By BJ Austin, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-925479.mp3
Dallas, TX – The candidates for Dallas County District Attorney turned up the volume with their first face-to-face forum. KERA's BJ Austin reports.
Republican challenger Danny Clancy, former criminal court Judge, told the Dallas Bar Association forum that Craig Watkins doesn't have the courtroom experience necessary to be the county's top prosecutor.
Clancy: A top prosecutor who at some point in their career has actually walked into a courtroom, announced ready on behalf of the state of Texas and actually prosecuted a case from start to finish.
District Attorney Watkins, a Democrat and former defense attorney, says he has the right kind of experience.
Watkins: You know I've been D-A for three-and-a-half years and that experience has ushered in a lower crime rate, a high conviction rate, and made you safer.
Watkins also says his conviction integrity unit and DNA exonerations have made the Dallas County District Attorney's office a model for the nation.
Clancy calls Watkins a "celebrity politician".
Their second and final face-off before Election Day is October 14th.