Memorial for Kaufman ADA Mark Hasse Held Saturday

Friends, family and former colleagues gathered at the Terrell Performing Arts Center Saturday afternoon for a memorial service honoring a North Texas prosecutor gunned down near the county courthouse where he worked.

57-year-old Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse was shot multiple times the morning of Jan. 31 just after he got out of his car to walk to the county courthouse in Kaufman.

After introductions from Kaufman County Criminal District Attorney Mike McLelland, Hasse's brother Paul addressed the audience.

"You honor Mark by being here today and you honor him by the massive effort so many of you are making to find out who did this," said Paul Hasse. "I know that people in the Kaufman County law enforcement community will continue to honor Mark for years to come by continuing to do everything they can to help victims of crime and to work very hard to keep this community safe."

"This is a hard way for us to get to know the Kaufman community but it's just a wonderful place and I do know why he was happy here," said Paul Hasse.

Kaufman County Judge Bruce Wood shared stories from people who worked with Hasse at the Kaufman County Courthouse who described him as a great story teller as well as witty, brilliant, remarkable, prepared, tough and fearless.

"I can assure everyone here today, and those who are listening, that Mark Hasse was most certainly not one of those men who did nothing -- in fact, he was just exactly the opposite. He triumphed over evil every day of his professional life," said Wood. "The citizens of Kaufman County, the State of Texas and our great country are in a much safer and better place today because of Mark Hasse."

Hasse had been with Kaufman County for three years and was a former assistant Dallas County district attorney.

"I'd rather be in a courtroom trying a case with Mark right now than being in this room," said Marcus Busch, a friend and former law partner who worked with Hasse at the Dallas County District Attorney's Office.

Busch talked about their early years trying cases together, Hasse's love of flying and his near-death experience when his plane crashed in the mid-1990s.

"Mark came back to being a prosecutor and in the process he gave his life for what he believed in, because that was more important to him than anything," said Busch. "This world is a better place because of Mark and so are we."