Jarrod Lee Smith
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Jarrod Lee Smith | |
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| Born | September 18, 1986 Conroe, Texas |
| Education | South Texas College of Law |
| Alma mater | University of Houston |
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Jarrod Lee Smith, born September 18th, 1986, in Conroe, Texas, is a Texas Criminal Defense attorney and former Associate Judge based in Austin, Texas.
Personal Life
Smith was born to Will and Elizabeth Smith as an only child and grew up from humble beginnings. As Jarrod was the only child, Will and Elizabeth owned an Air Conditioning company in Cleveland, Texas for over 25 years. While attending South Texas College of Law in Houston, Texas, he raised two children, Aidan and Ethan who currently reside in Houston, Texas. He was remarried to his current wife, Elise Smith, where they have two children, Harlan and Nolan Smith.
Education
Smith attended the University of Houston, graduating in 2012 with a degree in Criminal Justice. He earned a law degree in 2015 from the South Texas College of Law where he was the Founder and President of the Criminal Law Society. Smith began practicing law the same year. Smith graduated in the top 20% of his class and was a member of the South Texas Law Review
Professional Experience
Early in his career (2013-2014), Smith worked in Harris County both in the District Attorney's Office and the Public Defender's Office. He then became a Clerk at the U.S. Attorney's Office before he became an Assistant District Attorney in 2015. While working at the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office, Smith acted on behalf of the State of Texas to prosecute hundreds of cases.
In 2016, Smith co-founded Smith & Vinson Law Firm, PLLC. Smith & Vinson has offices located throughout central Texas which represent clients accused of felony and misdemeanor offenses. In 2022, Smith and his partner Bradley Vinson pursued a new line of business: personal injury. Smith is credited with “saving [my] life” and being available around the clock.
While simultaneously building the firm as a partner, Smith was approved as the new Associate Judge of Lago Vista Municipal Court in December of 2020. He worked alongside Presiding Judge Jay Caballero and aided in the progression of achievements in the city of Lago Vista.
Notable Cases
Dr. Mauris DeSilva
In 2019, Smith sued the City of Austin and the Austin Police Department in regard to Dr. Mauris DeSilva who was lethally shot by Austin Police. DeSilva had a PhD in biomedical engineering and worked with the Naval Medical Research Unit to research how to prevent infection after brain surgery. Outside of DeSilva’s successes in the lab, family and friends began to observe his mental health deteriorating.
On July 31st, 2019, Austin Police Department received a call about a man banging on doors and holding a knife up to his own neck. One stated they believed he was having a mental health crisis. Despite APD having an on duty trained mental health officer available at the time, Officers Christopher Taylor and Karl Krycia responded to the scene. When officers responded, they located DeSilva and ultimately shot him after he failed to follow an instruction to drop a knife. DeSilva was pronounced deceased at 46 years old. This was the second on-duty murder charge Officer Taylor of the Austin Police Department faced - the first being the shooting of Michael Ramos. These shootings sparked protests against police violence in Austin.
The Watsky Family In one of Smith’s most publicized civil cases, he argued that Williamson County was liable for the unwarranted disturbance on Gary and his son Asher Watsky’s property.In May of 2019, Watsky stood in Judge Donna King’s court for an aggravated assault charge, and left the courtroom peacefully, despite having an outstanding warrant dated April 17, 2019. By the sheriff’s office hiding the outstanding warrant from the judge, an arrest was avoided and the forthcoming raid was preventable. Soon enough, Asher was pinned against the wall with the camera angled perfectly at him.
Hours after Watsky appeared in court, Williamson County Sheriff’s SWAT team forcefully entered the entryway and back door to Watsky’s Cedar Park home. The team, led by Sheriff Robert Chody, was dramatized for content on the television show, “Live PD.” The SWAT team detonated a flash bang grenade and proceeded to raid Watsky’s home, despite not having a search warrant to go through the home. The damage totaled more than $5,000 to the home and caused fear in the community of minor crimes becoming entertainment in Williamson County. However, the prosecutor’s office was unaware of the outstanding warrant due to Chody coding the warrant as “inactive” to appear invisible to anyone with access to the database.
To neighbors and the nearby community, the sheriff’s office embarrassed Watsky with such an alarming invasion. Chody’s reckless act caused the Watsky’s to fear for their safety and amount to significant property damage. Since then, Chody has stepped down from his position and investigation by the state of Texas continues. The disturbance was incentivized for the television show’s publicity and gift cards were awarded to the officer who appeared on the show. The officers were praised by Cody’s policies to commit crimes when there was an opportunity for entertainment. Smith and his firm carried out a federal lawsuit against WCSO for their manipulation of television for crimes that would have been handled elsewhere.
Smith has received the Super Lawyer award in both 2022 and 2023– an award not easy to receive and highly selective. Soon enough, Smith will run for office and continue to impact the community in all he does.
References
External links
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