued. “That is a group that includes representatives from all branches of law enforcement, including a sexual assault nurse from Shannon Hospital and Child Protective Service representatives. We all get together on a regular basis and talk about cases we’re investigating and the most effective approach to successfully investigate and prosecute these cases.”

As for his presidency with the Tom Green County Bar Association, Best defined that position as an elected membership by bar members and rotates out every year in May; the goal of the Association is to offer education opportunities for the lawyers in town, and members meet monthly where they have prominent speakers present on various topics.

“We also try to reach out to the community as lawyers to develop a relationship,” Best added.

In particular, area lawyers will go out to public schools on what they call “Law Day” and talk to students about what it means to be a lawyer and practice law to help them understand what they do and who they are.

“It’s a real positive experience.”

Best’s Colleague Says He’s the Best for the Job

Allison Palmer works closely with Best since he’s her first assistant for this term she’s serving, and she said with his experience and ethics, he’s the best candidate for the 119^th D.A. spot.

She said, “He’s a man I can rely on with the most difficult, complex kind of case. He can handle it, and he’s reliable with unimpeachable ethics and integrity. It is a great comfort to me having someone that sound, smart and good as first assistant because we’ve had some really heavy duty stuff to deal with in this one term, and with John Best right there, I can get through it. I can’t say enough good things about him. He’s a very good man. He’s a kind man; he’s an honorable man. He has incredible experience in criminal prosecution, and he’s highly successful at it, which is a marvelous combination to have in this office. I think he’d make an excellent District Attorney.”

Chelsea Reinhard and John Basquez contributed to this story.