DALLAS _ Dallas County District Attorney Susan Hawk resigned Tuesday to focus on her mental health after less than two years in office. Her tenure was overshadowed by erratic behavior and three long-term hospitalizations for depression and a mood disorder.
She released a letter Tuesday to Texas Gov. Greg Abbot resigning her post.
"It is with a heavy heart that I must tender my resignation as Dallas County district attorney. It's been an honor and a privilege to serve this office and the citizens of Dallas County alongside you, but my health needs my undivided attention," Hawk wrote in the letter. "More than my words could express, I appreciate the grace I've been shown me I've tried to balance my health and my duties. This has been a very difficult decision for me.
"I've dedicated my life to serving our criminal justice system. I believe our office is making a difference and I want to continue that good work. But last fall upon returning from treatment, I made a commitment to step away from the office if I felt I could no longer do my job. Unfortunately, I've reached that point and my health needs my full attention in the coming months."
Rumors had abounded for months that Hawk, 46, would resign. Some had called for her to step down. Others said they supported her if she could continue the high-stress job of DA and take care of her mental health.
Right up to the end, supporters remained indignant at the suggestion she should give up her post because of her prolonged absences. They said no one would suggest Hawk resign if she had been suffering from cancer.
Now Abbott will appoint a successor. Had Hawk resigned a little over a week ago, there would have been an election in November to decide the new district attorney, leaving it likely that a Democrat would retake the office in a predominantly blue county.
Friends and rivals said it was important for Hawk to recover from her illness.
"The decision Susan took is what's best for her family and the citizens of Dallas County," said Dallas County GOP Chairman Phillip Huffines. "The job of defending liberty and serving the people of Dallas is one that should be taken seriously, and I salute Susan's willingness to place herself in the public spotlight."
Hawk, a first-term Republican, took office in January 2015 after Democrat Craig Watkins lost what amounted to a referendum on his own two-terms in office.
Watkins entered office as the first black DA in Texas, and was soon a burgeoning national figure known for joining the fight for the exoneration of the wrongly imprisoned. He was also the first Democrat elected to the post in decades.
But Watkins, who suffered from his own demons, personal and professional, was drummed out of office after Democrats abandoned their party to vote against him.
He'd rear-ended another car in his personal vehicle and used county money to negotiate a secret settlement. He bought and lost the office's candy red Porsche. An attorney alleged the DA's office under Watkins threatened criminal charges against a man who bought it _ if he didn't return it.
And then there is the federal investigation into his tenure as DA. The chief investigator under Watkins recently pleaded guilty in federal court to taking a bribe to dismiss a case.
Hawk, once close friends with Watkins' wife Tanya, resigned from her spot as a state district judge in the fall of 2013 to run against Watkins.
During her run for office, she, her parents and her supporters trumpeted her as the anti-Watkins. They said she would bring openness to the office and end what they deemed Watkins' shenanigans.
Shortly after she joined the race, she left the campaign trail for what she said was back surgery. Much later, The Dallas Morning News reported that she actually spent about a month at a rehab facility for her reliance on prescription drugs.
The absence did nothing to hinder the public's readiness to be rid of Watkins. Not widely known to the public, she was soon catapulted into office promising change and integrity. She became the first woman elected to the post, and the GOP was able to retake the only countywide office that they now hold.
She was the first Republican elected to a county-wide race in more than a decade and a rising star in the party.
Her bio on the DA's website reads: "Susan Hawk is committed to raising the standard of ethics at the DA's office, taking the spotlight off of personalities and politics, and refocusing it on what really matters: upholding our laws and keeping families safe."
But Hawk's tenure was tumultuous almost from the beginning.
Within three months, she split ways with several well-respected, high-ranking prosecutors she'd recruited. Second-in-command Bill Wirskye was ousted amid allegations that Hawk acted paranoid and unstable while on the job.
Within days of Wirskye's firing, Hawk was also forced to admit that she had secretly gone to rehab for prescription drug addiction during her campaign for DA.
Then, in May 2015, Hawk checked herself into a Houston clinic to seek treatment for depression. Her representatives covered for her absence at first, saying she was taking "time off" and on a "summer break."
That was all within the first few months of a term mired by a failed lawsuit to oust her from office, irregular attendance at work and perennial questions about her mental competency.
Talk of Hawk's behavior whirled through the courthouse for months, culminating last summer when she mysteriously disappeared on the job without explanation. After the Morning News reported her absence, she revealed that she had been hospitalized for severe depression.
"I thought, 'I'll resign, and then I'll just kill myself,' " she'd later say.
Instead, she sought help at the renowned Menninger Clinic in Houston and returned to work in October, taking pains to assure the public that she was fine.
She did a round of media interviews and personally helped try a murder case, an unusual move for a district attorney in a major metropolitan area. But it was a promise she made while running for office.
She fought _ and won _ a lawsuit that sought to boot her from office because of her mental health issues.
She faded out of the spotlight momentarily in the first half of this year, but she may have been struggling even then. Records show she used her key card to access the courthouse only sporadically.
Then, May 20, Hawk checked herself back into the Menninger Clinic. A spokeswoman said Hawk felt ill after returning from a two-week vacation, which she took to "relax and refresh" in May.
She was released mid-June but did not return to work. Days later, Hawk announced she was seeking additional inpatient treatment at Sierra Tucson in Arizona. The facility is an internationally recognized treatment center for mood and anxiety disorders, as well as addiction.
She said that she chose not to be paid for her time away in 2015, but she has not explained how she plans to handle her absences this year. Hawk made about $210,000 a year.
In her resignation letter, Hawk said "I've loved serving the citizens of Dallas County for the past 22 years as an intern at the DA's office, as a prosecutor, as a judge and as district attorney. The courthouse has been my home. My purpose has been to help people, and I've loved every minute of it."
