Carol S. Vance was a former district attorney of Harris County (Houston), Texas, who served in that office from 1966 to 1979, and a former board member of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, which governs the

Texas Department of Criminal Justice The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is a department of the government of the U.S. state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails ...

. Vance was born in 1933. For a period Vance was a resident of the Westbury area of

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. In 1992,

Governor of Texas The governor of Texas is the head of state of the U.S. state of Texas. The governor is the head of the executive branch of the government of Texas and is the commander-in-chief of the Texas Military Forces. Established in the Constit ...

Ann Richards Dorothy Ann Richards (née Willis; September 1, 1933 – September 13, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995. A Democrat, she first came to national attention as the Texas State Treasurer, ...

named Vance as the head of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice. Vance attended Houston public schools and graduated from the law school at the University of Texas in Austin. He served as Harris County assistant district attorney in 1958, shortly after graduating from law school, first under Dan Walton and then under Frank Briscoe. He was appointed by

John Connally John Bowden Connally Jr. (February 27, 1917June 15, 1993) was an American politician who served as the 39th governor of Texas from 1963 to 1969 and as the 61st United States secretary of the treasury from 1971 to 1972. He began his career as a Hi ...

to fill the vacated district attorney’s spot when Frank Briscoe resigned to run for Congress in 1966 (Briscoe lost to Republican

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

). At age 32, he became the second-youngest district attorney in Harris County history (only 21-year-old Peter Gray, chosen in 1842, was younger). He ran in the next election and won the position in his own right. Vance served as district attorney from 1966 until resigning in 1979. He was unopposed in each of his elections. Vance died on June 24, 2022, at the age of 88.

Trials

Some of the trials Vance was involved in, either as prosecutor or as district attorney, include the

Elmer Wayne Henley Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. (born May 9, 1956) is an American serial killer and accomplice to murder convicted in 1974 of the murder of six of the twenty-nine known victims of the Houston Mass Murders, which occurred in Houston and Pasadena, Texas, ...

/Houston mass murder case, the

Joan Robinson Hill Joan Olive Robinson Hill (February 6, 1931 – March 19, 1969) was a socialite and equestrianism, equestrian from Houston, Texas. Her unexplained death at age 38 led to her husband, John Hill, becoming the first person to be indicted by the state ...

/John Hill murder cases, the Deep Throat v. Vance Supreme Court case, the Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Yarbrough impeachment case, the Lee Otis Johnson marijuana possession case, the Texas Southern University riot prosecutions, and the District Judge Garth Bates case.

Honors

Vance served as president of the National District Attorneys Association and the Texas District and County Attorneys Association. He was selected as a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. In the 1990s, Vance asked state officials to implement the first Christian faith-based prison program at the Jester II Unit, a prison in

Fort Bend County, Texas Fort Bend County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. The county was founded on December 29, 1837, and organized the next year. It is named for Fort Bend, a blockhouse at a bend of the Brazos River. The community developed around th ...

. State officials began to implement the program in 1996.Staff and Wire Reports.
Prison unit has new name
" ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...

''. Wednesday September 15, 1999. A26. Retrieved on May 9, 2010. The prison was renamed the Carol S. Vance Unit after Vance. Vance retired as an employee from the law partnership Bracewell & Giuliani. In 2010 the book ''Boomtown DA'', written by Vance, was published by Whitecaps Media. The book, using first person narration, begins with the

prosecution and roughly chronologically goes through Vance's terms from 1966 to 1979. Mary Flood of the ''

'' stated "it appears a comfortable and engaging read".Flood, Mary.
Boomtown DA Carol Vance writes the book
" ''

''. April 23, 2010. Retrieved on July 30, 2010.

References

External links

*
Bracewell Alum Carol S. Vance Receives Recognition from the Texas Bar Foundation
" Bracewell & Giuliani *

" ''

Houston Business Journal American City Business Journals, Inc. (ACBJ) is an American newspaper publisher based in Charlotte, North Carolina. ACBJ publishes ''The Business Journals'', which contains local business news for 44 markets in the United States with each market ...

''. Tuesday January 4, 2011. * Connelly, Richard.
Carol Vance: Former DA Cancels Book-Signing Appearance; Death-Penalty Foes Claim Victory
" ''

Houston Press The ''Houston Press'' is an online newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in the Midtown Houston, Midtown area. It was also a weekly print newspaper until November 2017. The publication is supported entirely ...

''. Tuesday September 7, 2010. {{DEFAULTSORT:Vance, Carol 1933 births 2022 deaths County district attorneys in Texas Lawyers from Houston

Trials

Honors

See also

References

External links