Small town courts and judges are some of those teeny tiny courts I've mentioned here before. Today, the Hon. Phil Parker (who is NOT a licensed attorney, doubt he's been to law school even) ruled against Barbara Hoffmann and Fred Lulling. But everyone hang onto your hats because I'm not done messing with east Texas on this one.
Most of you aren't lawyers but you'll still be able to get the gist of all this when you see the court documents and, oh, yes, indeed, they'll be more public soon than just sitting in a teeny tiny court clerk's office. Preserved evidence is a wonderful thing as it keeps teeny tiny court clerks from retroactively changing history.
Stick around sd and sb, I'm no where near done with William (Bill) Gleason, Lex Jones, Phil Parker, Carol Hedges, Caroline Wedding, and all the rest over there in Marion County, TX. Do y'all still have county inmate work farms over there? You know, the ones where they just toss you in and put you to work until the sheriff let's you out, no due process of any kind? It sure wouldn't surprise me after seeing some of the documents on this case!
Addendum: The first news story is up so I'll give a little hint of what's to come. In the case of The State of Texas v. Barbara Hoffman and Fred Lulling, Case Number CR-10-0112, the Criminal Case Docket shows that Justice of the Peace Lex A. Jones entered 1 judgment, for the civil forfeiture of the animals. It also shows the appearances of the Defendants' appointed counsels at the hearing. Now, how does one get arrested, jailed, and proceed with a criminal case to a civil judgment?
It appears this case has been miraculously converted between the original criminal case and the de novo appeal of it into a totally civil case where the County Judge, Phil Parker, refused to permit any testimony on the original matters before the Justice Court. I'll admit it has been a long time since I was in practice as a lawyer but I'm just not familiar with any way to combine civil and criminal cases, nor to change one into the other. It all seems to be mostly the work of Bill Gleason, the County Attorney, in this case. Mr. William Gleason must be wondering what the State Bar of Texas would think of this case. I'm wondering if I should ask them.
In the meantime, here's the docket sheets from the Justice case:
I hope that's readable but, if not, stick around because a link to a better version is coming shortly.
Ditto for that one.
"This court is going to find in favor of the state, which proved a violation of section 821.023 of the health and safety code," said County Court Judge Phil Parker. Now how did he do that in a on de novo review of a criminal case?
Does everyone know that there's a Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct? Getting a decision wrong isn't a violation of the rules but, if you'd like to see some more information, click here.; things like chit chatting with only one side of a case can be a very bad thing for a judge to do (and they even take anonymous complaints).