Blaming the Victims. Murder trials postponed to showboat March primaries. Where shady dog kin lie.

Sardis, TX:

Cherokee County, Texas and others have smeared another homicide victim at the hands of Cherokee County deputies. Namely former Lufkin detective Allen Wallace who was gunned down over his mother’s grave in Sardis, TX in September 2007. Police blog sites describe Wallace as 'unstable' in an article sent in and titled “Cherokee County (Texas) Deputies Shoot and Kill Nutcase Former Lufkin Police Officer Allen Lee Wallace over his Mother’s Grave" Typical Cherokee County, TX propaganda; Mr. Wallace was not a “nutcase.” The above mentioned article cites that in 2000 the retired detective had a verbal confrontation with a home builder that was investigated by authorities. However it does not cite the fact that the contractor Wallace was accused of threatening, according to Angelina County district attorney investigator Ron Brandon, was sentenced in 2002 on deceptive practices charges and placed on 10 years probation for mishandling Wallace’s construction account.

Friends and loved ones of the Allen “Stinger” Wallace family also paint a different picture of the gunned down retiree, suicided at the hands of Cherokee County, TX deputies. This is what is called playing both sides of the fence: passing the case onto the Texas Rangers for a verifiable examination of the shooting, yet smearing the deceased as a “nutcase.”

Similarly, in 2005 Jacksonville, TX resident Jennifer Hester was described as “drunk and passed out in her apartment complex parking lot” after a night of “celebration” after graduating from nursing school. She was struck by a vehicle and killed steps from her front door, the driver No-Billed by a Cherokee County Texas grand jury and the homicide investigation potted. Shows you how easy it is to get off when you’re related to the right people in Cherokee County, TX. If the driver of the vehicle had, let’s say, run over an actual transient drunk sleeping under a bridge in Dallas County, then certainly charges would have been levied: involuntary manslaughter.

Former Jacksonville, TX police officer Larry Pugh’s rape victims were also portrayed as homeless drug addicts by the media. No inquest needed for their timely disappearances in the Angelina National Forest prior to Pugh’s federal trial.

Convicted Jacksonville, TX police officer Larry Pugh

Apparently it’s easier to smear victims in the media than it is to follow the letter of law.

Anderson and Cherokee County, hand-in-hand and out of sync with the rest of the region, will be losing out in $50,000 federal grant monies to its Rape Crisis Centers due to an “error on the application.” The Crisis Center of Anderson and Cherokee Counties was seeking extra funding made available for peripheral expenditures for state operated rape centers. The same centers had their state funding completely cut earlier this year. By losing the funding, these local crisis centers can return to not being able to collect a local rapist cop's DNA, while their compromising policies and procedures remain hidden from government oversight. Losing all state and federal funding is nothing to be proud of. Articles posted on the same day show that Cherokee County, TX is more interested in its stray dog problem, than with funding for female victims of sexual assault.
That is of course if the problem is illegal dog fighting or killing neighbor's cats, then the Cherokee County Texas county attorney and sheriff can ignore the problem and reassert PETA's position that Cherokee County's Project Got to Fool 'Em Everyday (when your relatives get caught) is hiding behind fictitious legal statutes. Excuses excuses.

Rusk, Texas: 42-year-old Gordon Mathis sentenced to 8 years in federal prison for child porn in Tyler’s federal district court.

Gilmer, Texas: Upshur County Sheriff’s Deputy Richard Louis Bridgewater, 29 from Big Sandy, has been charged with child indecency after an 11-year-old female came forward with allegations that the deputy had inappropriate contact with her multiple times at his home. Deputy Bridgewater admitted to the charges during an interview with the Texas Rangers. The molestation had been going on for over a year.

Palestine, Texas: Owners of the fraudulent oil and gas investment scheme Caddo Creek Productions, Inc. were sentenced December 7, 2007 in federal court. Donald and Cheryl Douglas of Palestine, TX have to pay over $1 million in restitution to the victims they defrauded. Mr. Douglas faces over 3 years in federal prison; Mrs. Douglas was sentenced to 5 years probation. The Palestine, TX couple conned East Texas investors by claiming non-existent oil and gas drilling production and leases in the area, but used the money for personal expenditures. Mr. Douglas had been indicted on State charges in Anderson County, TX.

Jacksonville, Texas: Just in the nick of time, another murder trial for the Cherokee County District Attorney to champion, Bernie Lucas, 52, held police at bay during an hour-long standoff at his Jacksonville, TX home in October 2007. Lucas will be on trial for the murder of 43-year-old Shelia Gray, also of Jacksonville, who was found shot to death during the standoff.
Still no murder investigation into the missing federal witnesses against ex-Jacksonville, TX police officer and convicted rapist Larry Pugh, nor the witness’ remains found in the Angelina National Forest.

Terri Reyes (l) and Shunte Coleman (r) missing Cherokee Co. TX residents.

However a December 1, 2007 article in the Tyler Morning Telegraph shows that other state agencies are quick to charge potential murderers after the disappearance of citizens, even without a body covered in DNA. People go missing, suspects are arrested, and that is in counties other than Cherokee County, Texas. Prosecution witnesses go missing before a decorated Jacksonville, TX police officer’s federal trial; instead they are reported as homeless drug addicts that deserved the euthanasia.

Rusk, TX: For December 2007, it is again reported that convicted murderers Buenka Adams and Richard Cobb had their appeals rejected, to keep the trial fresh on the minds of those voting in the Cherokee County primaries (and to make it appear Cherokee County tried more than 1 murder case in the last 3 years)
The Tyler Morning Telegraph : reports in December 2007 the same thing that was reported in June 2007: death row inmates Adams and Cobb have lost their appeals. Nothing has changed since then; no federal appeals on the horizon for Richard Cobb. So the Tyler, TX news agencies get a quick blurb to go over the same Cherokee County trial that took place 4 years ago? The article reports, without a timeline or date, that Adams and Cobb lost their appeals in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Adams was denied a writ of habeas corpus that his attorneys filed in November 2007.

Cherokee County Texas media reported in June 2007 that both Adams and Cobb lost their direct appeals in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The end. So every 3 months up to March primaries, reports of the same rejected appeals to give the impression the Cherokee County TX district attorney’s office is hard at work? The point is Buenka Adams and Richard Cobb's latest appeal was lost in June 2007. No date of the rejection is provided by staff writers of this article that is reprinted every time they are told to.

The fact is Texas death row inmates Beunka Adams and Richard Cobb really lost their last appeal 6 months ago and have been sentenced to death. Their execution dates have not been set yet. Both Richard Cobb and Beunka Adams have depravity points of 21 according to the American Judicature Society and certainly deserve to die by lethal injection. So report that when it happens.
The murder rate in Cherokee County, TX unfortunately for those seeking "victim's rights awards" is 1000% lower than neighboring counties. 1 murder reported in 2004 and ZERO homicides reported in 2005 according to City Data.

death row inmate Beunka Adams

Beunka Adams and Richard Cobb were convicted of robbing a Rusk, TX convenience store, kidnapping and assaulting two female employees, then murdering a third male hostage.
The above-mentioned trial of Beunka Adams and Richard Cobb took place in 2004. An Anderson County jury sentenced Adams after a change of venue sent the final phase of the trail to Cherokee County's sister jurisdiction.

In October 2004, the now defunct Dogwoods Trail Narcotics Task Force indiscriminately arrested 72 Anderson County, TX residents during the failed crystal meth roundup of the century. Same Tulia tactics used, resulting in the shooting of an unarmed black man wanted on an unrelated though outstanding marijuana arrest warrant. If defendants are black or indigent, no evidence needs to be reviewed by Cherokee County or Anderson County juries; they are presumed guilty. It's the "hang 'em high" mentality that can't be shaken easily after decades of corruption and racism ingrained in the region. And rest assured, these innocent people’s appeals never make it to local papers. Only when appeals are favorable to incumbents, are they reported ad nauseum. If the district judge makes a 'judicial error' then the case itself will not be published by the 12th Court of Appeals and the precedent hidden from legal research. And let's be honest here: East Texas prosecutors don't have to prove anything when the jury is stacked with kith and kin.

Cherokee County, TX has not had a murder trial to grandstand since the Beunka Adams/Richard Cobb sentencing. Michael Harris of Jacksonville was given a plea deal after killing his ex-wife because his bail was set repeatedly for the same offense, the driver of the pickup that struck and killed Jennifer Hester also of Jacksonville was given a No-Bill, and Jacksonville, TX police officer Larry Pugh was only given 12 years concurrent state time on top of his 12+ federal years for rape and retaliation. Murders and homicides have taken place in Cherokee County since the Buenka Adams/Richard Cobb trial; however they are neither reported nor make it to a judicial hearing. But Cherokee County is gearing up another 'once in a lifetime' murder trial to make waves and the headlines with Bernie Lucas at the helm. And each step of the appeal process will be repeatedly reported as if it just occurred. To make it look it like everybody at the Cherokee County Texas courthouse is busy. Busy as cats in a litter box.

Rusk, Texas: In a county of less than 50,000, the reports on the Cherokee County, TX county attorney’s office is that the staff is ‘overwhelmed with case loads’ and had to hire an assistant county attorney. The article cites the multitude of Child Protective Services’ citations and Crisis Center protective orders being issued throughout the county. A good decision to hire an outsider to handle cases, this way Cherokee County judges can avoid being reprimanded for backlogging the local docket as they pursue their side jobs as visiting judges in other counties, you know, clearing mental health commitments out of their jurisdiction. Does the backlog of cases for the Cherokee County's county attorney include the arrests made by convicted rapist and ex-patrolman Larry Pugh’s?

Last year, there was enough time for Craig Caldwell’s office to try Larry Hinton of Jacksonville, TX with misdemeanor charges of “interfering with Larry Pugh’s police investigation,” even though the charge is a felony. Hinton was acquitted in county court and settled with the city of Jacksonville, TX on Larry Pugh’s excessive force. Hinton's wife was beaten and tasered during the Tomato Bowl melee and Hinton's teeth kicked in during Pugh's arrest. The Cherokee County district attorney's office did not get their hands dirty on the Larry Hinton court case; they let Craig Caldwell take the credit.

Upcoming murder trials have been pushed back on the Cherokee County Texas docket, right in time for March’s elections. No real need to go out and buy election signs when incumbents are installed in their positions for life and they run against, well NO ONE. Cherokee County Texas rarely has challengers, even in opposite political parties, for Sheriff, Judge, County Judge and/or District Attorney. However, other neighboring counties actually trying to clean up the corruption in their respective agencies see more names on the ballot. And they don’t use murder victims to ham up the local media.

Henderson, TX: In Rusk County, after episodes of police corruption were exposed in the Rusk Co. Sheriff’s department, retired law enforcement vie for Sheriff of the beleaguered county.
The candidates pledge to clean up Rusk County, Texas after June 2007’s suicide of retiring Lt. Fred Dunlap, investigator Michael Davis’ insurance fraud conviction and Deputy Kenneth Martin’s child porn possession. In May 2007, Lt. Johnny Davidson, Jr. and Chief Deputy Dusty Flanagan pleaded guilty to sexual harassment of a female coworker. Current Rusk County Sheriff Glenn Deason has not filed for re-election as of December 2007. The issue of official oppression and political corruption is being openly addressed in the media and amongst voters.

Repetitious reports of the same murder trial that was settled in 2004, as in the Beunka Adams and Richard Cobb death sentence, won’t convince Rusk County, Texas voters to continue with the same old patterns of police misconduct and deceit. So if you are voting in the Cherokee County Texas primaries, make sure you avoid the booths that are serving 'nature's brownies.'
That's the staple of life for the incumbents.

http://www.cherokeecountytexas.blogspot.com