County audits bring finger-pointing to Precinct 3; Bullard police officer admits having sex with minor

Jacksonville, TX:
Things are steaming up in Cherokee County, folks, but talk about 'the pot calling the kettle black.'  The embedded corrupt aspect is targeting recently elected officials who shake the tree and expose the ingrained favoritism. Longtime Cherokee County elected officials and generational county employees have funneled the equivalent of millions of taxpayers’ dollars to themselves and their ilk over the last several decades. County equipment has been used to bulldoze, pave and enhance the private properties of in-laws for the last 30 years. The installation of culverts, cattle crossing guards, wooden bridges and roadbed are routine for Cherokee County’s so-called elite on their rural properties. In order to distract from the ingrained corruption, Cherokee County is attempting again what they do best, that is to blame someone else for exactly what they themselves blatantly do. Their target this month is the only forthright County Commissioner in their ranks.

They hope to pass the stench over to agencies within the county who do not buckle under the pressure of the corrupt Rusk, TX courthouse. Local reporters enable false charges by deliberately not fact-checking the accusations made against the whistleblowers. And the Cherokeean Herald is Johnny-on-the-spot eager to publish the crap fed them by current occupants of the Rusk courthouse. According to the Daily Progress, Precinct 3 Commissioner Katherine Pinotti is being investigated by law enforcement for maintaining a misidentified county road. Instead of keeping his nose in his own jurisdiction, longtime Precinct 4 Commissioner Byron Underwood has tattled on his political opponents’ maintenance of a segment of County Road 3403 (now called Patterson Lane), 5 miles north of Jacksonville in the Mount Selman area. (Source: Jacksonville Daily Progress August 26, 2010)

The county road in dispute, Patterson Lane, is currently maintained by Precinct 3 because it is a thoroughfare from CR 3401 (Old Jacksonville Rd.) to CR 3404,  just West of HWY 69. According to the Daily Progress article, Commissioner Pinotti performed her due diligence in requesting county maps be updated to reflect the delineation of missing roads and her constituents’ requests to maintain Patterson Lane. Especially after the heavy rains her boss County Judge Chris Davis claims to have championed just months earlier. The fact is Patterson Lane is not a private road. The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department that is spearheading the “investigation” and County Attorney hope the rest of the county thinks otherwise. It all depends on who you are related to as to whether or not you can get away with using county equipment on private property. Precinct 3 has been open and has kept records about its maintenance of Patterson Lane. How dare this woman publish how and where the precinct maintenance money is spent!

The good ol’ boys are playing gotcha politics with the only female Commissioner in Cherokee County, Texas. Their tactics are as old as the corruption they perpetuate: criminalize perfectly legal actions and prosecute those outside of their circle for the shenanigans that they themselves commit every single day. Once again their goal is to make a law-abider spend thousands of dollars in legal fees to fight a trumped up charge. Their modus operandi is always the same; they use the Sheriff's Department and courthouse to ruin the reputations and the lives of political opponents. The County Bosses hold the purse strings and they aren’t letting go until Cherokee County taxpayers wise up, shed their inertia and vote them all out.

Commissioner Pinotti is not under attack for merely ingratiating herself by extending county services to the residents on Patterson Lane; she is accused of the crime of “misusing county funds” that her entrenched political peers have been committing for decades. They say she improperly used county equipment, labor and time to maintain a road not under the aegis of her Precinct. Of course it is not a crime for a county commissioner to maintain a lateral road on which dozens of homesteads are located.

Those on the attack want Precinct 3 residents to believe as a commissioner, Pinotti has no discretion as to where she sends her crews. Does she have to, according to County Attorney Craig Caldwell, ask for the male members of the Commissioner's Court to grant her permission to fix a street name sign?  Has Caldwell ever held the other commissioners to that standard during his tenure? Of course not. Patterson Lane is not a private driveway; it is a school bus route used to pick up the children living up and down the road. In the County Attorney's mind the contiguous tracts of land are still conveniently "undeveloped" but part of a "subdivision," nonetheless. (Source: "Commissioner paves Patterson Lane" Cherokeean Herald August 25, 2010) So where's the crime?

Let's look at those private catfish ponds dug by county employees on the clock and with county equipment. Let's look at community service workers maintaining private driveways, such as the ones all over Precinct 2 and Precinct 4. 

How dare a woman challenge the good ol’ boy network!

Unfortunately for the Pinotti family, every single private phone conversation they’ve ever had in that county has been intercepted by law enforcement and their mail rifled through by post office employees since she began upsetting the political hiarchy. Those in high places must not like what she has to say about them in private phone calls and certainly don’t like her candidness with the voters. It is their plan to have Commissioner Pinotti buckle under the financial strain of hiring an attorney to chase rabbit trails and coerce her to admit to “some type of mapping error.” In order for the Commissioner’s Court to go back to the way it was in the good ol' pre-Women's Lib days of meeting behind closed doors with no citizen or fiscal oversight.



It’s like the foxes guarding the chicken coop!

A few weeks prior to this façade, the Jacksonville Daily Progress reported Justice of the Peace clerk Heidi Jones Tyler was accused of stealing cash money straight out of the Precinct 3 office. She was placed on administrative leave after preliminary county audits of Pct. 3 funds fell short by $30,000. (Source: “Up to $30,000 missing” Cherokeean Herald August 18, 2010)

Justice of the Peace James Morris was alerted when a resident asked for a cash receipt for a previously paid fine. The fine had been falsely entered as “dismissed.” Sources close to the investigation report an arrest in the case is imminent.  (Source: CBS 19TV August 13, 2010) J.P. Morris has also been outspoken about the corruption he has witnessed at the Commissioner’s Court meetings and has written letters to the Texas Attorney General’s office. After bowing to pressure from new county commissioners, Cherokee County’s local and 3rd party auditors are revealing the depth and breadth of missing funds in particular agencies.

Perhaps “missing funds” are made up for by the county’s unethical revenue-generating tactic of withholding proceeds payable to owners of real and mineral properties. Cherokee County deposits unlawfully nondispersed funds into interest-bearing accounts with associated cumulative fees generating for the county treasurer’s and county clerk’s offices to ‘administer.’ The county certainly knows how to utilize its databases when it demands bloated taxes from its citizens. But those good ol’ boys and gals in the Rusk, TX courthouse just can’t seem to come up with a serviceable mailing address when the county has its mitts on funds due to those on their Muck With List.  

The Cherokeean Herald cites another $18,881 stolen in 2009 from the Adult Probation Office that taxpayers will have to reimburse. Cherokee County Adult Probation Director Carl Phillips was charged in December 2009 with embezzling over $60,000 in illicit credit card purchases during an alleged 10-year spending spree. County Auditor L.H. Crockett tells the Herald readers:

I understand that when Tommy Kerzee [incoming probation director] replaced Mr. Phillips, he was told what was going on. It seems some probation department staff members knew about the credit card charges. Mr. Kerzee called the state and they sent (state) auditors to go through the old records,” County Investigator Lt. John Raffield said that Mr. Kerzee came to him, District Attorney Elmer Beckworth and DA Investigator Randy Hatch.

The article continues:

Mr. Raffield said at least two persons in the probation department knew that Mr. Phillips was allegedly using the credit card for his own personal use. (Source: Cherokeean Herald December 23, 2009)

Carl Phillips gets his service award from County Judge Chris Davis.

Despite the evidence and county employee witnesses, initial charges against Phillips were dismissed on July 29, 2010. In order to drag the case out indefinitely and shunt from public spectacle, the case was re-entered on the Cherokee County docket. It’s good to have friends in high places who you can collect dirt on to stave off a costly defense.

Does it normally take a decade of witnesses coming forward and a handful of district attorney investigators for Elmer Beckworth to prosecute one of his favorite jury panelists?

Sources: Criminal Docket; Case 17638; THEFT OF PROPERTY BY PUBLIC SERVANT GREATER THAN $20K LESS THAN $100K THE STATE OF TEXAS vs CARL PHILLIPS Filed 11/23/2009 - Disposition: 07/29/2010 Dismissed-insufficient evidence; 2nd District Court, Cherokee County, TX. Criminal Docket; Case 17845; THEFT OF PROPERTY BY PUBLIC SERVANT GREATER THAN $20K LESS THAN $100K THE STATE OF TEXAS vs CARL PHILLIPS Filed 07/26/2010 - Disposition: current; 2nd District Court, Cherokee County, TX.

Bullard, TX:



Steven Wayne Morris: Bullard, TX cop received 8 Years in prison for sexual assault to a child. The case began with intercepted texts to a 15-year old and his suspension as reported in local newspapers. (Source: KLTV) Morris is eligible for parole in 2020 thanks to Smith County prosecutors.

Cherokee County resident and resource officer for the Bullard ISD, Steven Wayne Morris, age 26 has been with the Bullard Police Department for two years. Officer Morris was suspended without pay in June 2010 during an investigation involving an undisclosed student at the Bullard High School. The patrolman initially lied to his superiors about having a relationship with a student and was terminated. During questioning by the Texas Rangers, Morris admitted to having repeated sexual encounters with a 15-year-old Bullard student in the back of her car. Officer Morris has been charged with sexual assault of a child and is incarcerated in Smith County jail on a $350,000 bond. (Source: "Bullard police officer charged with sexual assault of child" KLTV, August 20, 2010)

Convictions reaped from planted juries; Sex offender waives cut-and-paste jury trial

Rusk, TX:

A May 17, 2010 article in the Tyler, TX newspaper “Friends, Family Of Suspects Motivated To Testify For Many Reasons” attempts to clarify why East Texas jury trials are stacked with relatives of opposing parties. It is concluded that family members testify against their relatives for a variety of reasons ranging from a sense of civic duty, to ingratiating themselves with law enforcement, to domestic vendettas. No mention of the limited size of untainted jury pools in these rural areas where everyone is related.

In Cherokee County courts, indigent defendants’ family members unwilling to testify are faced with the threat of bogus obstruction charges for not reciting the district attorney’s version of events. They are not as eager to falsely testify against loved ones as the article suggests, especially in the case of capital murder and when the death penalty is in play. Furthermore, the article completely ignores the fact that the District Clerk, via the district attorney’s office, plants the petit juries with relatives of law enforcement and/or alleged ‘victims.’ In Cherokee County this is taken to a whole ‘nother level of corruption by actually placing relatives of State witnesses directly in the jury box. These family jewels are willingly coached to lie during voir dire to feign ignorance of the case, to slip past opposing counsel and be seated. And let’s not forget Cherokee County’s practice of fabricating “friends” of the Defendant who deliver “anonymous” tips to local law enforcement. It’s all smoke and mirrors to cover up illegal phone tapping and perjury, if not a complete fabrication of alleged crimes.

As the Tyler news article attempts to deflect, these “relatives of the defendant” are called into court in order to express intangibly what they “felt in their hearts,” as opposed to what actually happened based upon the tangible physical evidence. This is a tried and true technique of a corrupted Cherokee County judicial system, which is to prosecute criminal cases based upon a preponderance of intangible feelings such as “the crime could have happened,” rather than using tangible evidence proving beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime actually took place. The Tyler News apology piece begins by citing the recent murder conviction of Jessie Smith of Jacksonville, TX in Cherokee County’s 2nd Judicial District Court.

Friends and family testified in the trial of Jessie Smith because they felt "very strongly" that a murder had occurred, Cherokee County District Attorney Elmer Beckworth said. (Source: Tyler Paper, Friends, Family Of Suspects Motivated To Testify For Many Reasons, May 17, 2010)

In other words, hearsay and conjecture are accepted as completely reliable and admissible sources of testimony in Cherokee County. The intention is to get an already partialized jury to falsely convict based on the preponderance of feelings and emotions rather than on bona fide proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Cherokee County’s district attorney concludes by citing a fictitious Rusk jailhouse molestation case that never made it to the newspapers, docket or court records. No facts or fact checking required ‘round here.

Beckworth recalled a 2001 child molestation case in which a defendant was trying to make arrangements with another inmate to kill witnesses who would testify against him. The defendant even drew a map of where he wanted the inmate to go, he said. However, the inmate told authorities about the plot, and the defendant ended up getting a life sentence. (Source: Tyler Paper, Friends, Family Of Suspects Motivated To Testify For Many Reasons, May 17, 2010)

District Attorney Beckworth would lead the readers of the Tyler Morning Telegraph to believe that his own modesty in 2001 kept him from reporting that a [nonexistent] jailhouse informant was given leniency for helping thwart yet another [nonexistent] incarcerated child molester from “murdering” State witnesses for a case he made up on the spot.  As we see time and time again, this is the way the political game is played by backwoods sycophants trying to cover up, for example, the two hundred plus Cherokee County sex offenders put on probation during Beckworth’s tenure.

Jessie Antowan Smith died in prison one year later in May 2011.

Elmer Beckworth and other small town prosecutors are motivated to suborn defendants’ friends, co-workers or loved ones who they think can be easily gulled to voice perjury placed in their mouths by authority figures. As the Smith County prosecutor and defense attorney suggest in the article, favored targets for suborned testimony in a rural setting are the timid, the superstitious, the jealous and the grudge holders; especially those with most favored status with the DA. Cherokee County prosecutors are equally motivated to coerce a friend, co-worker or loved one to turn against the defendant in order to boost charges that do not meet the Texas Penal Code. The Cherokee County district attorney’s office will also trump up charges on those they deem as a threat to the Big Lie, as they did to Randy Kelton and the Robert Fox defense team. They’ll collectively spend more time and taxpayer dollars smear mongering their credible opposition than reviewing the legalities of their caseload.

Cherokee County stands resolute in its tradition of stacking juries with those closest to the case. And if a “friend” or “family member” doesn’t exist to testify against the defendant, then the district attorney's office will conjure one up. Behind closed doors in corrupt Smalltown USA, the grand jury may be presented anonymous letters from a concerned write-in citizen; accusations composed by the district attorney. However, they will not be presented for scrutiny damning evidence of official oppression or countywide petitions demanding investigations into the local corruption.

“See, even this jailbird believes the Defendant is guilty…”

Another prime example of this official misconduct can be found in the Buenka Adams and Richard Cobb capital murder case in which Beckworth and his investigator helped pardon a convicted felon arrested again for possession of a firearm simply for the incarcerated felon's willingness to repeat the district attorney’s talking points at trial. Then with the district attorney himself lying to the Court of Criminal Appeals that a leniency offer in writing never took place for the felon's jailhouse testimony:

Another letter was written by Beckworth on January 10, 2003. Although it was addressed "to whom it may concern," Beckworth testified that it was sent to [the informant’s] parole officer, Roy Shamblin. The letter stated: "Please be advised that this office will not seek prosecution on [the informant] for the offense of Unlawful Possession of Firearm by Felon. If anything further is needed please contact this office."

Beckworth testified that the State did not make any deal with [the informant] regarding his charge for unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon. (Source: AP-74,875 Richard Aaron Cobb, Appellant vs. The State of Texas from Cause No. 15054 in the 2nd District Court Cherokee County)

It was ruled in the Richard Cobb appeal that the deal cut with the jailhouse informant was immaterial because it would not have changed the outcome of the Cobb murder trial. However, the existence of a written leniency agreement signed by District Attorney Elmer Beckworth in exchange for a State Witness’ testimony is exculpatory evidence that should have been disclosed pretrial to defense attorneys. Jacksonville, TX: On May 17, 2010 Jacksonville resident Horacio Gonzalez waived his rights to a jury trial for one count of the aggravated sexual assault of a child and was expeditiously sentenced to 30 years by the 2nd Judicial District judge. Gonzalez, 33, chose to have his case heard by the judge and face the assistant district attorney. For two years Gonzalez successfully avoided Cherokee County’s cookie-cutter jury selection. To confuse and distract further, the Tyler Paper reports Horacio Gonzalez’s residence to be in Houston, rather than his actual habitation in Cherokee County, where the assault occurred along with his past crimes (Source: Tyler Paper, May 25, 2010). According to Gonzalez’s court appointed attorney,

There were two potential findings other than ‘not guilty; one was aggravated sexual assault of a child and the other was indecency with a child. (Source: Jacksonville Daily Progress, May 24, 2010)

The district judge believed there wasn’t enough evidence in April 2009 to convict Gonzalez of exposing himself to the alleged victim, but a year later the district court, minus a jury trial, was convinced a crime did occur. (Source: Cherokee County, TX Criminal Docket; Case 17474 ; INDECENCY W/CHILD; THE STATE OF TEXAS vs GONZALEZ, HORACIO and Case 17369 ; AGG SEXUAL ASSAULT CHILD; THE STATE OF TEXAS vs GONZALEZ, HORACIO)

The month of May wraps up in the usual hackneyed lies, heart-felt testimony and another misleading child molestation case for the Cherokee County, Texas archives. Next month we will examine the Robert Fox civil rights reboot in the Eastern District of Texas filed on May 14, 2010 and the murder for remuneration case in Shelby County.

April 2010 is proclaimed Sexual Assault Awareness Month

By proclamation, President Obama has declared April 2010 as National Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

The month of April has been designated Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). The goal of SAAM is to raise public awareness about sexual violence (focusing on sexual assault and rape) and to educate communities and individuals on how to prevent sexual violence. (Source: National Sexual Violence Resource Center)

Contributions to actual resource centers, such as those funded by the NSVRC (and not outlets for political grandstanding), are what make a difference. Please donate directly to the NSVRC to provide continuing assistance on date rape prevention and awareness in rural areas.

Hogtied and beaten in Cherokee County custody, circa 2006

March 15, 2010

Jacksonville Daily Progress
"Case against White dismissed"
Lauren LaFleur CNHI

JACKSONVILLE — Charges against Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department Capt. Chris White were dismissed Monday.

White was accused of kicking Michael Jones of Jacksonville in the face on the night of Aug. 3, 2006, after Jones was restrained in handcuffs.

White had no comment Monday afternoon about the matter.

“We are pleased with the Court's decision,” said Chad Rook, one of the attorneys representing White. “The Court clearly made the correct ruling in dismissing all claims against Captain White, as not a shred of evidence exists that he did anything to Mr. Jones.”

Jones initially filed a suit against Cherokee County because of his alleged attack. However, the county was dismissed by the court on summary judgment.

Jones was charged with evading arrest for the night in question — witnesses said they saw Jones hitting a woman in his car that night. When a Bullard police officer tried to pull Jones over to investigate the matter, Jones fled.

He was found about five hours later behind a convenience store in Troup, after abandoning his vehicle and fleeing on foot.

Ted Garrigan, Jones’ court-appointed attorney, said Jones was subdued and laying on the ground, cuffed at wrists and ankles, when Texas Department of Criminal Justice officers turned him over to Cherokee County officers.

“By the time he got to the Smith County Jail, he had six teeth knocked out and his nose was broken,” Garrigan said in a previous interview. “He said he remembers lying on the ground face down completely restrained. A Cherokee County deputy vehicle pulls up, a deputy steps out of it and kicks him in the face until he blacked out.”

Michael Clyde Jones, courtesy Smith Co. 8/3/2006

According to Rook and Robert Davis, the other attorney representing White, Jones could provide a physical description of his alleged attacker — approximately 5 feet, 8 inches tall and 150-180 pounds.

But the claims that he was kicked in the face and subsequent description of his attacker didn’t come for a while.

“He never made this claim at the scene or for months following his arrest,” Rook said, via an e-mailed response to questions sent by a Daily Progress reporter. “He only started making such a claim at some point during his criminal proceedings months later.”

Rook said only three Cherokee County officers were on the scene, and White was only named because he fit the description of the man Jones claimed kicked him.

Statements were filed by officers on the scene, including those by seven TDCJ officers, all dated between Aug. 15, 2006, and Aug. 18, 2006. Six of those seven ended their written statements by stating they did not see anyone kick, hit or mistreat Jones after he was cuffed. While the wording among the six statements vary, they each express that they did not witness Jones being mistreated by any officers on the scene.

In fact, according to records obtained by the Daily Progress, only one officer recorded that any sort of attack was made on Jones — former Bullard Police Department Officer Bryan Richards recorded that a single officer involved in the incident, Troup’s Officer L. Becker, referenced th alleged incident at all.

“While Officer Becker was at the Bullard Police Department, he advised me that he saw a Cherokee County deputy kick Michael Jones in the mouth after he was restrained with hand and leg restraints,” according to Richards’ report. “This statement was not documented in the incident report that was provided to the Bullard Police Department.”

Becker’s statement was dated Aug. 11, 2006.

(Source: Jacksonville Daily Progress March 15, 2010)


Jones may appeal his excessive force case, according to the Tyler Morning Telegraph.

Prosecutor wastes taxpayer dollars during Recession

"Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.” - Adolph Hitler

Something smells rotten, and this ain’t Denmark- it's Cherokee County, Texas, folks. The Faye Bell Harris saga is actually the story of her ex-husband being a drug snitch for the district attorney’s office gone really badly. That’s not the version the district attorney, sheriff’s department and those rallying around the “Faye Bell Harris Amendment” would tell in 2005 when Elmer Beckworth told his fib all the way to the state capitol. They would have you believe a drunken, drugged and dangerous individual on Felony Bail could actually be repeatedly arrested and RELEASED after threatening the woman whose house he had repeatedly tried to burn down. Before the epiphany that perhaps a Cherokee County district judge should order the incarceration of a deranged drug addict whose pattern of trespassing and stalking might lead to cold-blooded murder.

DPS officer James Scott Burns would not have been murdered on April 29, 2008 if Cherokee County’s elected officials had simply kept their promises to the voters to diligently and without bias obey the law themselves. Rather than deposit the $15,000 in bond money into the local coffers per the district attorney's recommendations. Collectively they illegally released Smith County parolee Brandon Wayne Robertson after his felony arrest April 7, 2008 for narcotics and gun possession. (Source: Longview-Marshall News Journal May 8, 2008)



Of course the local Cherokee County media omits the part about Brandon Robertson being arrested by the DPS for having a GUN and drugs. So we'll go ahead and reprint it here:

Suspect arrested weeks before trooper's shooting

By RANDY ROSS rross@longview-news.com
Published May 8, 2008

A Texas Department of Public Safety trooper stopped and arrested Brandon Wayne Robertson about three weeks before officials believe the convicted felon fatally shot Trooper James Scott Burns. According to the Department of Public Safety, Robertson was stopped about 9:40 a.m April 6 on Texas 135 in Cherokee County. Officials did not immediately say what initiated the stop. Robertson was arrested on charges of possession of a controlled substance and possession of a firearm by a felon. He was released the next day on two $7,500 bonds, according to sheriff's office records. A call to the bondsman was not immediately returned, and it was unclear who contacted him.

Judge Forrest Phifer, who works for the municipal court in Rusk, Wales and Cuney, said he set the two bonds at an amount typical for the charges. He said he could not set an "oppressive amount" without violating the U.S. Constitution.

Phifer said that he thought the trooper who arrested Robertson said there were no problems during the traffic stop and that the firearm was found in the trunk of the vehicle. He added that he didn't recall information that would have indicated that Robertson posed a risk that justified a higher bond.

Officials say Robertson fatally shot Burns after Burns pulled Robertson over in Marion County the night of April 29. Robertson was found dead May 1 with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to law officers.

Jennifer Lynne Petrick, 36, was found with Robertson and arrested on charges of possession of marijuana and probation violations. Petrick remains in Cass County jail on a $5,000 bond, according to the Cass County Sheriff's Office. Investigators say Petrick was in the car driven by Robertson on the night of the killing.

(c) 2008 Cox Newspapers, Inc. - Longview News-Journal

Cherokee County’s elected bureaucrats always try to finagle the system in order to enrich county coffers, as they did when setting in motion the murder of Trooper Scott Burns. Instead of denying that lucrative bond and maintaining custody of a very dangerous armed drug mule/ parole violator, such as Brandon Robertson. And these hubristic officeholders didn’t bungle their releasing of the above-mentioned drug addict Michael Harris in 2003. Their price tag to ignore the laws about notifying a parole violator’s Smith County parole officer and required no-bond detention was $15,000 and less and nonexistent for Michael Harris. More on this in a moment. Insidious corruption along with voter complacency enables this infrastructure not to just survive but to thrive decade after decade.


Michael Harris

Voters in the upcoming March primaries should consider which candidates support wasting taxpayer dollars versus those who pledge to clean up the “corruption” and nepotism that has been going on for decades in plain sight. Which candidates support long and frivolous court cases that perpetuate never-ending whitewashes of lies and postponed hearings, as in the case this month against Robert Fox? Which candidates support using the judicial system as a means to grandstand fictitious claims of “terrorism” and a “win at all cost” mentality? Even after spending and wasting tens of thousands of your tax dollars trying to keep the likes of a harmless Robert Fox in jail for nine (9) months with bond set so exorbitantly high in order to ensure his inability to pay it. And so they could deprive Fox of his freedom (at taxpayers’ expense) while they juggle to figure out what more they need to invent to finally convict him of ‘something’. Yet they let Brandon Robertson and Michael Harris walk out the door to kill, with virtually no Probable Cause hearings whatsoever. Is it because Robert Fox is destitute and offers no money to the Cherokee County infrastructure?

Cherokee County, TX and related Robert Fox court hearings in 2009 alone range from the preposterous to the completely fabricated by the district attorney’s office. Elmer Beckworth et al's following cases against Robert Fox and associates have been dismissed:
• Feb 15, 2009 Felony Parole Absconder EXTRADITION FAILURE
• March 11, 2009 Felony Barratry DEPORTATION FAILURE
• April 28, 2009 Felony Tampering with a Government Record DISMISSED
• July 28, 2009 Class A Misdemeanor DISMISSED
• July 28, 2009 Class A Misdemeanor DISMISSED
• July 28, 2009 Class A Misdemeanor DISMISSED
• July 28, 2009 Class A Misdemeanor DISMISSED
• Nov. 19, 2009 Simulating Legal Process case against Robert Fox DISMISSED


Robert Fox

The media again has taken its cues from a corrupt Cherokee County judicial system and fails to report that Robert Fox is facing yet another day in court at the end of February for a bogus “tampering with a government record” charge. Trial dates have been picked right before the March elections in order for Fox’s stacked local jury to decide whether or not the city of Jacksonville should have its liability insurance premiums threatened by civil rights violation suits. Even after all charges related to the open-ended raid of his property have been dismissed.

This month Cherokee County’s lead prosecutor Elmer Beckworth takes on Robert Fox’s court-appointed attorney by having the district court hear Motions in Limine to keep the release of armed parolee Brandon Robertson stricken from the record and from the ears of jurors. As usual, doing the State's best to draw the court's attention away from the relative facts. The District Attorney wants to hush-hush the illegal treatment of Fox by Reece Daniel and other Jacksonville police officers with the State's motions. It appears police misconduct is the backbone of the Robert Fox defense. At the same time, the Cherokee County Sheriff"s Department was caught sending false emails in retaliation of Jacksonville chief of police Reece Daniel's outspoken complaints about the way Elmer Beckworth has been handling the Fox case. (Source: Tyler Paper December 19, 2009)

A problem arises if the motion in limine is granted to the prosecution to exclude evidence needed by the defense to exculpate him/her from the accusations of the prosecution. For an example of this, see the Branch Davidian trial, in which the bench denied the defense the right to present evidence of misconduct by the federal agents who conducted the siege, evidence that if presented would likely have brought acquittals of all defendants. The original standard of due process was that in criminal cases motions in limine could be granted only to the defense. (Source: Wikapedia)

The fact is District Attorney Elmer Beckworth is filing Motions in Limine in order to castrate Fox’s court-appointed attorney’s efforts to adequately defend his client. And the DA wouldn’t do that if the State’s case was clean. Beckworth has to have the judge grant his limine motions because he must keep from the jury and off the court’s record certain FACTS that Fox’s side can present. Like the fact they granted bail to an armed and dangerous thug two years ago who went on to kill a DPS trooper, while they kept Robert Fox in solitary confinement for nine months. Is this the way you want your courts run?

Cherokee County voters often have little choice in who actually gets on the ballot and eventually represents them in their communities. With the help of a few strategically placed election judges, the stage is set for another sweep by the corrupt old guard. March 2010’s primaries bring out the best and the worst, but clear choices are available in several candidacies after decades of stagnant nepotism. Unfortunately, Cherokee County’s statewide known pattern going back as far as the 1960’s is to make the wrong choice. As we all know, Cherokee County is corrupt and it will take quite a shake-up this time around to remove those with an engrained belief of entitlement and grandiose sense of importance.

Welcome to Pathological Lying 101

Again, we need to look no further than the published track record of Cherokee County’s egocentric district attorney. The mantra “I’m the DA and you’re a nobody;” "the Law says what I tell you it says" has gone on long enough, has it not?



"I say it, therefore it is."

A repeated pattern of knowingly misrepresenting case facts and legal code prima facie to the media and even to the State Legislature is what Cherokee County’s District Attorney appears to do best. Mr. Beckworth’s most successful articulate attempt has been convincing the mother of slain Jacksonville resident Faye Bell Harris that her daughter’s senseless murder in 2003 was a result of the Texas constitution being too lenient on Felony Bond. Instead of the fact that drug informant Michael Harris murdered her daughter because District Attorney Beckworth offered no limitations to Harris’ court-ordered drug rehab along with no court-imposed restrictions. Nor enforced any Protective Orders that would have kept Harris from continuing buying drugs, threatening to kill his ex-wife and snitching on his dealers. Per Elmer Beckworth, Michael Harris was arrested repeatedly while on Felony Bond and in Cherokee County custody at the Rusk State Hospital, and repeatedly released to buy more drugs and threaten his ex-wife. The Cherokee County District Court did nothing to protect Faye Harris, even though her ex was arrested REPEATEDLY on her doorstep threatening to kill her. Even though his original Felony Bond was for trying to burn her house down.

…Michael Harris was charged with arson. His bond was reduced at a habeas corpus hearing in March, at which time the district judge required as a condition of bail that the defendant not contact or communicate with his ex-wife. After the habeas corpus hearing, Michael Harris assaulted Faye, vandalized her vehicle, and continued to contact and harass her, disregarding the judge’s conditions of bail. (Elmer Beckworth to the TDCAA Oct. 2005)

Then why didn't you and your Narcotics Officers enforce the judge's conditions, Elmer?

The 2010 US census will put Cherokee County at almost 50,000 people, but the county certainly is structured like a run of the mill, pre-1960’s Southern ghetto. Taxpayer dollars have been used since the turn of the century to line the pockets of local politicians and their families. Yet Cherokee County has been hit pretty hard during the recent economic downturn. Can we afford to continue to prosecute baseless charges in the name of personal vendettas, as Cherokee County’s District Attorney is continuing in the Robert Fox case? While at the same time letting drug addicts/informants like Michael Harris and Brandon Robertson out on bond the day after they are arrested, armed and dangerous.

Robert Fox was housed on the taxpayer dole for 270 days in the Rusk jail. Michael Harris spent his time in the cozy Rusk State Hospital after his multiple attacks on his ex-wife. Parolee Brandon Robertson spent one night in Cherokee County jail after being arrested on Hwy 84 for carrying a gun and crystal meth. Robertson's bail was granted, deposited; and he set out and murdered the next DPS trooper who stopped him, three weeks later. These are just a few published and well-documented examples. What of the other family members coming forward about slain loves by the more recent batch of Cherokee County drug informants?

Are Cherokee County voters going to let this colossal waste of taxpayer dollars continue indefinitely? While they think about it, do they want their taxpayer dollars continuing to play this TIT FOR TAT in the Robert Fox case, that Elmer Beckworth and these men seem to thrive on? While the entire county is put at risk for lawsuit after lawsuit ? In the meantime, Beckworth, et al hurries these child molesters through Adult Probation because they won't spend their budgets prosecuting them, again putting us all at risk. Wouldn't you rather have pedophiles prosecuted? The following Registered Sex Offenders were 'prosecuted' by Elmer Beckworth and currently driving around town on probation in Cherokee County, Texas:

• Frank Birden Guinn, age 82, Alto TX, indecency with a child by contact of a 12-year-old female;
• Michael Morrison, 48, Alto TX, aggravated sexual assault of a 12-year-old female;
• Gary Mark Hayles, 43, Bullard TX, indecency with a child by contact of an 8-year-old female;
• Wesley Boyd Mohr, 60, Bullard TX, indecency with a child by contact of a 10-year-old female;
• William Barry Travis, 54, Bullard TX, aggravated sexual assault of a child of an 8-year-old female;
• Matthew Isaiah White, 17 (published), Bullard TX, indecency by exposure involving a 15-year-old female;
• Christopher Steven Goleman, 33, Gallatin TX, aggravated sexual assault of a disabled 39 year-old female;
• Tommy Junior Allen, 54, Jacksonville TX, indecency with a child by contact of a 11-year-old female;
• William Tracy Arnold, 42, Jacksonville TX, burglary and felony involving a 34-year-old female;
• James Travis Baker, 22, Jacksonville TX, indecency of a child by contact of a 6-year-old female;
• James Isaac Barnett, 18, Jacksonville TX, indecency with a child of a 14-year-old-female;
• Brian D. Black, 19, Jacksonville TX, aggravated sexual assault of a 10-year-old female;
• Vernon Willis Blackshire, 29, Jacksonville TX, sexual assault of a 14-year-old female;
• Anthony Eugene Boone, 38, Jacksonville TX, aggravated sexual assault of a 6-year-old male;
• Cole Joseph Brooks, 22, Jacksonville TX, aggravated sexual assault of a 13-year-old female;
• Christopher Lee Calley, 25, Jacksonville TX, aggravated sexual assault of a 3-year-old female;
• Gark Michael Clark, Jacksonville TX, 52, sexual assault of a child of a 16-year-old girl;
• Arturo Allen Cochran, 26, Jacksonville TX, aggravated sexual assault of a 12-year-old female;
• Carlos Jerome Conner, 37, Jacksonville TX, aggravated sexual assault of a 13-year-old female;
• Steven Daille, 58, Jacksonville TX, sexual assault of a 15-year-old female;
• James William Dennis, 64, Jacksonville TX, agg. kidnapping/sex assault of a 38-year-old female;
• Jose Ramon Galan, 53, Jacksonville TX, indecency with a child by contact of a 9-year-old female;
• Jonathan Keith Glenn, 23, Jacksonville TX, aggravated sexual assault of an 8-year-old female;
• James Henry Golden, 52, Jacksonville TX, aggravated sexual assault of a 36-year-old female;
• Nathan Wayne Grimes, 61, Jacksonville TX, indecency with a 9-year-old female;
• Ollie Ray Grogan, 62, Jacksonville TX, indecency with a 5-year-old male and 7-year-old female;
• Nickolas Noel Harwell, 31, Jacksonville TX, two counts of aggravated sex assault of a 12-year-old female;
• Kevin Lyn Hawes, 42, Jacksonville TX, aggravated sexual assault of a 15-year-old;
• Christopher Michael Hennessy, Jacksonville TX, 25, sexual assault of a 15-year-old female; absconded.
• William Lee Hershiser, 48, Jacksonville TX, aggravated sexual assault of a 15-year-old female;
• Roger Hunter, 72, Jacksonville TX, indecency with a child by contact of a 14-year-old female;
• Aaron Lee Joslin, 25, Jacksonville TX, two counts of sexual performance of a 7-year-old male;
• Robert Michael Lane, 33, Jacksonville TX, indecency by contact of a 10-year-old female;
• Jackie Neal Locke, 46, Jacksonville TX, indecency with a child by contact of a 13-year-old female;
• Ben Mallard, 47, Jacksonville TX, indecency with a child by contact of a 11-year-old female;
• James Donald McClain, 56, Jacksonville TX, aggravated sexual assault of a 20-year-old female and 11-year-old female;
• Leroy Edward McCuen, 56, Jacksonville TX, aggravated sexual assault of a 9-year-old female;
• Kenneth Ray Messick, 59, Jacksonville TX, sexual assault of a 14-year-old female and 16-year-old female;
• Stacy Bernard Mills, 39, Jacksonville TX, aggravated sexual assault of a 11-year-old female;
• Tracey Dewayne Moseley, 33, Jacksonville TX, indecency by exposure to a 15-year-old female;
• Jamie Lee Newburn, 28, Jacksonville TX, two counts of attempted sexual performance of a 14-year-old female;
• Sammy Carroll Newman, 54, Jacksonville TX, indecency by contact of a 12-year-old female;
• Patrick Brian Norsworthy, 43, Jacksonville TX, indecency by contact of an 8-year-old female;
• Derrick Wendell Owens, 34, Jacksonville TX, indecency by contact of a 9-year-old female;
• Kevin Wayne Patton, 36, Jacksonville TX, indecency by contact of a 14-year-old female;
• Glenn Durrell Pierce, 49 years of age, Jacksonville TX, sexual assault of a 15-year-old male;
• Bruce Townsend Powell, 48, Jacksonville TX, attempted sexual assault of a 30-year-old male;
• Jimmy Reed, 47, Jacksonville TX, attempted sexual assault of a 25-year-old female and unknown female;
• Mandell Rhodes Jr., 43, Jacksonville TX, aggravated sexual assault of a 52-year-old female;
• Thompson Ward Stricklen, 43, Jacksonville TX, indecency by contact of a 11-year-old female;
• Paul Arlen Taylor, 51, Jacksonville TX, indecency by contact of a 13-year-old female;
• Terry Lawrence Taylor, 48, Jacksonville TX, indecency by contact of a 12-year-old female;
• James L. Wells, 52, Jacksonville TX, aggravated sexual assault of a 5-year-old female and 6-year-old female;
• Johnny Decole Wells, 25, Jacksonville TX, sexual assault of a 15-year-old female;
• Larry Wayne White, 45, Jacksonville TX, aggravated sexual assault of an 8-year-old female;
• Timothy Kevin Zweck, 32, Jacksonville TX, sexual assault of a 15-year-old female;
• Robby Lee Buffalo, 32, Rusk TX, prohibited sexual assault (incest) of a 11-year-old female;
• Richard Dean Davis, 47, Rusk TX, indecency with a child by contact of a 14-year-old female;
• Nile James Dean, 39, Rusk TX, indecency with a child by contact of a 8-year-old female;
• James William Hammons, 45, Rusk TX, aggravated sexual assault of a 13-year-old female;
• Jason Aaron Husband, 29, Rusk TX, sexual assault of a child of a 15-year-old female;
• Elbert James Patton, deceased, Rusk TX, indecency with a child by contact with an 8-year-old female and 9-year-old female;
• Delian Brenanard Session, 43, Rusk TX, sexual assault of a 34-year-old female and 11-year-old-female;
• Troy Gibbs Sutherland, 31 years of age, Rusk TX, attempted sexual assault of a 15-year-old female;
• Aubrey Thomas Taylor, 48 years of age, Rusk TX, indecency with a child by contact of a 10-year-old female;
• Dale Joseph Tylich, 51, Rusk TX, indecency with a child by contact of a female less than 16 years of age;
• Charles Clifton Bruner, 45, Troup TX, indecency with a child by contact of a 6-year-old female;
• Michael Servetus Childs, 31 years of age, Troup TX, sexual assault of a 14-year-old female;
• Tommy Robert Husband, 46 years of age, Troup TX, indecency with a child by contact of a 16-year-old female;
• Michael Sean Lee, 33 years of age, Troup TX, indecency with a child of a 13-year-old female;
• Timmey Martin, 41 years of age, Troup TX, aggravated sexual assault of a 14-year-old female;
• Michael Ryan McMichael, 34 years of age, Troup TX, indecency with a child of a 12-year-old female;
• Martin Otis Pitts, 51 years of age, Troup TX, two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a 7-year-old female;
• Bryan Thomas Toombs, 31 years of age, Troup TX, aggravated sexual assault of a 13-year-old female.
• Alisha Arriola Corley, 36 years of age, Wells TX, sexual assault of a 15-year-old male.

(Source: Jacksonville Daily Progress 2006)

Where are your candidates' priorities in the March primaries? Probation for child molesters and letting parole violators out to murder? Or endless prosecution and pre-trial incarceration of harmless individuals such as Robert Fox who rattle their cages by simply questioning their wrongdoings?

Director of Adult Probation in Rusk, Texas indicted for public theft. State Rep fined for ethics violations

Rusk, TX:35-year veteran Cherokee County employee and Adult Supervision and Corrections Department director Carl Phillips was recently indicted on charges of theft by a public servant and misappropriation of public funds. The three-count indictment lists thefts of property beginning in 1999 and deliberate destruction of credit card receipts in excess of $20,000 but limited to $100,000. Phillips’ alleged stealing spree was reported in 1999 to, and ignored by, former Cherokee County District Attorney Investigator Randy Hatch according to the article (Source: Tyler Paper December 17, 2009). Ten years later, Cherokee County Sheriff Department investigators revisited the original allegations.

Carl Phillips began his employment with Cherokee County in 1974. The theft of funds was reported again to Phillips' successors after the indictee's 35-year retirement party. Phillips was Cherokee County’s longest employed public servant on record according to friends recusing themselves from pretrial. Friends such as all the district and county judges, the sheriff and every Grand Jury foreman for the last three decades. Notwithstanding his own recusal, good friend and District Attorney Elmer Beckworth predicts a traveling judge will hear the case (Source: Tyler Paper). Obviously not in the local Rusk diner where Phillips, et al might be found sipping ice tea, reminiscing about the good ol’ days and discussing those taxpayer subsidized vacations.

Jacksonville Daily Progress

Carl Phillips (l.) congratulated by current County Judge Chris Davis (r.) for 35 years of excellent public service.

 

House District 11:
Soon after switching parties, former Democrat and now Republican State Rep. Chuck Hopson (R) of Jacksonville has been fined for ethics violations for nondisclosure of political contributions. Rep. Hopson was ordered to pay $2900 in restitution by the Texas Ethics Commission for his campaign being in violation of section 253.032 of the Election Code and section 20.29 of the Ethics Commission Rules. (Source: News-Journal January 13, 2010)

According to the Texas Ethics Commission, Rep. Hopson and his Cherokee County based campaign treasurer

failed to properly report and improperly reimbursed
political expenditures from personal funds, failed to disclose information regarding contributions
from out-of-state political committees, failed to properly disclose total political contributions
maintained, and converted political contributions to personal use.

The Commission continues, that State Representative Hopson (R-Jacksonville):

failed to disclose the payees, payee addresses,
dates, purposes and amounts of political expenditures for mileage made with personal funds
on his 30-day pre-election report for the November 7, 2006, general election, and January
and July semiannual reports for the years 2007 and 2008.

The nine page Order and Resolution can be read at : http://www.ethics.state.tx.us/sworncomp/2008/2809327.pdf

The original complaint can be read at : http://www.texasethicsreport.com/Hopson_TEC_10-1-2008.pdf



Don't forget to read the ongoing corrupt activities in Cherokee County, Texas on Austin's acclaimed Politico "The Burnt Orange Report"

Agents of prevarication kiss and make up

Deputy Sheriff sends emails falsely claiming police chief is being sued for sexual harassment; public told to forget about it.

Jacksonville, TX/ Rusk, TX:

For argument’s sake, let’s say a high-ranking deputy with the city of Jacksonville police department sends a slew of anonymous emails to East Texas news agencies asking why they aren’t reporting that Cherokee County Sheriff James Campbell is resigning under the pressure of multiple sexual harassment suits. Cherokee County taxpayers should ask themselves if they would witness a ‘kiss and make up’ scenario between those agencies, as the one we’ve just seen painted last week. (Source: Tyler Paper December 19, 2009) Or for the sake of debate, let’s say a lay citizen bombards news outlets with emails falsely claiming Sheriff Campbell is facing lawsuit after lawsuit for sexual harassment in the workplace. In the case of a private citizen making those types of false claims against Sheriff Campbell or Jacksonville police chief Reece Daniel, then the district attorney himself would crawl out from behind his facade of trustworthiness and beat the drums of prosecution. They all would be crowing from the Rusk courthouse steps about how they would hold that individual and his network of allies criminally accountable. With the local media chiming in to fan the flames of criminal/civil action and to pervert the jury pool.

However, the shoe is on the other foot: The outside world got a tiny glimpse last week into the slanderous and lowlife blackmail methods Cherokee County officials employ against each other and their political counterparts. Agencies that routinely share illegally obtained information and work hand-in-hand violating our constitutional rights make for bad bedfellows when one decides to complain to the Texas Attorney General’s office about the other. Or butt heads and embarrass the district attorney, as Chief Reece Daniel did in May of this year when he petitioned against Elmer Beckworth's handling of the Robert Fox charges. (Source: Jacksonville Daily Progress May 3, 2009)

Sheriff James Campbell’s chief detective Chris White, captain for the Cherokee County sheriff’s department, recently sent anonymous emails to various East Texas news agencies claiming Jacksonville police chief Reece Daniel was resigning under the pressure of five (nonexistent) sexual harassment suits. Chief Daniel responded to the libelous accusations with a statement to the local press that the Jacksonville police department would no longer work alongside the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department until White was reprimanded or fired. Chief Daniel chooses his words carefully in his response to the Sheriff Department’s emailed accusations:

“Chris White told me he had sent the email in retaliation for me refusing to accept a case that originated in Cherokee County that he wanted my detectives to investigate. This is an extremely paltry reason for a law enforcement officer to get angry over and, in my opinion, violate the law. If he will do this to me knowing all the resources I have at my command then I worry about what he might do to an innocent civilian who makes his angry.”
(Source: KLTV December 14, 2009)

Statements like those can never be retracted, even though Chief Daniel has been counseled to sing Sheriff Campbell’s praises, and ignore the Penal Code statutes he himself cites within his complaint to TCLEOSE and in his response to Chris White’s accusations. Cherokee County taxpayers have the right to know why Sheriff Campbell refuses yet again to hold his deputy’s feet to the fire. Detective White’s actions cannot be undone and his anonymous emails (claiming sexual harassment) leave the recipients in those media outlets scratching their heads. How can Cherokee County’s sheriff continue to employ a deputy who retaliates against a fellow officer? What other dirt and mudslinging does the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department sanction? We know this latest published episode only scratches the surface. The broader intent of the emails was not only designed to smear Reece Daniel, but to frame someone else for sending the emails actually authored and distributed by a Cherokee County Sheriff’s deputy.

Campbell continues his decades-old pattern of unaccountability, even when his highest ranking deputy is caught red-handed emailing libelous content about a local police chief to news agencies. Campbell hides behind his department’s taxpayer supplied attorney rather than acknowledging his own deputy’s guilt. Sheriff Campbell’s statements deny knowledge of the emails’ “content,” but he surely knows his deputy White’s actions are rogue to say the least. (Source: KLTV December 14, 2009)

Instead of hiding behind his lawyers and saying that he knew nothing of the emails’ content, Sheriff Campbell could have taken the honorable route the day Chief Daniel responded to his accusers. Campbell could have made a simple statement that he would not tolerate this level of crap out of any of his employees. Despite the thousands of wasted taxpayers’ dollars and hours he and the Cherokee County newspapers have spent crooning about the county's highest paid Deputy Sheriff. Campbell chose to play word games that he was "unaware" of anything while he remained hidden from comment.

City and County lawyers warn Chief Daniel ‘not to go there’ by pointing out repeatedly that one female employed with the Jacksonville Police Department made one accusation of sexual harassment against the chief in the past. Which resulted in her prompt promotion out of the field and into a higher paying position within Cherokee County law enforcement (thanks to a deal brokered by the current city of Jacksonville attorney). Sources: Jacksonville Daily Progress and Cherokeean Herald December 16, 2009

And they top off yet another of Cherokee County’s notorious lies that the emails are a result of a “personal conflict” between Detective White and Chief Daniel. Then why the use of both a county attorney and the city of Jacksonville attorney for a private pissing match? Sheriff Campbell cannot make a statement to his constituents without an attorney looking over his shoulders and writing his unapologetic smokescreens. These are the questions the local media should be asking before closing the book on this latest installment of sexual blackmail, Cherokee County style. The pattern of unethical behavior is not over; it will continue as long as these people hold office.

There is enough criminal activity and dirt to spread around, so if these guys want to keep their jobs, it is apparent that in their minds, they had better stick together. They will have to continue to feign solidarity during intrajurisdictional disputes and target the innocent people Chief Daniel refers to in his statement. Hopefully, they believe, this sordid little story during the Christmas holidays will disappear from the evening news.

Chief Detective Chris White’s libelous emails about Reece Daniel are not only unethical, they shed light into the modus operandi that has been going on for decades in Cherokee County. Too many of these current public officials are bought and owned by these sexual harassment/ blackmail techniques. A thorough Spring house cleaning is long overdue. Get rid of these corrupt parasites at election or continue to have your taxpayer dollars lining their attorneys’ pockets. Or you can continue to support the vermin while they pay each other off with your hard earned tax dollars. You have just witnessed a microcosm of their unethical universe: a salaried deputy sheriff sending anonymous and inflammatory emails on a County computer in order to deflect media attention onto the police chief of Jacksonville. With the intention of blaming someone else for it until his IP address was traced.

Merry Christmas Cherokee County and have a blessed New Year. The March primaries are right around the corner; vote the prevaricators and provocateurs out. It is time to bring some semblance of honor into your public offices. Next month we will discuss the case of 35-year veteran Cherokee County employee and true friend of the courthouse Carl Phillips, the director of the Cherokee County Supervision and Corrections Department. Phillips was recently indicted for theft of services and allegedly tampering with government records while head of Adult Probation. (Source: Tyler Paper December 17, 2009)

November 25th is International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

Planting mens rea and having it both ways

Rusk Texas:
Cherokee County, TX is predictable because it is corrupt. Its court system is equally tainted and predictable, with its members lying through their collective teeth when the county's liability insurance is in jeopardy of being depleted by civil rights suits. The complete opposite of what is reality can be read in the local news each week for those willing to follow the morass of lies. In the eyes of many within the circle of corruption, it is a crime to sue law enforcement for a bungled raid, but it is perfectly OK for cousins and business partners of those being sued to be planted on the petit jury. Apparently it is the job of the local district attorney, with the help of judges and city councilmen, to make innocent people into criminals. There is no such thing as a "fair trial" when the real criminals are conducting the jury vetting.

A change of venue has officially been denied in the Robert Fox “tampering with the government” trial, even after months of propaganda in the local Cherokee County media. Fox filed multiple defamation suits against his accusers.

The 2nd Judicial District Court ruled that absolutely no publicity ever surrounded the Robert Fox case, despite months of news articles citing the “Taliban link” to the House of Israel and widely publicized press conferences conducted by the Jacksonville Texas police department. All of which touted the terrorist contraband of Robert Fox and his gang of “anti-government” Separationists. Now they want everyone to believe that no one in Cherokee County had even heard of Robert Fox. This coincided with the local media voluntarily burying actual accounts after Fox turned himself in.

As stated in this blog nearly a year ago, oral arguments in favor of moving the Fox proceedings away from the relatives of those Fox has sued (and the remainder of District Attorney Elmer Beckworth’s planted jurors and jurists) would be ruled as inconsequential to the outcome of the trial.

“The court heard testimony from various witnesses, including Jacksonville Councilman Kenneth Melvin, Cherokee County Judge Bascom W. Bentley III, [and] Cherokee County Sheriff James Campbell.” (Source: Tyler Paper Oct. 10, 2009)

All of whom swore under oath that Robert Fox and associates could and would get a “fair trial” in Cherokee County. Are Cherokee County taxpayers truly convinced that a fair trial is feasible, or even a remote possibility? The District Attorney's witnesses also testified that only residents of the city of Jacksonville, TX had heard about the case, again despite months of coverage in every newspaper and televised news agency in East Texas. Only a county this corrupt would allow its elected officials to speak on the record directly to the jury pool, to tell them to feign ignorance of the news reports during voir dire. Then print the same rubbish in the newspapers that ran every single fabricated accusation against Fox and his associates for the last two years.

In the Tyler Paper, Cherokee County’s district attorney planted his version of the Defendant Robert Fox’s criminal intent of “demanding money” from city of Jacksonville employees earlier this year. (Source: Tyler Paper Oct. 10, 2009) That is, Robert Fox, et al threatened to and did monetarily sue in Federal civil court specific members of the Jacksonville, Texas police department for the illegal raid on the House of Israel. An open-ended raid which resulted in all previous charges against Fox being dismissed. Other leaks by Beckworth's office refer to alleged documents that indicate Fox was paid for some of his “legal advice,” i.e. barratry. The barratry charges were also dismissed.

This is how the Cherokee County court system operates, though. They bask in each other’s brilliance of having it both ways, their initial bogus charges not cutting the legal mustard, yet continuing to lie under oath that these news articles never made it to the eyes of Robert Fox’s potential jurors:

JPD arrests federal fugitive-Tuesday, April 08, 2008

JPD nabs fed fugitive claiming affiliation with Republic of Texas- Wednesday, April 09, 2008

State fugitive nabbed, large cache of illegal drugs found inside House of Israel building- Sunday, May 18, 2008

House of Israel leader says he didn’t know drugs were there-Tuesday, May 20, 2008

House of Israel's Robert Fox arrested-Thursday, May 22, 2008

Police say financial documents may show more evidence of illegality by House of Israel’s Fox- Saturday, May 24, 2008

BREAKING NEWS: Third search warrant in a month puts Fox back in jail -Thursday, June 12, 2008

JPD files felony warrant against House of Israel’s Fox- Saturday, July 26, 2008

Jacksonville residents react to charges against Robert Fox - Monday, July 28, 2008; reported by KLTV repeatedly on the nightly news.

If one lie doesn't stick, make another up and ignore existing Penal Codes.

Another fine example of the "having it both ways" scenario is the previous prosecution of Robert Fox’s associate Barry Brooks on practicing dentistry without a license. Barry Brooks, the founder of the House of Israel and who performed charitable orthodontic services in Jacksonville, TX, was convicted in 2007 of practicing without a license. The impetus of the raid on the House of Israel during Robert Fox’s occupancy last year was ostensibly to recover the expired painkillers left in the abandoned dental office next door. (Source: Jacksonville Daily Progress May 20, 2009)

former House of Israel, downtown Jacksonville, TX

Barry Brooks is currently serving seven years in TDCJ. (Source: Cherokeean Herald May 6, 2009) However, Section 3 of the Texas Occupations Code was amended in 2005 to allow for charitable work for retired dentists.

SECTION 3 Amends Section 256.102, Occupations Code, by amending Subsection (c) and
adding Subsection (f), as follows:
(c) Creates an exception as provided by Subsection (f).
(f) Authorizes a dentist on retired status to perform an activity regulated under this
subtitle if the dentist's practice consists only of voluntary charity care, as defined by
board rule. Requires the board's rules under this subsection to prescribe the scope of
practice permitted for the retired dentist, the retired dentist's authority to prescribe and
administer drugs, and any continuing education requirements applicable to the dentist. S.B. 610 (Dental Practice Act), Title 3, Chapter 256, Subchapter C, Section 256.102 – Retired Status

Former New Summerfield, TX Police Chief arrested for child porn

Dallas County:

According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Cherokee County’s favorite unlicensed gypsy cop Michael Meissner was arrested by Dallas County authorities Monday September 14, 2009 on seven felony counts of child pornography, promoting underage prostitution, organized crime and allegedly soliciting nude pictures of teenage boys via explicit text messages on MySpace. He is currently in Dallas County jail under a $1.5 million bail. (Source: Star-Telegram September 15, 2009)

Michael Chase Meissner in custody

Michael Meissner was hired by the city of New Summerfield, TX in early March 2007 as Chief of Police, even though his Peace Officer’s certification was cancelled a year earlier on top of his documented history of moonlighting despite TCLEOSE reprimands in over 16 different jurisdictions. The city of New Summerfield also failed to properly vet the gypsy cop prior to his employment. Or did they?

Meissner's tenure in Cherokee County law enforcement was short lived, but nonetheless defended by those who hired him. The Cherokee County media continues to refer as Meissner as "a licensed Texas Peace Officer," even though TCLEOSE reprimanded him on his bogus peace officer's certification weeks before Cherokee County rolled out the welcome mat for him. (Source: Athens Daily Review January 27, 2007)

The fact is Michael Meissner would still be operating under the radar in tiny New Summerfield, TX and his actions completely buried by the local Cherokee County media, had it not been for the diligence of those out of the region who actually investigated, exposed and eventually arrested him. Michael Meissner was hired by Cherokee County because of his past and his proclivities. He would have been promoted to Constable in a matter of months after his hire.

More on this story as it develops.

District Attorney makes reporting crimes a crime

On May 23, 2009 Austin-based AM radio talk show host Randall Kelton (of The Rule of Law) presented the Cherokee County, Texas grand jury a list of criminal complaints against Cherokee County officials, including the county judge and county attorney. The grand jury was informed by the district attorney’s office to ignore the 55 sealed complaints. Randall Kelton acting as a journalist was subsequently charged with “operating a private investigations company without a license,” a charge levied by outgoing district attorney investigator Joe Evans. Kelton's exposition of corrupt Cherokee County politics was not just written off as a publicity stunt, it has been completely buried. Misdemeanor charges against Randall Kelton are still pending as Cherokee County contemplates how to violate the US Constitution one more time before the Primaries.

According to published court documents, Randall Kelton began his research into Cherokee County when the incarceration of Robert Fox and bogus charges of “tampering with government records” came to light on his show. Fox had been in and out of Cherokee County jail after an initial raid on his nondenominational ministry, the House of Israel located in downtown Jacksonville, Texas. Fox and others rounded up in the Nazi-esque purging filed civil and federal complaints against their accusers, all of which fell on deaf ears in the neighboring Tyler Court of Appeals and US Eastern District Court.

After years of settling federal lawsuits against Jacksonville, TX police officers, the newly appointed Chief of Police and overzealous investigators decided to finally clean up the City’s image by painting a dichotomy: Cherokee County citizens were to forget about the rapist cop they had once decorated, Larry Pugh who was now sitting in federal prison (for trying to drag one of his victims off by the hair of her head for going to the FBI after being raped in a cemetery at gunpoint by him in uniform- Source: US District Court Cause No. 6:06-CV-357). Citizens were to instead focus on the House of Israel and its members’ “sovereign citizen” rhetoric instead.

Robert Fox was found not guilty of possessing illegal drugs on Wednesday July 29, 2009, the impetus for the invalid raid conducted on the House of Israel over a year and half earlier. (Source: Jacksonville Daily Progress July 31, 2009)

Cherokee County officials and newspapers continued the propaganda piece of the validity of the illegal search and seizure, in reference to the possession of expired dental and pharmacological substances, i.e. antibiotics and painkillers. They also claim House of Israel members were Timothy McVeigh and Taliban sympathizers based upon the unlawful seizure of items not specifically spelled out in the open-ended Search Warrant.

It matters not to the local editors of Cherokee County owned and operated propaganda pieces that Robert Fox and associates have either had all initial criminal charges against them dropped, dismissed or have been acquitted. The local media is in business to continue the Cherokee County District Attorney office’s lie that filing a complaint against Cherokee County officials is a crime. Robert Fox's latest charge of "tampering with a government record" is still on the backburner.

Filing a complaint against Cherokee County officials after an illegal raid is also a Felony in the eyes of Cherokee County's district attorney. Brain dead followers in the Daily Progress and Cherokeean Herald repeat this lie in print even though their own taxpayer dollars are being squandered to justify an ill-conceived, albeit typical illegal and open-ended Search Warrant composed no doubt by the district attorney himself.

Robert Fox is out of jail and stands acquitted of possessing narcotics so Cherokee County officials challenge his religion and patriotism to distract from the illegal seizure of items not specifically spelled out in the Search Warrant. Fox's personal effects including his anti-establishment writings were seized and openly displayed for the willing press, even though it had nothing constitutionally to do with the seizure of the alleged illegal drugs. Cherokee County, Texas law enforcement is taught that as long as a willing city judge will sign off on a Warrant, then they are given carte blanche to illegally seize anything beyond the scope of the Arrest Affidavit. As in the Randy Kelton case, probable cause does not even need to be established. The Jacksonville Police Department was aware that Robert Fox's former associate and founder of the House of Israel Barry Brooks (convicted of practicing dentistry without a license) had left behind expired dental drugs and supply within the building. They were after Fox's legal writings to parade around to bolster another charge of barratry that was also eventually dropped.

The Jacksonville Chief of Police and his investigators made public these items though they are protected free speech under the US Constitution. The public is supposed to believe that the Robert Fox group is dangerous, while simultaneously believe the District Attorney's office had nothing to do with the blatant persecution. Press conferences were held to laud the work of the Jacksonville Police Department for the "narcotics" raid and subsequent "Taliban Link" discovered within the House of Israel. Now there is barely a murmur in the East Texas newspapers that Robert Fox and associates have been acquitted.



Cherokee County, Texas is operated by liars and sycophants in the newspapers whose livelihoods depend on placating their advertisers. The Jacksonville Daily Progress has finally succumbed to internal pressure and shut down its own Hey Martha forum after its editor faced his third DWI in Cherokee County. (Source: Jacksonville Daily Progress July 9, 2009 and Jacksonville Daily Progress Sept. 1, 2009) Free speech and actually debating official misconduct simply will not be tolerated.

If the local high school coach is accused of having sex with a student, then they bury the story. (Source: KLTV August 11, 2009) Justice authorities do their darndest to completely cover up the sordid details involving their own relatives. If any citizen disagrees with such unconstitutional acts perpetrated by these so-called 'justice authorities,' or exposes the crimes of these rogue officials, then those same officers of the court fabricate legal statutes out of thin air. And use their taxpayer subsidized salaries to go after their political enemies. Hence out of town radio personality Randall Kelton was given fair warning not to meddle with the District Attorney's handpicked jurors.

Talk show host Randall Kelton has filed several motions in Cherokee County district and county court, including Statements of Witness Tampering, Probable Cause and Habeas Corpus that argue the bogus criminal affidavits filed against him and Robert Fox. As he states in his defense briefs, the State of Texas does not require a license to "investigate," anymore than it requires a license to sit on a Grand Jury or sit behind a microphone.

And in Texas it is a felony NOT to report a felony. So who is violating the law? Kicking down people's doors just because they aren't welcome in town? Filing bogus and baseless charges against people because they don't like what they say about them on the phone and on the air? Working as a Cherokee County Constable by day and selling crystal meth by night? Kidnapping women off the streets of Jacksonville in a patrol car and raping them while on duty?

Not one single Cherokee County newspaper reported that Randall Kelton had gone to the Cherokee County grand jury and presented criminal complaints against Cherokee County officials. Not one single Cherokee County newspaper reported that their District Attorney's office filed criminal charges against Mr. Kelton for doing so. This is yet another recent example of how the ongoing generational Cult of Confession continues to infect Cherokee County, Texas politics. If the newspaper will not report it, and those who do get charged with a crime, then who will notify the public of the ongoing criminal activity? They collectively hope and make sure no one will.

Plea bargains equal paybacks; Conflicts of Law and Order

A case for and against jury sentencing.

Rusk, TX:
The ongoing saga of the missing $147,000 from the Rusk Texas water department finally has closure. Prior to her July 2009 trial, Rusk water department clerk Doris Robinson had been quietly preparing to pay back the first round of $50,000 increments she had stolen during her tenure as a Cherokee County public servant. Robinson pleaded guilty in open court and a sentencing jury was swayed to give her 10 years probation. She was fined $5,000 and ordered by presiding Judge Bascom Bentley III to pay back over a four year period, the remaining taxpayer monies that she embezzled over a two year period. (Source: Jacksonville Daily Progress July 9, 2009)

District [369th] Judge Bascom Bentley added his own stipulation that Robinson make her restitution within four years, with payments of at least $10,000 due, Dec. 31 of each year. (Source: Jacksonville Daily Progress July 9, 2009)

Mrs. Robinson pleaded to embezzling over $145,000 from the taxpayers. Of course that would be $10,000 a year for four years for a total of $40,000; plus the $57,000 she paid at sentencing. That would leave an unnoticed remainder of $50,000 to go unaccounted...

courtesy Daily Progress

Not to go unnoticed in the news, the 369th District Court convened this mock trial on Wednesday July 8, 2009 and local newspapers followed suit. Mrs. Robinson agreed to have this local jury “decide” her punishment, which theoretically could have ranged from nothing to 10 years in state prison. The maleable jury was seated to assess only the punishment phase of the case. Robinson had previously waived her rights to a jury trial and she accepted District Attorney Elmer Beckworth’s plea bargain. Before deciding Mrs. Robinson's punishment, the Cherokee County jury heard opening statements, along with testimonies from witnesses. (Source: Tyler Paper July 9, 2009)

Strategically designated Cherokee County 'dignitaries' bombarded jurors with accolades about the Robinson family, while the specific methodology implemented to achieve the embezzlement was swept under the carpet. This was the punishment phase of the “trial;” guilt was already established though Mrs. Robinson was never forced to admit her guilt to the jurors. Local newspapers followed suit, leaving reasonable doubt that a clerical error could have resulted in the missing $150,000. It was in the hands of the 12 jurors to decide whether or not prison was appropriate for a 62-year old “Christian” woman without a CPA license (Source: Jacksonville Daily Progress July 9, 2009)

The State did not vigorously present mitigating factors for a harsher sentence, hence the premeditated deliberation of 10 years community supervision. The process itself is a contradiction (plea bargain acceptance, then jury sentencing of the same punishment), and is a not so clever way for district attorneys and judges to appear to be removed from the case. In a tiny town of only 5,000 people, that concept is entirely ridiculous. Mrs. Robinson’s fate was determined in the judge’s chamber months before the jury was vetted.

The fact is the presiding judge had already accepted the punishment of the defendant, because the district court is mandated by law to show record of the defendant voluntarily waiving his or her rights to a trial and PLEADING GUILTY.

From the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, when a trial by jury has been waived, the district judge determines the sentence. To stave off embarrassment of a long and costly trial, the Doris Robinson case followed the prosecution’s recommendation of probation. District Judges can either accept or reject said plea bargains. The precedent of jury sentencing is always under fire due to the nature of the limited evidence heard at sentencing, versus extensive and specific evidence allowed at trial. So don’t be snookered into believing it was the compassionate jury composed of five white women, a black woman and six white men sentencing Mrs. Robinson after 1 hour and 45 minutes of 'deliberation' who meted out probation as her sentence. (Source: Cherokeean Herald July 8, 2009)

The fix was in from day one because she was a city employee and faced Elmer Beckworth and a Cherokee County jury instead of a legitimate federal jury. Cherokee County Texas prosecutors, law enforcement and Beckworth's handpicked jurors are more interested in putting Civil Rights complainants in prison than public servants caught stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in city revenue.

According to the July 8, 2009 Cherokeean Herald, Doris Robinson was sentenced that same day to 10 years in prison, with that sentence probated for 10 years, fined $5,000 in her “theft trial” and ordered to pay $143,000 in restitution. Readers of Rusk’s local Cherokeean newspaper are predictably misled into presuming defendant Robinson was scrutinized in a full-fledged “theft trial” by jurors who then sentenced her to repay the money in order to avoid imprisonment.

BEFORE July 8, 2009, Mrs. Doris Robinson pleaded guilty to theft of Rusk Water Department funds in her plea bargain, which resulted in her avoiding a “theft trial” by jury with its inherent risk of imposition of incarceration if found guilty by those trial jurors. So why in the world is it permissible for the court’s time (taxpayers’ money) to be squandered on assembling a jury panel solely for the purpose of sentencing confessed thief Mrs. Robinson when the district judge is the one with the authority to impose sentencing of plea bargainers?

It is quite implausible that Mrs. Robinson’s capable legal advisors would have approved her written admission of guilt if that document did not contain the specific requirements for avoidance of incarceration, to include but not limited to, her acknowledgement that she will repay within a set timeline the funds she admitted stealing. It’s smoke and mirrors Cherokee County style with public officials and local media creating the illusion that courthouse employees are honorably utilizing the salaries they draw from the taxpayers’ collective wallet. The fact is the Robinson probation sentence was already a done deal in verbiage of her signed plea and sentencing agreement.

As usual, they want to have it both ways when 'Project Got to Fool 'Em Everyday' is in full swing. If a local steals the same amount of money from a federally insured bank, then a stiffer penalty and different outcome can be expected outside the tainted Cherokee County legal process.


Jacksonville, TX:
47-year old bank teller Lloyd Wayne Rock, also from Jacksonville, TX, was indicted in federal court for stealing over $145,000 from a Bank of America located in Tyler, TX. Rock is accused of stealing the money since he began his employment at the Tyler branch in 1995. Lloyd Rock pleaded guilty on July 29 to the embezzlement charge and faces up to 30 years in federal prison if convicted. (Source: Tyler Paper July 29, 2009)

Wood County, TX:
Wood County officials are requesting the Texas Rangers move their attention away from Cherokee County and come on down to help find $1,063 missing from the county treasurer’s office. Treasurer Becky Cannon faces a Wood County grand jury for the “misplaced funds” from the sale of scrap metal. (Source: Tyler Paper July 29, 2009)

Rusk County, TX:
A female prison guard at the Henderson Bradshaw Unit has been arraigned for paying an inmate to perform sex acts on her. Hether Bargsley, 32 was fired June 13 after admitting to officials she had paid a prisoner $200 for having sex in a doorway.

Rusk County Sheriff Department dispatcher and warrant clerk Kristy Campbell, 43, was charged on July 31 with cashing in a stolen money order of a missing $500 bond.Theft of service by a public official is a state jail felony. (Source Tyler Paper July 31, 2009)

Smith County, TX:
A Pct. 1 Smith County Deputy Constable, who is also the son of Precinct 3 Commissioner Terry Phillips, is under investigation for being on the payroll but not having a TCLEOSE police officer’s license. Derek Lee Phillips, age 23 had come under scrutiny by the Texas Rangers after an incident the night of June 29, in which he pulled a handgun on guests at his father’s property. Phillips has been patrolling with other deputies and identifying himself as a deputy constable, despite being unlicensed. (Source: Tyler Paper July 16, 2009)

One official said the county is liable for officers and deputies, and a person with as many citations as Phillips would also be a problem for insurance. (Source: Tyler Paper July 16, 2009)

A stark difference of facts presented in neighboring Smith County;
Cherokee County’s liability insurance provider in concert with elected officials have a proven track record of schmoozing public opinion that its policyholder county is a low-risk client. Even after hiring gypsy cops and rapists who cause huge insurance claims for the county that employs them.

A female deputy Smith County constable is also under Texas Ranger investigation and is also patrolling Pct. 1. This after she was alleged to have instigated a scuffle at her former boyfriend’s Tyler apartment complex. Newly licensed Minerva Martin is accused of going to a former boyfriend’s apartment to confront him and his current girlfriend, according to witnesses’ accounts and disturbance calls.( Source: Tyler Paper July 23, 2009)

It is also reported that TCLEOSE officials have recommended Precinct 1 Constable Henry Jackson’s license be revoked. Constable Jackson pleaded guilty in August 2008 to a Misdemeanor count of tampering with a governmental record and was given six months deferred adjudication. He also pleaded no contest to a Class C assault charge from sexual harassment and official oppression allegations. (Source: Tyler Paper July 17, 2009)

Constable Henry Jackson

Tyler, TX:

Tyler, TX Police Chaplain Anwar Khalifa was arrested in a Dallas hotel by an off duty Frisco, TX police officer, when the officer working security caught Khalifa smoking marijuana in the parking lot. Khalifa, the former head of the East Texas Islamic Society, was asked to resign by Tyler's chief of police. (Source: Tyler Paper July 23, 2009)

Frisco Police Sgt. Crawford took the remainder of the marijuana and rolling paper and logged it as evidence and also notified the Tyler Police Department of the incident. (Source: Tyler Paper July 23, 2009)

Anwar Khalifa (Courtesy KLTV Tyler, TX)

A stark difference from a recent Cherokee County, TX episode when Constable Randall Thompson was arrested by federal agents on the Mexican border for meth distribution. Instead of turning his badge in, Randy Thompson continued his role as Pct. 3 Constable up to the day he was indicted in federal court on drug charges. Employers of public officials such as Constable Thompson and Khalifa are always notified when the employee is arrested elsewhere. Despite Cherokee County's pattern of pretending not to know their political allies have been arrested and are facing federal indictment the next day. Cherokee County's District Attorney's office, the Sheriff's Department and constables routinely "split the revenue" of seized property during drug raids (even airplanes), without oversight. (Source: Cherokeean Herald August 27, 2008)



Jacksonville, TX:
Jacksonville High School assistant coach Jerry Chism, 34 of Longview, was placed on administrative leave after being indicted for participating in illegal dog-fights. The football coach had been arrested in November 2008 for a DWI in Gregg County, before transferring to nearby Jacksonville ISD where he was employed for approximately one year.

Jerry "Scotty" Chism was arrested July 8 in Panola County during a three-state sting which led to over 25 other defendants being indicted in federal court for animal cruelty. (Source: Tyler Paper July 16, 2009)

JHS Coach Jerry Chism