Monitoring the county for more than drugs; Improprieties belay Fox sentencing

Unathorized interception at the telecom companies and illegal party lines.

Podunk law enforcement and prosecutors share the limelight with Federal investigators during politically timed drug raids. The only investigative skill required to bust local drug dealers and small town gangbangers is the illegal interception of phone conversations. Problem is, the spying has been going on for so many decades with the blessing of partnered East Texas agencies, that the monitoring goes beyond the local meth house. These agencies don't ask for disclosure or sources, but they do offer a carrot to counties willing to intercept people's phone calls. No warrants are needed either to eavesdrop on political opponents and the lay population. The criminal activity is justified in their over-inflated drug busts portrayed as something significant.



Drug dealers are caught in Cherokee County because they talk about it on the phone. Local gas stations, hotels, rest areas, places and persons of interest are hard wired for county law enforcements' listening pleasure. For long term monitoring, they recruit their family and friends to spy on their neighbors. Investigators move in and out of retirement providing dirt for political rivals' personal vendettas. Cherokee County has been caught several times in the past per court documents, remands and injuctions, but under their jurisdictional policing agreements, the bottom of the totem pole is required to initiate the illegal phone taps. It may be a good way to clear out the rural drug dealers operating in East Texas, but the interception of regular folks' business calls, personal emails, and private conversations is the real gold mine to these corrupt agencies. And make no mistake about it; FBI agents who get their tips from a Cherokee County lawman knows exactly where it is coming from. They are too lazy to do their own leg work, or follow up on what the counties tape record. They call it "cooperation."



How do they get away with it?

As blatant Cherokee County corruption is discussed on the Internet news feeds, radio talk shows, and by concerned citizens, this underlying question is bantered about. How can Cherokee County prosecutors repeat in open court the information they obtained from a private phone conversaton? Those in Cherokee County's crosshairs such as Robert Fox, formerly of Jacksonville, TX, and Randall Kelton of Austin's Rule of Law radio have experienced it first hand, while outsiders are left to speculate. The answer is as relevant today as it was 30 and 40 years ago because the same Good Ol' Boy "investigative" network is in place operating at full steam, even in the age of cell phones and WIFI. They get away with violating constitutional privacy laws because when the issue is raised in the appellate and federal courts, homegrown judges kill the complaints before they see the light of day. Tyler's 12th Court of Appeals labels the concern of illegal wire taps as a "non argument," by skirting the issue as a federal question. Federal justices in turn summarily dismiss basic constitutional privacy questions in their own jurisdictions. That is the reason why the local postal services are compromised and mail is rifled through by the Sheriff departments, while personal phone calls are played for district attorneys, judges and the law firms they work for. It goes on at every level of Cherokee County's daily operations and as a function of their job security. If the local media started reporting about hometown corruption going on under our noses, their own personal dirty laundry would be aired by county officials.

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In April 2012, Robert Fox of the House of Israel was found guilty of "tampering with a government record." (Source: Daily Progress, April 27, 2012) A previous mistrial was declared in June 2011 (Source: Daily Progress, June 2, 2011) and earlier this spring Cherokee County prosecutors moved quietly forward for a retrial after answering Fox's federal complaints. Fox's sentencing has been delayed while administrative judges in the region hear his Motions to overturn this year's legal debacle. Four months have passed since a Cherokee County jury of kissin' cousins decided a letter Fox mailed to the City of Jacksonville Risk Management was a State felony offense, for threatening to sue them all in court for the multiple illegal raids on his property. Not to mention keeping him in the Rusk, TX jail for 146 days without bail on meritless charges, eight of which were eventually dismissed and one resulting in a Not Guilty verdict. (Source: Daily Progress, July 31, 2009)

District Attorney Elmer Beckworth has decided that he alone has jurisdiction over what documents are presented and their content in Cherokee County. (Source: Tyler Paper, April 28, 2012) Especially when Beckworth, the City of Jacksonville, and Sheriff Department were forced to answer Robert Fox's claims in federal court. (Source: Fox vs. City of Jacksonville, et al Case no. 2:2010cv00158) In any other county this official retaliation would be grounds for immediate disbarment.

The impetus of Robert Fox's latest legal quandary is the fact that presiding 2nd Judicial District Judge Dwight Phifer officiated a wedding held for a 'no show' witness who Cherokee County refused to subpoena. The same witness was made available when a traveling judge from Longview held court in the 2nd Judicial District. Regional administrative judges will be deciding if a fixed jury, lying prosecutor, and district judge who refuses to recuse himself is grounds for remand. Fox's next scheduled hearing on the matter is on Tuesday, August 21, 2012 at the Rusk, TX courthouse.

The timing of Fox's Conflict of Interest motions (and legal diatribes) have been repeatedly postponed while his case remains in unprecedented limbo. Local media has been invited to cover the circus, however it is doubtful they would report a decision to throw out a case of official repression they have been cheerleading.

When Cherokee County institutions fail and go under (such as Lon Morris College's recent Chapter 11 bankruptcy), the reality of the situation is buried by the local media and replaced with rose colored stories of how wonderful their little community is. When drug informants kill their spouses and DPS troopers under the district attorney fund; when teachers are caught with child porn and black people profiled and beaten; when attorneys get DWIs and veteran employees are caught embezzling; when commissioners bulldoze their private property and police rape and kill- well, those news stories don't seem to make it to the Letters to the Editor section. Blatant criminal activity of their officials is justified by piling on the shit smear campaigns; it makes the blatant violation of the US Constitution more palatable.

Translation: "We violate the law in order to do what is best for our little communities, our families, and ourselves."

Cherokee County's willingness to illegally intercept private communications keeps it on the map and an asset to corrupt neighboring law enforcement vying for the trickle of federal drug enforcement monies. These areas have a Zero Tolerance for privacy and even less for the rule of law.



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District Judge officiates wedding for Robert Fox witness

Sentencing delayed in Robert Fox "tampering with a government record" re-trial.

Robert Fox and his defense attorney have filed a motion to remove 2nd Judicial District Judge Dwight Phifer due to conflicts of interest. Judge Phifer officiated the wedding for the son of one of Fox's witnesses, who the district court and Cherokee County Sheriff's Department refused to subpoena. The April 2011 marriage ceremony took place in a Jacksonville restaurant owned by the individual Fox claims was the impetus for the multiple SWAT-style raids on the House of Israel. During his original trial in 2011, Fox had made multiple attempts to serve the Jacksonville resident named in his Civil Tort Action, but was told she was "unavailable" by the district court. He attempted again this year to call her to the re-trial, only to have his requests denied. Now we know why.

Carie Leigh Roland and Owen Michael Stanfill, both of Tyler, were married at twilight July 10, 2010 on the Veranda at Larissa House in Jacksonville.
The Honorable Judge Dwight Phifer, officiated the twilight ceremony below an oak tree, decorated in fresh flowers and satin ribbons. (Source: Jacksonville Progress)

Fox was found guilty of state tampering at his April 2012 re-trial. (Source: Daily Progress) His sentencing has been postponed as Administrative Judge John Ovard reviews his Motion to Recuse. Cherokee County's ingrained pattern of duplicitous behavior by judges and prosecutors is only the tip of the iceberg of the absolute familial corruption running the place. The Cherokee County District Attorney, Sheriff and District Judges have worked together to hide Robert Fox's key witnesses in attempts to keep their collective involvement off the record.

Robert Fox and his attorneys had made multiple requests to call local witnesses, only to be stifled by Cherokee County law enforcement who refused to serve subpoenas.

Barratry and bilge.

Robert Fox was arrested three times in 2008 after multiple raids on the House of Israel property in downtown Jacksonville, TX. He was charged with possession of control substances and two counts of barratry (litigation for harassment) in escalating attempts to incarcerate him after he filed an Intent to Sue against the Jacksonville Police Department. Jacksonville detective Jason Price, who headed the multiple raids and press conferences, told those willing to listen that Fox was a dangerous fugitive with ties to Timothy McVeigh and the Taliban.

“During the last few months we have been continuing the investigation, shoring up the case against him and getting it ready for prosecution. I’m confident that we have a grade-A case against him at this point, with some teeth and a lot of meat to it,” Price said. (Source: Jacksonville Daily Progress, Dec. 29, 2008)

All alleged barratry charges against Fox were dismissed by the same administrative judge hearing his latest Motions, and Fox was found Not Guilty of possession of expired dental products. Despite the waste of taxpayer time, money and effort to frame Fox, the Cherokee County District Attorney charged him with "tampering with a government record" for filing a Civil Complaint heard on the federal US Eastern District docket -- a complaint that the District Attorney and others were forced to answer to. As they have collectively dragged out for years these bogus cases against Robert Fox, they have all mingled with local witnesses and planted the jury panels with their in-laws.

That is your tax dollars hard at work, Cherokee County.

District Attorney continues retaliation against civil rights claimant

Jury selection begins this Monday, March 19 for another re-trial against Robert Fox. A mistrial was declared after the first attempt by Cherokee County District Attorney Elmer Beckworth to once again circumvent the Texas Penal Code with the help of tainted grand and petit juries. (Source: Jacksonville Daily Progress, June 2, 2011 "Mistrial declared for Fox") Fox delivered a Notice to Sue for $30 million to the City of Jacksonville after his property was raided by police three times in a month period and accused of being a "terrorist."

The re-trial is slated for the following Tuesday March 27, 2012 after the jury plants are properly vetted and relatives of those Fox filed federal grievances against are culled from the pool. Then again, the trial is being held in Cherokee County where jurists lie under oath and jurors with dropped criminal charges vie to be seated after decades of ingratiation.

Even if you do not reside in Cherokee County and attempt to file a Civil Rights complaint in a neighboring county, District Attorney Elmer Beckworth will summon you in front of his friends sitting on his hand-picked juries. Prosecutors will call up their friends and relatives of those you are suing, and issue a warrant for your arrest. They will call you a “wanted federal fugitive” when you appear in court and re-arrest you on other trumped up charges. They will lock you in the Rusk, TX jailhouse and local judges will happily set your bail illegally beyond your ability to pay. They will raid your private property repeatedly in order to break you.

That is exactly what happened and is continuing to happen to former Jacksonville resident Robert J. Fox. Fox’s civil complaint against Beckworth and the City of Jacksonville was accepted by the US Eastern District and placed on the docket several years ago. (Source: Fox v. City of Jacksonville Texas et al Case No. 2:2010cv00158 TX Eastern District) This was not a government record that was tampered with.

Even when Cherokee County and City clerks refuse to accept any Notice to Sue, and you are forced to file your documents elsewhere, Elmer Beckworth, et al will file State criminal charges on you, claiming jurisdiction on a Federal matter. Cherokee County prosecutors and their willing accomplices will claim that they can bring charges against you, because you are suing them in Federal Court (Source: Fox v. City of Jacksonville Texas et al Case No. 2:2010cv00158 TX Eastern District) The 12th Court of Appeals in Tyler will rubberstamp this podunk county’s jurisdictional overreaching. As we and our readers have said before, be forewarned: Cherokee County is rogue, anti-American and out of control. These people make a living violating the law and people’s rights.

Rusk, TX:

Jury selection begins today for the Robert Fox retrial in Cherokee County district court. Elmer Beckworth refuses to recuse himself despite the fact he has answered Fox's federal complaint as a Defendant.  Again tax dollars will be wasted trying to bamboozle folks that Fox committed felony “tampering with a government record” for delivering an Intent to Sue to the City of Jacksonville. One element of Fox’s federal complaint is the refusal of the County Clerk and Cherokee County constables to endorse and serve his petitions under the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. A Tort Claim form is not required to serve the City of Jacksonville Risk Management office, as it has been served under class action by victims of police officer Larry Pugh's rape on patrol spree and Tomato Bowl riot.

Texas Rules of Civil Procedure

Rule 106. Method of Service
Unless the citation or an order of the court otherwise directs, the citation shall be served by any person authorized by Rule 103 by
1. delivering to the defendant, in person, a true copy of the citation with the date of delivery endorsed thereon with a copy of the petition attached thereto, or
2. mailing to the defendant by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, a true copy of the citation with a copy of the petition attached thereto.

Robert Fox has been arrested, incarcerated and indicted on one false charge after another, all of which have either been dismissed (Barratry), found Not Guilty (Possession of an Illegal Substance), or resulted in mistrial (Tampering with a Government Record). This after being called a “terrorist sympathizer” by the Jacksonville Police Department and repeatedly by local newspapers. Fox has spent a total of 457 days in Cherokee County jail after his bail was set unconstitutionally high and his personal effects paraded around during a staged press conference. Every single accusation levied on him has come from the Cherokee County district attorney and those he intends to sue. Fox claims his constitutional rights were violated during multiple open-ended Swat-style raids on his commercial property in Jacksonville. Three such raids in one month alone. Cherokee County has answered to these types of claims in federal court before, but because three raids in one month is so blatantly illegal, they must trump up something to justify their criminal conspiracy to violate Fox's rights. Robert Fox has an easily provable case of malicious prosecution, illegal search and seizure and unconstitutional practices.

 

Robert Fox

What prosecutor in any legitimate county would pursue made up charges against a man, simply because the individual filed a bona fide legal document accepted onto the US Eastern District court docket? When Robert Fox’s Intent to Sue paperwork was mailed from Smith County, Elmer Beckworth’s office did not ask the FBI to charge Fox with mail fraud. Why? Because they know no other county or federal court could easily stack a jury to convict an innocent man. No crime had been committed with paperwork that could have easily been thrown in the trash upon receipt. Instead, they vilify the Plaintiff in a Civil Rights suit with “sovereign citizen” rhetoric, as they did recently with Austin radio talk show host Randy Kelton. No actual crime has been committed by Fox’s paperwork against them. But crimes are continually being committed against Robert Fox in Cherokee County. The FBI and Texas Rangers in the area appear to have zero interest in Fox, or the outcome of justice one way or another.

Robert Fox relocated in the late 1990’s from the Dallas/ Fort Worth area to Cherokee County. He and his associates were not greeted with open arms after setting up a satellite branch of the House of Israel in downtown Jacksonville, TX, directly across from the fire station. It was common knowledge that members usually refused to properly identify themselves when stopped and often successfully challenge minor traffic and legal infractions. This is a BIG No No in Dogtown, USA. The House of Israel members claim to practice their sovereign God-given rights; some say they are just asking for it when they challenge the status quo. The City of Jacksonville knows this and like most small town bored cops, started escalating their random stops of House of Israel members walking to the corner store. Not only that, the ministry's downtown location was prime real estate for those wanting the out-of-towners to get the Hell OUT. They called them a “lightning rod for terrorism” but would deny they illegally tapped the church's phones.

House of Israel, Jacksonville, TX

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Prior to Robert Fox’s arrival to Jacksonville, TX, local member Barry Brooks was convicted of operating a dental practice without a license and fought the district attorney's office tooth and nail. Brooks held no punches embarrassing prosecutors in open court. And we all know that small town police forces are just political arms of the court house. Cherokee County wanted the House of Israel dissolved and punished. Barry Brooks’ adjacent property to the ministry hall allegedly contained expired dental antibiotics, and thus the excuse for multiple raids after-the-fact on Robert Fox’s section of the downtown rental plaza. Fox was present during the raids, placed under arrest and was forced to cough up bail money in escalating amounts. Cherokee County law enforcement has always operated like this.

A fishing expedition.

By an open-ended raid, we mean an illegal Search Warrant that offers no scope within the Affidavit; just grab what you can and use it anyway you can, as they did against Robert Fox. Jacksonville detective Jason Price showed Fox’s personal effects (none of which was illegal to own or suggested criminal activity) to the local media during a press conference. (Source: Jacksonville Daily Progress)

 

 

 Jason Price, detective for the Jacksonville Police Department, held a press conference, Friday morning where he announced that a felony warrant had been issued for the arrest of  House of Israel leader Robert Fox. Price also explained that his investigation had uncovered connections between Fox and known terrorists. Progress photo by Kelly Young (Source: Daily Progress)

 

During this televised press conference, the Jacksonville Police Department claimed Robert Fox to be a terrorist sympathizer because of his so-called “anti-government/ lawyer” leanings. Tyler TV stations and local sycophant newspapers were invited to spread the word that “a terrorist” named Robert Fox had links to “the Taliban and Timothy McVeigh.” (Source: KLTV July 25, 2008, "House of Israel Leader has Taliban link; draws Timothy McVeigh comparison")

He's the ringleader of an anti-government group, caught here in East Texas.
Now he's been linked to a major terrorist organization - the Taliban.
Robert James Fox was arrested in May by Jacksonville Police and then again in June. He bonded out, and is now wanted for another felony charge.
Jacksonville Police held a press conference today and walked us through Fox's history and what they see as his potential threat...

"We believe there is the same kind threat potential with Robert Fox, as there was with Timothy McVeigh," Detective Jason Price told KLTV 7. "It's a pressurized pot and it's hard to say when it's going to blow." (Source: KLTV)

East Texas media outlets ran with the story for several months, on the word of small town criminals attempting to divert attention to away from their own stinking corruption, murder and rape. This House of Israel fiasco was going on during the time the City of Jacksonville was settling multiple federal lawsuits of their former rapist cop Larry Pugh of the Jacksonville PD. Officer Pugh, linked to missing women in the area, was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for attacking one of his victims after she went to federal authorities.  (Source: Daily Progress)

Where was the press conference for Jacksonville PD Larry Pugh's missing victims? But we digress.

Robert Fox has never been a federal fugitive nor been wanted by the feds; furthermore the DOJ has never intervened to assist the city of Jacksonville or Cherokee County in their “sovereign citizen” lying dogshit. And that is exactly what it is. These people live in it and feed on it. The local media spreads it around.

Robert Fox and the House of Israel group have faced prosecution in the past for claiming religious rights when challenging minor traffic court cases, such as carrying passports to Heaven with “Elohim’s Kingdom of Israel” stamped on it. (Source: 766 F. Supp. 569 (1991) United States of America v. Robert James Fox, No. CR3-90-0288-H, United States District Court, N.D. Texas, Dallas Division, June 3, 1991) Fox’s own legal briefs are cantankerous and loaded with Biblical jargon that by design infuriates judges. No one would want to be on the receiving end of one of his Motions or lawsuits. If they were without legal merit, his court filings could be thrown in the trash or perhaps mailed back to him with a note instructing him to stick it up his ass and set it on fire--- in that order. Because Robert Fox was articulate in his federal complaint against Beckworth and the City of Jacksonville, et al they are retaliating by putting him on trial AGAIN for a bogus "tampering" charge, or "paper trail" as they call it. (Source: Daily Progress)

Sheriff James Campbell’s son-in-law was a juror on last year’s Robert Fox trial. For next week’s scheduled retrial, Elmer Beckworth does not want it leaked to the jury pool that he and James Campbell had to answer Fox’s Civil Rights complaint, because it was accepted and placed on the US Eastern District’s docket. Fox’s complaint was not summarily dismissed before all parties responded on the record. They should be recusing themselves and their kinfolk if it where a legitimate charge.

Parties in Fox’s federal complaint say he can’t file law suits and petition the government because a federal judge in Dallas labeled Fox a “vexatious litigant” back in 1993. The Cherokee County district attorney can not deny that Robert Fox’s civil rights have been constantly violated and the US Constitution trampled repeatedly; instead Elmer Beckworth responses to the civil rights suit claim that Fox has no right to recourse. Therefore anything Fox files is illegal (in Cherokee County), no matter where he files it. Elmer Beckworth’s retort to the US Eastern District does not deny Fox’s rights are being violated; Beckworth responded that Fox has no right to file any law suits. And what better way to settle a Civil Rights suit against the people you are suing, then by bringing fake criminal charges against the Plaintiff in a federal lawsuit? Cherokee County's Elmer Beckworth is being praised and patted on the back for implementing this violation of the letter of the law. They think Robert Fox deserves it--- to Hell with the Constitution.

Those in support of the District and County Attorney’s re-election campaigns are infuriated that the Robert Fox briefs mention Elmer Beckworth’s law school DWI and murdering drug informants such as Michael Harris who avoided prosecution. They want to ignore the decades’ worth of child molesters passed on the docket and given a few years probation living next door to them. They don’t care that a drug mule parolee named Brandon Robertson was released after being stopped with a gun and crystal meth, and went on to murder a Texas State Trooper 2 ½ weeks later. The City of Jacksonville cannot afford another round of civil rights suits after settling multiple class-action cases against rapist cop Larry Pugh. They don’t care that Craig Caldwell has spent the last 2 years accusing Pct. 3 Commissioner Katherine Pinotti of one made of up crime after another, while his predecessors had golf courses, private roads and ditches installed all over the county. (Source: KETK Jan. 19, 2012, "County Attorney apologizes to KETK")

Those in favor of the status quo don’t care when their county officials are caught stealing hundreds of thousands of tax dollars and not one of them do 1 year in prison. They don't care when women go missing after showing up at the Rape Crisis center.

They expect to get away with murder because they always have. According to the Justices operating in the US Eastern District, the City of Jacksonville was not responsible for employing a rapist cop who drug women out to the cemetery while on patrol, and molested them at gunpoint. The City of Jacksonville is not responsible for the women who their police officer raped while on duty or those who went missing after reporting it. According to this bunch, the City of Jacksonville, TX is not responsible for the nine women who survived and came forward, including the victim who escaped to testify. (Source: Evelyn Lewis vs. Larry Pugh, Mark Johnson, City of Jacksonville*)

*affirmed on Aug. 18, 2008 by the 5th Circuit Appeals in opinion No. 07- 40662  from the US Eastern District case 06-CV-357.  Read here: ftp://opinions.ca5.uscourts.gov/byDate/Aug2008/Aug18/07-40662.0.wpd.pdf

Accordingly to the same bunch, the City of Jacksonville is not responsible for the multiple raids and civil rights violations against Robert Fox and his friends passing through Cherokee County.

The City of Jacksonville, i.e. those in the community wanting the House of Israel property and the entire group removed by force, knows of the group’s tenacity and hard-headedness. Especially when it comes to the legal proceedings they complain most about, especially when they feel they are being done dirty. As stated earlier, Robert Fox has never been a “fugitive wanted on felony charges in Texas;” Fox has appeared to every single hearing, subpoena and summons he has been called to. Each time Robert Fox appeared to defend himself in Cherokee County’s courts, he has been charged again for another crime, ad nauseum, in order to stifle his civil rights suit.

There is no question that the entire Cherokee County jury pool knows who Robert Fox is, has heard about him, and have read about him in the paper. They all know he has filed civil complaints against the county. However they will never be instructed by the district judge that the Cherokee County district attorney's office has no federal jurisdiction to prosecute a piece of paper Fox filed in Smith County against Elmer Beckworth. A private citizen, as annoying as they may be, may file an Intent to Sue wherever and whenever they like in the United States of America. Fox's juries have been suborned to forget that fact.

After his multiple arrests in Cherokee County, Robert Fox was not released on his under his own personal recognizance; instead his bail was set unconstitutionally high and he was kept in the Rusk, TX jail for 235 days before his first hearing --- for a total of almost a year and half.  In March 2009, a traveling judge found Fox not guilty of “possession of dangerous drugs” in the County Court at Law. Charges of barratry were also dismissed. The reasons for the escalating raids and his multiple arrests failed the test of legality.

If filing an Intent to Sue at the Jacksonville, TX city hall  is “Tampering with a Government Record,” then why is Robert Fox’s civil rights complaint on the US Eastern District’s docket? Why was it accepted and reviewed? Why did Elmer Beckworth, the City of Jacksonville and local news outlet have to respond to it? Being locked in jail for over a year and half, raided at gunpoint for charges that were eventually dropped; and being called a "terrorist" is CRUEL and USUAL for them, i.e. TORTURE under the color of law elsewhere. What about the women tortured by Jacksonville patrolman/rapist Larry Pugh? What equity do they get from the bench? What about the families of the missing women and those murdered by Cherokee County drug mules and informants?

These judges and justices who rubber stamp this criminal activity don't just rely on their constituent equivocators to keep their pre-Civil Rights mentality alive and well; East Texas is teeming with rats and roaches crawling in and out of their back pockets. Hence, civil rights complaints get swept under the rug with the dung heaps they thrive in.

If nothing is done about this ongoing 21st Century corruption, the entire area should be economically quarantined, boycotted, closed off from the rest of the world (as they would prefer) and left to rot on the vine. There is not one entity working on this Robert Fox case that is not 10 thousand percent cognizant that Cherokee County is guilty of violating the law under the United States Constitution. Willfully, knowingly, openly and repeatedly.

March 31, 2012 update: Robert Fox’s 2nd trial began Tuesday March 27, 2012 and recessed early Wednesday March 28 due to Fox getting sick and requesting a continuance. (Source: Jacksonville Daily Progress “Trial session shortened after defendant falls ill” March 28, 2012) 
Fox's re-trial continues April 25, 2012.

District Attorney retaliates against civil rights suit

Judicial ethics Cherokee County style.

District Attorney Elmer Beckworth, among other Cherokee County officials, is a Defendant in the Robert Fox federal civil rights lawsuit filed in Marshall, TX (Source: Fox v. City of Jacksonville, Texas et al Case No. 2:2010cv00158 TX Eastern District). Elmer Beckworth is criminally prosecuting Fox in Cherokee County for filing the civil rights complaint. Beckworth refused to recuse himself early this year after he brought Robert Fox to trial under a bogus “tampering with a government record” charge in retaliation for Fox's Notice To Sue against Beckworth personally, the sheriff’s department and the city of Jacksonville. And even though Sheriff James Campbell is also named as a Defendant in Fox’s lawsuit, Campbell’s own son-in-law sat as a juror in Elmer Beckworth's "tampering with a government record" trial against Fox. Not to mention Campbell’s son-in-law’s apparent noncompliance with mandatory full disclosure to the court of any possible bias he might have toward Fox for naming his father-in-law as a Defendant in the federal civil rights case. As usual, the Cherokee County district court ignores the district attorney’s patent conflict of interest of empaneling jurists who lie about their association with a case in order to be seated at trial. Moreover, the DA himself is a federal Defendant responding to Fox's civil rights suit.

Cherokee County has criminalized the filing of mere "paperwork" in the federal court system.

A mistrial was declared after tens of thousands of dollars of Cherokee County taxpayer money was spent stacking Fox’s jury with relatives of those he intends to sue. In yet another example of Cherokee County’s consummate waste of tax dollars, Beckworth has filed for another trial in March 2012, one year after the original mistrial and after the fall midterm elections. The district attorney’s goal is not just to convince his next handpicked jury an actual crime had been committed, because no crime ever took place. For solidarity’s sake, Elmer Beckworth must prove the Good Ol’ Boy network draining Cherokee County dry is above accountability. Robert Fox's lawsuit among other things is in response to being held in the Cherokee County jail under bail set unconstitutionally high for 9 months and then being called a "federal fugitive" after being released on bond.

Robert Fox’s suit against Elmer Beckworth, et al is pending in the US District Court. Meanwhile, the cities of Wells, Texas and Alto, Texas have lost their police departments as revenue has been sucked up to county seat level to protect the sheriff’s department and district attorney’s office from civil rights suits. Cherokee County’s cabal is in full motion to criminalize federal civil rights suits against them.

For decades, innocent people have been framed by these so-called justice authorities for crimes perpetrated in collusion with dirty local law enforcement. Radio personality Randy Kelton was charged by Beckworth's team in May 2009 for operating a detective agency without a license simply for speaking in Fox's defense to the Cherokee County grand jury. It doesn't matter to the district attorney that a defense witness doesn't have to have a license to be an investigative journalist.

Would you like your door kicked in in the middle of the night by sheriff deputies because you filed a complaint with the FBI? Do you like the thought of backwoods law enforcement snooping through your mail and listening to personal phone calls?  Would you like your neighbors to be paid to watch your every move so your property can be violated while you’re out of town? Do you want to live in a county where known pedophiles, wife-beaters and drunk drivers are called to serve on jury duty so prosecutors can extort them to ensure their vote? Citizens outside of the region should understand the depth and breadth of this type of illegal activity that the US Eastern District is made aware of every year through civil rights suits. Unfortunately their pattern is to summarily dismiss, with pure homegrown Good Ol’ Boy bias, cases against their counterparts at the State level.

In typical East Texas unaccountability, the US Eastern District recently dismissed Robert Fox’s civil suit against the city of Jacksonville, TX. Apparently in the minds of federal justices from the Eastern District, their hometowns’ corrupt law enforcement and rogue prosecutors are off limits. Even when they kidnap, rape and torture women at gunpoint on the side of the road and drag them off into cemeteries. Or kick down the doors of law-abiding citizens. All trumped up charges against Robert Fox such as hording drugs, barratry, etc. were formally dismissed, yet Cherokee County’s district attorney continued to press forward to trial. The “tampering with a government record” charge was concocted to load up the Cherokee County court docket (which is exactly what the district attorney accuses Robert Fox of doing) after all charges against Fox were dismissed. Fox will be put on trial yet again for filing an “Intent to Sue” document in Smith County after his property was illegally raided and he was deprived of due process.

After word of Fox’s federal civil rights case against the city of Jacksonville was dismissed, district attorney Elmer Beckworth’s team immediately filed for a re-trial in Cherokee County court. Even though Fox’s felony charge of “tampering with a government record” was declared null and void in the mistrial earlier this year. No media personality in East Texas has asked much less  answered “How is filing a Notice to Sue in federal court in any way tampering with official records???” Instead, the local media was too busy in 2009 repeating the shit fed to them by the Jacksonville Police Department that Robert Fox was a “wanted federal fugitive” and active “terrorist sympathizer.” Fox is suing several media outlets for libel as well; however he can’t hold the city of Jacksonville responsible for its police department holding press conferences declaring him to be a terrorist, according to the US Eastern District. Current justices appear to be willing to perpetuate this pattern of unaccountability as they did by not holding the city of Jacksonville responsible for the actions of rapist cop Larry Pugh, sentenced to 15 years federal time for three counts of sexually assaulting women while on patrol. This judicial debacle was spelled out in the June 9, 2008 Burnt Orange Report.

That doesn't stop Robert Fox from suing Sheriff James Campbell, Elmer Beckworth, and the whole kit and kaboodle individually and civilly. However, that doesn't stop the district attorney either from planting the next Cherokee County jury with even more of the sheriff’s kinfolk come re-trial. So here we go again folks, your district attorney is going to waste another hundred thousand dollars of your taxes for yet another round at Robert Fox in March 2012, after the Fall elections. While the local media refuses to publish the certainty of Robert Fox prevailing, all the attention in the US Eastern District Court has reverberated throughout the Rusk, TX legal community and sent assistant district attorneys scurrying for anonymity.

The federal US Eastern District has a horrible track record of summarily dismissing viable complaints made against East Texas municipalities that employ small town cops who openly violate the citizenry’s rights. They allow backwater police and prosecutors to fabricate Penal Code statutes to retaliate against civil rights victims. Every single charge authored by district attorney Elmer Beckworth and initially levied against Robert Fox had no legal merit and was dismissed in Beckworth’s own court. The US Eastern District Court ignores this, despite Cherokee County incarcerating Fox for nine months without his ability to make bail. He is charged for a “paper trail” of bonafide complaints against Cherokee County’s rogue police tactics. Furthermore, his bail was set unconstitutionally high for charges that were summarily dismissed. Cherokee County still has not cleared those charges from their dockets.

If Robert Fox can’t say in print that Cherokee County, Texas is corrupt and rogue, then who can?

It’s not like they had to pay Robert Fox off to keep him quiet, like they do each other. If Fox's lawsuit is frivolous and without merit, then it would not have been accepted in the US Eastern District’s jurisdiction, assigned a case identifier and scheduled on that docket. Cherokee County is so corrupt that they believe that answering a federal civil summons, which Elmer Beckworth, et al (including local media outlets Fox sued) did in fact do in November of last year, is somehow illegal and a State crime. Meanwhile, it is the taxpayer paying for this dog and pony show crafted by the Cherokee County DA's office.

Cherokee County wants its citizens to think a piece of paper filed with a federal district clerk is reason to incarcerate someone without bail for nine months. Even if these rogue authorities finally convict Robert Fox of some made up crime through their frame job while the US Eastern District Court looks the other way, it will be the taxpayers picking up the tab. Apparently the locals are willing to have their entire police forces furloughed in order to pay for this ongoing criminal conspiracy.

Alto, Texas police cars sit locked up after tiny city laid off entire police force in cost-cutting move. (Courtesy CBS News)

Concerned citizens ask "Where has all the money gone?" when at the same time their property taxes are increasing for the first time in seven years to pay for the Rusk, TX courthouse's increase in staff. (Source: Tyler Paper) While local schools and maintenance departments are tightening their purse strings, Cherokee County is spending its money 'lawyering up.'

These are the words that the Cherokee County, TX district court have deemed to be illegal, reprinted in part from Robert Fox’s civil rights claim heard earlier this summer:

ATTN: RISK MANAGEMENT
CLAIM:
NOTICE TO CURE/
NOTICE OF INTENT TO SUE
AS PRESENTED BY AFFIDAVIT OF
Robert James Fox

FACTS

1. This claim is based upon the event whereby I, Robert James Fox, was seized by force of arms on January 23, A.D. 2009, as a matter of RETALIATION, DISCRIMINATION, AND RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION, wherein the evidence goes to show that the alleged Jacksonville Police Department commenced their series of attacks by force of arms on May 15, A.D. 2008, by breaking the law by specific intent, or in other words FRAUD, as they executed their planned aggravated assault, armed robbery, wrongful incarceration, and TORTURE by specific intent.

2. Absent Fifth Amendment just compensation, theft of private property on May 15, May 22, and June 11, in the nature of armed robbery and/or conversion, was utilized as RETALIATION, DISCRIMINATION, AND RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION, as per Texas Civil Practice and Remedy Code, Chapter 106.001.

3. I, Robert James Fox, suffered injury due to the fact the Jacksonville Police Department DENIED DUE PROCESS, and absent commitment ORDER, I was summarily incarcerated from January 23rd to May the 24th contrary to Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 17.151, by specific intent as evidenced by the testimony of Sheriff James Campbell who declared under penalty of perjury that it was a commitment ORDER from the City of Jacksonville that was responsible.

4. Absent lawful authority, for the non-crime of filing a Claim upon Risk Management pursuant to the Texas Tort Claims Act, I suffered summary incarceration beyond the legal limit in violation of Texas law, which creates personal liability for any and all parties involved at Jacksonville, and causing extreme emotional distress, as evidenced by the fact I was taken from the Cherokee County Jail by ambulance to the hospital for oxygen and nitro.

5. Outline of elements regarding CONSPIRACY:
A. 2 or more persons acted together,
B. they acted to accomplish an object,
C. they had a meeting of the minds on the object or course of action;
D. they committed one or more unlawful, overt acts; and
E. the plaintiff suffered injury as a proximate result.

(under conspiracy, joint and several liability is extended not only to the wrongdoer, but also to those who have agreed to assist the wrongdoer.)

It is plain and clear that the unlawful egregious conduct creating the damages that I have suffered is the result of city and county employees conspiring against me, in open defiance of God’s law, as well as State and Federal law, including but not limited to Texas Civil Practice and Remedy Code, Chapter 106.001.

6. All of the above matters, including but not limited to over two years of litigating the “Tampering with a Government Record” issue, has caused me extreme emotional distress which was inflicted intentionally in the nature of TORTURE.

Murderers and drug addicts on the Cherokee County payroll

 

(Courtesy: Smith County)

Michael Dashawn Harris, sentenced to life (with parole) for the murder of Jacksonville, TX resident Faye Bell Harris.

Time served: 6 years.

(Source: Jacksonville Daily Progress, January 22, 2004)

"Harris faces competency hearing."

The capital murder case of Michael Dashawn Harris is scheduled to get underway next week - in a preliminary sense - with a hearing to determine his competency to stand trial.

Judge Dwight Phifer, who oversees the state's 2nd Judicial District, has also ordered that jury selection for the trial begin on either Feb. 9 or 17.

Police officers arrested Harris, 44, on Aug. 4, 2003, after he went to his mother-in-law's house and allegedly shot and killed his estranged wife, Faye Harris. Harris was also charged with retaliation.

In Texas, any time a murder is committed in the course of committing certain felonies - such as retaliation - a person may be charged with capital murder and be eligible for the death penalty.

Cherokee County District Attorney Elmer Beckworth has not said if he will seek the death penalty in the Harris case. (Courtesy: Daily Progress)

After trying to burn down their house and later murdering his ex-wife in front of their daughter, Michael Dashawn Harris passed away 6 years into a life sentence arranged by District Attorney Elmer Beckworth. The version of events promulgated by the folks in Cherokee County and the district attorney is that the murder was a result of lax felony bond requirements and that prosecutors followed the letter of the law. After all that money was spent on Beckworth traveling to Austin to ostensibly champion Faye Bell Harris as a victim's rights advocate and to grandstand, Cherokee County newspapers did not contest Michael Harris' possible early release to the Parole Board.

They are confident the ignorant public has been fooled completely in this case; they convinced the Harris family that they were not responsible for allowing a drug informant on the streets after repeatedly arresting him for escalating domestic violence. What is Michael Harris' value to the district attorney's office?

Michael Harris was initially arrested on a Cherokee County warrant by the Tyler Police Department on January 27, 2003. He was transported back to Cherokee County where he was charged with arson/attempt to cause bodily injury in a house of worship. He made bail and continued to repeatedly attack his estranged ex-wife while on felony bond.

Oddly enough, Michael D. Harris was not just charged with a homicide; he pleaded to murdering a "peace officer or fireman"  and attempting to burn down this so-called "place of worship."  To the district attorney's office, the Harris household was a religious safe house strategically located in the city of Jacksonville's northern drug corridor. Hence Elmer Beckworth charged Michael Harris with murdering a "peace officer," [the victim Mrs. Harris], i.e. the other informant living in the house and cooperating with the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department. Faye Harris worked as a therapy technician at the Rusk State Hospital according to the Cherokeean Herald.

 (Source: Cheorkeean April 30, 1998 Sec. A, p. 7)

Sources:  Criminal Docket Case 15388: CAPITAL MURDER OF A PEACE OFFICER OR FIREMAN THE STATE OF TEXAS vs HARRIS, MICHAEL DASHAWN. Filed 09/22/2003 -Disposition: 10/18/2004 Conviction-guilty plea or nolo cont-no jury.

Case 15354: MURDER; Case 15387: ASSAULT CAUSES BODILY INJURY FAMILY VIOLENCE ENHANCED; Case 15250: ARSON BODILY INJURY/DEATH IN PLACE OF WORSHIP. 2nd District Court, District Clerk, Cherokee County, TX.

The Michael Harris case never went to trial; he pleaded No Contest to the 2003 homicide after his in-and-out rehab stints at the Rusk State Hospital. His bail was set and reset multiple times by the Cherokee County court system. Faye Harris' calls to the district court to have her ex-husband locked up for his escalating domestic violence were ignored. Thousands of taxpayer dollars have been spent to convince the public otherwise.



Are residents beginning to realize the depth and breadth of public corruption going on under their noses and why their municipalities' police forces have dried up? Where has all the taxpayer money for public safety gone? Exactly how is the District Attorney's Law Enforcement Fund from seizures being spent?

Taxpayer money is spent subsidizing the families and allies of the same group of people who have been draining Cherokee County dry for decades. Cherokee County is a family-operated criminal enterprise and along with their familial kickbacks, their confidential informants have bankrupted the city and county coffers. According to CBS News, the towns of Wells and Alto, TX have both had their entire police forces furloughed as their city councils do some fiduciary housecleaning. The tiny town of Alto, TX is making up for a $185,000 budget deficit with the layoffs. (Source: CBS News, Tiny Texas town lays off entire police force)

For the first time in modern history, these one stoplight towns have done a little fiscal oversight and discovered that their city services are in the RED. Too much taxpayer money has been allocated for personal use which includes paying law enforcement and their families to illegally monitor the law-abiding public. They have decided to cut their city law enforcement and have overextended sheriff’s deputies respond to their emergencies. The local Cherokeean Herald reports Alto, TX (population 1150) had five officers on payroll for nighttime alarm patrol in a one-horse town.


Looking for an oral history of Cherokee County, Texas? 

Chapter 1: A history of corruption that cannot be rewritten or ignored.

Former Alto police chiefs’ salaries have ranged from $16K to over $100K, depending on who the applicant was related to, even though the city's population has remained at or below 1100 for the last 30 years. Their turnover has been frequent, controversial and bitter at times. Relatives of the former district attorney have framed past police chiefs to run them out of town and move themselves into a coveted salaried position. (Source: Cherokeean) Former Alto mayor Garwin Baugh tells the Jacksonville Daily Progress in 1992 how he and Police Chief Tom Griffith were targeted for openly discussing the cover up of a murdered feed store owner. (Source: Daily Progress May 1, 1992)

Chief Griffith was ousted and the district attorney's investigator took his job to make sure the capital murder conviction in the case was not overturned. All public discussions of the case were quelled. The conviction was eventually overturned and an innocent defendant facing life in prison was released on time served.  The case was The State vs. Terry Watkins. Elmer Beckworth represented the State at Watkins' appeal; his job was to thwart any and all evidentiary review hearings that proved Terry Watkins' innocence. The victim's life insurance was used among other things to pay State witnesses for the prosecutor, former district attorney Charles Holcomb. Taxpayer money has always been spent to keep the family clan in office and against whistleblowers. Proceeds from insurance payouts also come in handy for hush money.

Charles Holcomb takes money to hire witnesses (Source: Daily Progress August 23, 1990)

During this current police furlough, the sheriff’s department and district attorney’s office will have to rely solely on their good ol’ boy/ bitty network to keep watch over the southern part of the county. Even more taxpayer money will be allocated for illegal phone drops, jury plants, ‘anonymous’ tipsters and other reserve officers' clandestine eavesdropping.

Every week the local newspapers report the status of merchant sales tax revenues as if it were a true signal of the economic status of the county. Following their logic, these little towns rake in the sales tax but cannot afford to have police protection? Think again.



The only investigative technique utilized by law enforcement in this area is illegal phone tapping of its residents. At least since the 1920's they have enlisted their family members to listen to and record as many perfectly legal telephone and innocuous business conversations as possible throughout the county. In their minds there is no need for an active police force in rural areas because their 3rd generation phone tapping network is intact and operating at 100%.

Informants provide routine drug busts to justify county and state level investigators and their salaries, while taxpayer money is pooled to help pay these CIs' house bills and keep them in the county. Instead of being ostracized, murderers and drug addicts are on the dole in Cherokee County. When it comes to politicking, these informants provide pabulum for district attorney's and sheriff investigators. That is where the money has gone. Tax revenue goes to keep these salaried parasites in office and against any and all who challenge them. Traveling public beware if you use the local telephone systems or post offices.



No need to dial 9-1-1 folks; they know about crime before it even takes place. Usually they are the perpetrators.

Sales tax reciprocity from the city to the county level will cease to exist until Cherokee County voters are brave enough to do some judiciary housecleaning. Meanwhile, Cherokee County taxpayer dollars are still being spent on prosecuting Robert Fox for filing a Notice to Sue in Smith County; investigating the Precinct 3 Commissioner for her bonafide due diligence; and decades of private property improvements by county officials in bed with the district attorney. The entire county, much less the small towns of Alto and Wells, TX, can no longer afford the public corruption that has been going on for decades.

Mistrial declared in Robert Fox “tampering with the government” case

Cherokee County tax dollars were further squandered this week as district attorney Elmer Beckworth brought bogus “Tampering with a Government Record” charges against Robert Fox to fruition. The nearly weeklong bullshit session ended in a deadlocked jury, with those relatives of law enforcement and prosecutors holding out a day and a half until deliberations were halted. Fox represented himself. His federal lawsuit against the city of Jacksonville, or as Beckworth's office calls it "a tampered with government record," has not been dismissed and is still on the Eastern District's docket. Fox's trial had been postponed for over a year after initial jury selection, in anticipation of his Federal lawsuit being heard in Tyler, TX this summer. (Source: Fox v. City of Jacksonville Texas et al Case No. 2:2010cv00158 TX Eastern District)

Robert Fox had faced a litany of concocted charges several years ago, including barratry, all of which were summarily dismissed despite the barrage of media reports about his so-called "activities" with the House of Israel. Cherokee County felt they had a blank check to storm the place and falsely accuse its members of any incendiary thing they could think of. Once Fox fought back with a Civil Rights suit against the city of Jacksonville, "tampering with a government record" charges were sought locally to quell his petition to the Tyler Federal Courts. Robert Fox spent 9 months in Cherokee County jail, unable to make his unconstitutionally high set bail. Not to mention being labeled a "terrorist threat" by the Jacksonville Police Department during press conferences. At trial Fox faced a jury composed of Sheriff James Campbell's son-in-law and others related to the individuals listed in his federal complaints. That in itself would be grounds for a mistrial or remand, but glaring corruption is of no concern to those operating Cherokee County.

The goal of this still unreported "tampering" trial was to derail Robert Fox’s meticulous civil rights suit against the county in Tyler’s Federal Court. The city of Jacksonville, TX is preparing for the federal suit to be heard and discussing it with their attorneys. This is how personal vendettas and illegal raids (resulting in federal civil rights suits) are handled by the Cherokee County’s District Attorney’s office. It is certainly OK in the locals' minds to have jury pools tampered with, false charges pushed through the court system, witnesses' phones tapped, perjury by prosecutors during voir dire admitted as evidence, etc. etc. etc. Tens of thousands of dollars and countless man-hours have been spent poisoning the Robert Fox jury pool, while pedophiles, wife beaters and other riffraff related to these people go unprosecuted.

Meanwhile, the cities of Alto and Wells,TX have both lost their police departments (Source: Jacksonville Daily Progress May 28, 2011), placing the financial strain of patrolling and responding to these areas entirely on the Sheriff Department. With school districts, county precincts and all other government agencies tightening their belts, apparently the district attorney’s budget is designed to stave off potentially large hits to the county’s liability insurance. We're waiting to read about this latest miscarriage of justice in the local courthouse-affiliated newspapers.

Cherokee County, TX has criminalized the filing of Federal civil rights lawsuits. Jacksonville Police Chief Reece Daniel even told the Daily Progress the intent of Robert Fox's "tampering with a government record" charge was to stop Fox from what Daniel saw as "cluttering up the county clerk's office with false, frivolous documents." (Source: Daily Progress Jan. 27, 2009) Robert Fox was charged with a felony for "his paper trail." If Fox's claims were frivolous, why weren't his accusations simply ignored?

The charge stems from some paperwork he [Fox] has filed in a Smith County court, but because he delivered it and made the demands in Cherokee County, we have venue,” Daniel said. “He filed an official record with the clerk’s office, which is legally considered a governmental record. Under the law, if that record contains false information, then it has been tampered with.” (Source: Daily Progress Jan. 27, 2009)

Chief Daniel and his legal advisor Elmer Beckworth believe they are both judge and jury when it comes to what complaints or briefs Robert Fox files out of county. Had Fox filed a frivolous lawsuit then it would have been summarily dismissed as their own charges against him were. Had the city of Jacksonville police department not continued its campaigns of creating charges, dropping charges, then creating more against Robert James Fox, et al, then the federal lawsuits they face would never have been filed. The county’s liability insurance premiums would be safe and their standings with the Municipal League intact. Therefore, the prime mover in the Robert Fox case has always been, and shall ever be, the city of Jacksonville and district attorney’s office out of control criminal activities. Their own actions led to Robert Fox finally filing civil complaints against them. Anyone in the United States can file any lawsuit whenever they feel the need, even prisoners on death row.

The steps are simple and followed to the letter in Cherokee County:
1. get a misinformed city judge to sign off on an open-ended Search Warrant.
2. publicize legal material confiscated during the raid that wasn’t part of the scope of the original Warrant.
3. set the Bail unconstitutionally high based on bogus charges.
4. concoct another set of charges to re-arrest and conduct another open-ended raid.
5. do the above 3 or 4 times until the arrestee has exhausted funds for bonds.
6. perform an arrest again based upon more bogus charges when the defendant appears in court.
7. repeat all necessary steps while sending press releases on how “dangerous” the “wanted fugitive” in their custody is.
8. criminalize any and all defendant's Motions and civil rights complaints.

Cherokee County has collectively tampered with government documents to claim it is a State felony to file a Federal lawsuit against them, in retaliation to Robert Fox’s civil rights cases. Then they placed Sheriff Campbell's inner circle of in-laws on Fox's jury. Their minions lap up this type of criminal conspiracy; they actually pat each other on the back for creating charges that have no basis in the penal code. They call this type of malicious prosecution as “being creative.” Joseph Goebbels himself would be proud of the propaganda the Cherokee County District Attorney told the courtroom this week. Unfortunately, many familial jurists and officers of the court are as well, but not enough to compose any press releases on the trial’s outcome. Cherokee County district court and the city of Jacksonville have absolutely no legal authority, jurisdiction or venue over any federal complaints filed in Smith County.


"The bigger the lie, the more people will believe it." — Joseph Goebbels

In America, government officials and law enforcement are accountable for their activities, both civilly and criminally. In any other part of the country these people would have been locked up and disbarred. These people have for decades used their political positions along with our tax dollars to silence opponents and crush political enemies to further their own personal agendas. Every free thinking person knows that Robert Fox has the legal to right to file any lawsuit in any Federal Court he chooses, no matter how "frivolous" or "vexatious;"  and that his, and thus our, constitutionally guaranteed right cannot be impeded upon. It is crystal clear that Cherokee County is renegade, malicious and out of bounds of the Law.

Enter at your own risk.

Probated Rusk, TX child molester arrested in California; First Degree child sex assault sentenced as Second Degree

This tip comes from a reader.

Rusk, TX:
The local newspapers will not report the probation violation of a registered sex offender caught out of state. Another homegrown Rusk, TX pedophile recommended for probation by the Cherokee County district attorney’s office has traveled out of the county and again placed people at risk. According to a reader's tip, James Christopher Schlater, 53, was captured by authorities in Santa Clara County, California and transferred back to the Rusk jail where he quietly awaits his recommencing in Cherokee County, Texas. The victim of his original probated sex offense in Rusk is verified as a 6-year old female according to the Online TXDPS Sex Offender Registry.

James Schlater is currently incarcerated in the Rusk, TX  jail where his probation violation is being whitewashed and ignored by the local media for the simple fact that Schlater’s re-offense makes Cherokee County’s ingrained corrupt criminal justice system look bad. They also won't report how in-laws of the District Attorney’s staff work side-by-side while relatives are placed directly on jury panels.


James C. Schlater, courtesy Homefacts.com/TXDPS

Texas Penal Code, Section 21.02- Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Young Child or Children (h) An offense under this section is a felony of the first degree, punishable by imprisonment in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for life, or for any term of not more than 99 years or less than 25 years.

Cherokee County jury trials are for show. They are an opportunity to have local newspapers publish quotes of deliberate lies spun about existing legal statutes and to grandstand the corruption of all participants. The Tyler Paper and Jacksonville Daily Progress report Timothy Ray Hill, Sr. , 50, was recently convicted of molesting a 13-year old female over a 3 year period and sentenced to only 15 years in TDCJ.

 Timothy Ray Hill, Sr. courtesy Tyler Paper The Jacksonville Daily Progress reports the Hill sentencing:

According to Cherokee County First Assistant District Attorney Rachel Patton, sexual assault and indecency with a child by sexual contact are punishable by two to 20 years in prison and a fine not to exceed $10,000. (Source: Jacksonville Daily Progress, Feb. 28, 2011)

Apparently the Jacksonville-based reporter is content being cited the punishment for Second Degree felonies, which Timothy Ray Hill, Sr. was sentenced under. However, Hill is reported to have committed a First Degree felony and only one case of sexual assault was filed by prosecutors in June 2010 (Source: Criminal Docket Case 17818, SEXUAL ASSAULT CHILD; THE STATE OF TEXAS vs HILL, TIMOTHY RAY, Filed 06/28/2010 - Disposition: 02/25/2011; 2nd District Court, District Clerk, Cherokee County, TX).

Corrupt little Cherokee County gets to have it both ways and they are going to report it as such. There is a decades old criminal mentality that permeates the county’s justice system and local media’s reporting protocol.

Sec. 12.33. SECOND DEGREE FELONY PUNISHMENT. (a) An individual adjudged guilty of a felony of the second degree shall be punished by imprisonment in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for any term of not more than 20 years or less than 2 years. (b) In addition to imprisonment, an individual adjudged guilty of a felony of the second degree may be punished by a fine not to exceed $10,000. (Source: Texas Penal Code, Title 3, Chapter 12, Subchapter A)

There is no statute of limitations for sexual assault crimes under the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Title 1 Chapter 12. However, if the Penal Code had been properly applied (and reported) in the Timothy Hill, Sr. case, the predator would have been sentenced to no less than 25 years concurrent for the continuous sexual abuse of a child. What is the efficacy of lying in print and misleading the public on Penal Codes and Statutes that are easily accessible other than to promote a corrupt solidarity between the Rusk, TX courthouse and local newspapers? Timothy Ray Hill, Sr. was convicted under ‘Apples’ but sentenced under ‘Oranges.’

If the facts don’t fit the story, change the facts.

Cherokee County newspapers have been spin doctoring their reports for decades. Take the recent Alto, Texas high school coach who recently pleaded to 10 years probation for having an improper teacher/student relationship with a female high schooler in the Elementary School gymnasium - a second degree felony in Texas. Kith and kin at the Cherokeean  newspaper quickly came to the rescue by deliberately reporting the age of the convicted Alto ISD faculty member to be 29, instead of his actual age of 39. That’s the story they want printed, that the victim was of the age of consent and that their local coach was 10 years younger than he really is. No retraction and no corrections are necessary for the same old blue-haired biddies assigned to endear the county by publishing ‘their version of events’ to soften the blow of outside scrutiny. They take their cues directly from a district attorney’s office who offers slap on the wrist plea bargains to child rapists and who openly perjures all the way to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Cherokee County media deliberately bury unsavory stories that make the county look bad. Especially those events and arrests of family members connected to the Rusk, TX courthouse. Whether it is the recidivate former Rusk, TX jailer facing parole revocation hearings after multiple DUIs or the arrests of the Rusk, TX dentist for escalating domestic violence involving a gun, the biddies quickly disconnect themselves from their incarcerated social network buddies after word spreads outside the county. Family-connected reporters conveniently misspell their jailed allies' names to throw everyone off the trail.

Cherokee County is safe haven for recidivists directly connected to the Sheriff’s Department and District Attorney. Those familial bums arrested outside of the county quickly return to hometown Cherokee County for their Adult Probation and Supervision. They are given free rein to roam around and re-offend in order to snitch for the D.A. and Sheriff’s offices. For playing the jailhouse stoolie, they can be arrested once, twice, three and four times; up to the point they kill someone, as drug informant Michael Harris (who eventually murdered his ex-wife after multiple arrests and bail violations). With one phone call to neighboring counties, these entities can have their confidential informants released, Blue Warrants pulled and charges reduced if not entirely dropped. There will be a few uncooperative sacrificial lambs sentenced to TDCJ for the newspapers to periodically report. As stated earlier, usually the statute of limitations have either run out OR the sentencing does not meet the Texas Penal Code. To make matters worse, the Cherokee County courts will release known drug users such as Michael Harris and Brandon Robertson who corroborate information from law enforcements’ illegal telephone taps. Deputies listen to and record phone conversations 24/7 for the district attorney’s office in collaboration with these rapists and murderers.

They will set free a parole violator caught with a gun and crystal meth such as Brandon Robertson (who killed a DPS trooper two weeks later) who brings drug money into the county. They will completely fabricate stories and court hearings to cover up their appointed Precinct 3 Constable Randall Thompson driving to the Mexican border to purchase methamphetamines for distribution throughout the county. Yet the same corrupt court will incarcerate the likes of harmless Robert Fox for 9 months in solitary confinement before his pre-trial, simply because he filed a Federal Civil Rights complaint against them. The Tyler TV station that covers Thompson’s stomping grounds in Jacksonville interviewed the convicted constable on his way to work. Not to mention the certified mail Randall Thompson picked up and signed for as agent of the district court.

The local media jumps on the D.A.’s bandwagon when innocent citizens are falsely accused, but they can’t stand it when readers see in print the criminal activity of their elected officials’ family members. They have formed a symbiotic bond from decades of cronyism and they believe it is their duty to repeat the lies. It impresses them that the District Attorney and his cronies can violate the US Constitution at will, and nothing is done about it. In their minds it is not illegal if the district attorney’s office is doing it. And the District Attorney makes sure they feel as if they are contributing to the greater good, by enforcing the propaganda.

They also believe if it is in writing in the paper or printed in the court record, then that’s the story they're sticking with. For example, the Daily Progress has never retracted any story or lie that Constable Randall Thompson was a complete no-show for his district court duties, prior to his federal drug indictment. All it would take is a one sentence correction buried in the classified section; however they stick to their collective story no matter how ludicrous. Like clockwork before pretrial (and Black History month), Randall Thompson’s replacement in the Confederate district court has the Rusk and Jacksonville newspapers print the Civil War Revisited for Dummies. Luckily for readers outside the region, the Tyler Morning Telegraph has on their staff new reporters who challenge the cultist pre-Reconstruction mentality of the Cherokee County newspapers.

A recent Texas Monthly article “When DAs Attack!” highlights the corrupt mentality permeating the East Texas judicial system. Smith County is the target of the critical exposé but the same is applicable to neighboring Cherokee County. In the now overturned Smith County “Mineola Sex Ring” case and Patrick Kelly conviction, the Houston Court of Appeals found that:

“The record is rife with error … the trial court adopted ad hoc evidentiary rules that operated to assist the State in proving its case, while impeding appellant’s ability to defend himself.”

As the Houston Court of Appeals said, “The trial court clearly abused its discretion,” i.e. the district judge in the case was not only openly supporting the district attorney’s weak and circumstantial case in front of the jury throughout the trial, the judge was making up judicial rules and ignoring evidentiary standards that proved the defense’s case. The Patrick Kelly case was remanded to Smith County and the original trial judge facing the complaints will preside over the retrial (Source: KLTV and Tyler Paper).

Other defendants in the "Mineola Sex Ring" have been found guilty and face retrial because of the way the cases have been handled by Smith County authorities (Source: KCEN). The Kerry Max Cook fiasco is another well-published example of East Texas prosecutorial misconduct. Cook was framed by Smith County officials and sat on death row for 20 years until exonerated with the help of DNA evidence. After multiple retrials, Smith County prosecutors offered Cook a never before “No-Contest” plea bargain for murder.

If these reported egregious acts of judicial misconduct are happening in large East Texas cities such as Tyler, TX, imagine what goes on in the small towns where news is buried to protect the area’s ability to make money. And local reporters are afraid of the consequences of printing anything critical of their elected officials. To the unreported south, Cherokee County’s versions of unethical acts and judicial bias occur during the plea bargain process. Indigent defendants are railroaded by the district attorney’s office, working in tandem with court appointed attorneys, to blindly accept an undisclosed sentence for pleading Guilty in front of the judge. If they don’t waste the court’s time and roll the dice, defendants may get a slap-on-the-wrist 'Sweetheart of a Deal'. If the county is in desperate need of a sacrificial lamb, the court will violate the letter of the law and impose over-the-top prison terms with the hopes the Tyler Court of Appeals will rubberstamp the sentence.

Cherokee County court officials get to play God in their corrupt little world where their buddies in the newspapers shunt their activities from outside scrutiny. In the outside world, prosecutors and bonafide defense attorneys present written and agreed upon plea bargains to the judge, who then either accepts or denies the reduced sentence. Honorable court officials do not risk having wasteful mistrials and remands from higher courts. Cherokee County turns the judicial process into an egotistical crap game.

With every report of sentenced sex offenders and drug users in Cherokee County newspapers, there are multitudes more local probationers whose supervision fees enrich county coffers. This backwoods ego game in turn bolsters the D.A.’s primary motivation for recommending probation for heinous crimes, instead of prison. Cherokee County reporters know if those ignored offenders are jailed, those lawbreakers don’t pay into the county treasury. Those families and businesses out of the region contemplating moving into the Den of Iniquity should understand the sadistic satisfaction these cliques get in promulgating their takedown wolfpack mentality against the likes of Robert Fox, et al while harboring criminals in their midst.