News and Press Releases : 2009

from The Paris News:

Press Releases:

DA’s Office prosecutes nearly 500 cases

By Bill Hankins
The Paris News

Published December 28, 2009

Lamar County and District Attorney Gary Young and his staff had a busy year in 2009, and 2010 looks as if the war on criminals will continue in the courtrooms.

Almost 500 felony cases were filed in 2009, with 447 felony cases resulting in prison or probation.

There were 137 felony motions to revoke probation.

Among the cases handled in 2009 were some major ones.

Young’s staff helped solve and obtained guilty pleas in a 28-year-old murder case.

“I think it’s tremendous that the 28-year-old murder-for-hire of Jean Wagnon was solved through excellent police work and strategic trial preparation,” Young said. “Three men responsible went to prison. I’d chalk that up as the highlight of the year from my angle.”

Young’s office closed 1,463 misdemeanor cases, and collected $292,700 in hot check restitution and fees for area merchants.

New misdemeanor cases filed averaged 100 per month.

The amount of restitution collected by community supervision/adult probation and distributed to property crime victims in 2009 was $191,631.

Next year’s agenda looks as if it also will be full.

Young’s office has 392 felony cases pending, with defendants not yet apprehended in 121 of those cases.

Young said all cases are important and the prison sentence for Veta Robinson for the murder of Dontrae Mitchell is also a good sign juries and the local system are focused on doing what’s right.

“We’re glad to see justice for victims who lost loved ones to murders that got solved and successfully prosecuted,” Young said.

Young said his staff is ever cognizant of victims of crime.

“Child abuse cases are always difficult and 2009 didn’t have a shortage of them,” Young said. “Thanks to a team of folks not only in law enforcement, but from organizations like the Children’s Advocacy Center and Child Protective Services, we think perpetrators got what they deserved.”

“Our county is blessed with excellent law enforcement — Paris police, Reno police, DPS, a dedicated Texas Ranger, constables and the Lamar County Sheriff’s Office all do a great job,” he said. “Citizens should feel good knowing there’s professionalism in most of the officers doing diligence to see the right thing done.”

Some of the cases handled in 2009 were challenging to the court system and brought out emotion even from the prosecutors.

Such a case was the sentencing of a Paris teen to 100 years in prison in a sexual assault case.

“It was one of the most heartbreaking things you will ever see,” 6th District Judge Eric Clifford said after sentencing a Paris teenager to 100 years in prison on five counts of sexual assault of a child.

Aaron Hart, 18, a special education student throughout his years in Paris schools, pleaded guilty to the Sept. 28, 2008, sexual assault of a young boy who lived nearby.

Asked by Young why he did it, Hart replied there were “voices in my head … and I got dizzy.”

A former Texas Department of Public Safety trooper — John Raymond Cross — was sentenced to 20 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice system after being convicted by a Lamar County jury of theft of more than $100,000 but less than $200,000 from a retired Deport doctor.

Dr. T. H. Glover, 76, testified he had given Cross $128,952 in interest-free loans to help Cross develop and market an “adjustable door striker” and a “silent trolling motor” for fishing boats.

Testimony indicated Cross used the ideas to get money from the doctor.

A Lamar County jury sentenced John Clawson Jr., 53, to two life terms and three 20-year terms in Texas Department of Criminal Justice on two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and three counts of indecency with a child.

It took the jury just 12 minutes to find Clawson guilty and eight minutes to determine the sentences, the maximum allowed under the law.

The jury also determined a fine of $10,000 on each of the five counts, also the maximum.

Clawson’s daughter testified in court her father had sexual relations with her from the time she was 9 years old, until she was about 12, when Child Protective Services took her and her brothers from the home and placed them in foster care.

Some cases handled by Young’s office were the kind that just kept the courtroom busy over and over.

A former Paris chiropractor — Jerry Pedersen, 59 — was sentenced to 10 years in the Texas Criminal Justice System on charges of indecency with a child.

It was the third trial for Pedersen.

The first trial ended in a hung jury in 2005.

He was convicted in the second trial in 2006 but appealed and that guilty verdict was overturned.

The third time, a jury found him guilty, and he pleaded to 10 years in prison without the possibility of appeal.

Young said he and his staff are dedicated to making sure justice is done no matter how difficult it is or how long it takes.

Editorial: Taking a stand against violent crime

Staff Report The Paris News
Published December 6, 2009

Everyone should be an advocate for victims of violent crimes.

And just as importantly, everybody should be pro-active about the prevention of criminal activity.

These two points could not have been emphasized more clearly than by two Lamar County officials who spoke Thursday at the Tree of Angels ceremony at Central Presbyterian Church sponsored by the Lamar County People Against Violent Crime organization.

County Judge Chuck Superville delivered an appeal for compassion prior to delivering a proclamation from the Lamar County Commissioners Court proclaiming this past week as Tree of Angels Week in Lamar County.

“I think it is so appropriate that we think about the victims of crime at this time of year as we celebrate the Prince of Peace’s birthday,” the judge said. “Peace is what happens in our hearts and what we should pray for and wish for our neighbors. We are mandated by our religion to wish for peace for our communities and even the perpetrators of violence, but especially for the family members and victims of crime because I know they are suffering.”

Allan Hubbard, victim witness coordinator for the Lamar County/District Attorney’s Office, emphasized the need to be pro-active in stemming criminal activity before it happens. People should stand up and speak out about what is right even if it means confronting those who may be predisposed to criminal inclinations.

“Saying what needs to be said and doing what needs to be done is in the best interest the community at large,” Hubbard said. “I feel in our politically correct society we’re failing to uphold a measure of common decency because we fear backlash.”

Both men give reason to think about everyone’s role in the prevention of crime, and ultimately, the reduction of the number of crime victims.

Angel tree honors victims of violent crime

By Mary Madewell
The Paris News

Published December 4, 2009

“Say what needs to be said; do what needs to be done.”

That’s the message Allan Hubbard delivered Thursday to crime victims and other supporters of People Against Violent Crime at the seventh annual Tree of Angels ceremony at Central Presbyterian Church.

Hubbard, the victim witness coordinator for the Lamar County/District Attorney’s Office, keynoted an evening filled with compassion and support for those who have lost loved ones to criminal acts as well as victims themselves and their families.

Following the memorial service, those in the audience hung angels on a tree, which is to be displayed during the holidays on the second floor of the Lamar County Courthouse. For many, those angels are in remembrance of a loved one lost to violent crime; for others angels represent an individual’s support of victims of crime.

Doris Sanford of People Against Violent Crime welcomed the audience and Wanda Bayley, a crime victims advocate, dedicated the angel tree following a program including prayer by Rev. Gary Brown of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, a poem read by Darrell Bruce, director of Lamar Juvenile Probation, a solo by singer/songwriter Merrol Ray and chorale arrangements by the Central Presbyterian Church choir.

Lamar County Judge Chuck Superville shared words of inspiration along with a Lamar County Commissioners Court resolution proclaiming Nov. 20-Dec. 5 as Tree of Angels Week in Lamar County.

Hubbard encouraged the audience to take a proactive approach against possible criminal activity.

“It is the duty of any of us as caring, civilized and loving Americans to help one another when we see dangerous, or wrong choices taking place,” Hubbard said. “Oftentimes we help by addressing the issues we see with that person and their possible culpability. Oftentimes we help the public at large by making things known that needs to be known.

Hopefully, he said, the action of a concerned person might change another’s behavior and ultimately avoid tragedy or further hurtful actions.

“Too often I feel we hesitate to get involved for fear of being seen as judgmental or nosy,” Hubbard said. But later after tragedy strikes, “we wish we’d said something, or done something to somehow intervene.

“Say what needs to be said,” Hubbard concluded. “Do what needs to be done.”

Fulbright pleads guilty, sentenced to 30 years

By Bill Hankins
The Paris News

Published October 22, 2009

An 18-year-old Paris man has pleaded guilty to robbing a convenience store on Loop 286 and beating the clerk with a shotgun in April 2008.

Sixth District Court Judge Eric Clifford sentenced Jeremy Fulbright to 30 years in prison Wednesday after the plea bargain.

Fulbright’s guilty plea came as a panel of potential Lamar County jurors waited in the halls of the Lamar County Courthouse

to serve on the scheduled trial.

In a plea bargain with prosecutors, Fulbright agreed to go to prison for 30 years. He faced a possible life sentence for the first-degree felony.

Fulbright was accused of twice robbing a convenience store in the 2800 block of Northeast Loop 286 in April 2008.

In the second robbery, Fulbright was accused of beating the clerk with a gun. The deadly weapon used mandates Fulbright serve a minimum of half his sentence before he is eligible for parole.

“Paris Police did an outstanding job investigating this case as initially no suspects could be identified,” said Gary Young, Lamar county and district attorney. “Their determined efforts led them to identify two of the three suspects involved in these robberies. One remains unidentified.”

The other suspect identified and charged was a 16-year-old juvenile, who pleaded guilty in 2008 in juvenile court proceedings and was sentenced to a determinate 10 years in prison.

First Assistant County and District Attorney Bill Harris said the juvenile will serve up to his 19th birthday in Texas Youth Commission facilities and be transferred to serve the remainder of his time in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Video surveillance captured in the store was “shocking,” Harris said. “It clearly depicted this clerk being horribly beaten with the stock of a shotgun.”

Harris said referring to Fulbright’s juvenile record and the robberies: “There was an escalating pattern of violence. In the first robbery he simply displayed a weapon. In the second, he used it to beat the clerk.”

Fulbright was represented by Paris defense attorney Wes Tidwell.

Posey returns to prison

By Bill Hankins
The Paris News

Published October 22, 2009

Justices of the 6th Court of Appeals in Texarkana have reversed a ruling in 6th District Court in Lamar County granting probation to a man convicted of negligent homicide, whose involvement in an automobile accident led to the death of two people in 2004.

Cody Joe Posey, 23, drew a July 2006 conviction for his involvement in an accident that led to the deaths of Marie McDonald, 54, and her grandson, Kevontre McDonald, age 3. Then 6th District Judge Jim Lovett sentenced Posey to probation along with community service and other provisions.

A motion to revoke probation was filed in October 2008 and in January 2009 newly elected 6th District Judge Eric Clifford ordered Cosey to Texas Department of Corrections for shock probation and then released with community supervision.

Lamar County and District Attorney’s office appealed the order granting probation, contending the judge did not have the authority to grant shock probation.

The state appealed the judge’s sentence of 22 months instead of the jury recommendation for two years, saying that is below the minimum punishment for a third-degree felony.

The 6th Court of Appeals agreed.

“We vacate the trial court’s order granting shock community supervision, reinstate the judgment revoking Posey’s community supervision and sentencing him to two years confinement, and remand the case to the trial court with specific instructions to carry out the two-year sentence reflected in the written judgment,” the justices said.

“I think the court of appeals agreed with the original argument we made in January,” Lamar County and District Attorney Gary Young said. “Judge Clifford had only been on the bench a few weeks when he made that decision and was following the recommendations of his predecessor Judge Jim Lovett.”

Clifford said after hearing the appeals court ruling: “I was not aware I did not have the authority to grant community service, but the county attorney’s office contended I could not do that.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | October 21, 2009

Store robbery defendant pleads to 30 years

As a panel of potential Lamar County jurors waited in the halls of the courthouse Wednesday, Jeremy Fulbright, 18 of Paris, decided to plead guilty to robbing a convenience store.

In a plea bargain with prosecutors, Fulbright agreed to go to prison for 30 years. He faced a possible life sentence for the first-degree felony.

Fulbright was accused of twice robbing a convenience store in the 2800 block of Northeast Loop 286 in April 2008.

In the second robbery, Fulbright was accused of beating the clerk with a gun. The deadly weapon used mandates Fulbright serve a minimum of half his sentence before he's eligible for parole.

"Paris Police did an outstanding job investigating this case as initially no suspects could be identified," said Gary Young, Lamar County and District Attorney. "Their determined efforts led them to identify two of the three suspects involved in these robberies. One remains unidentified."

The other suspect identified and charged was a juvenile, Kevin Cooper, 16 at the time of the offense. Cooper pleaded guilty in 2008 in juvenile court proceedings and was sentenced to a determinate 10 years in prison.

First Assistant County and District Attorney Bill Harris said Cooper will serve up to his nineteenth birthday in Texas Youth Commission facilities and be transferred to serve the remainder of his time in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Video surveillance captured in the store was "shocking," Harris said. "It clearly depicted this clerk being horribly beaten with the stock of a shotgun."

Harris said referring to Fulbright's juvenile record and the robberies: "There was an escalating pattern of violence. In the first robbery he simply displayed a weapon. In the second, he used it to beat the clerk."

Fulbright was represented by Paris defense attorney Wes Tidwell.

Pedersen found guilty in third trial

By Bill Hankins
The Paris News

Published October 14, 2009

Former Paris chiropractor Jerry Pedersen, 59, was sentenced Monday to 10 years in the Texas Criminal Justice System on charges of indecency with a child.

It was the third trial for Pedersen.

The first trial ended in a hung jury in 2005.

He was convicted in the second trial in 2006 but appealed and that guilty verdict was overturned.

Monday a jury found him guilty, and he pleaded to 10 years in prison without the possibility of appeal.

“This was the third time, and we felt we needed to get this over with,” Lamar County and District Attorney Gary Young said. “The victim, now 20, had to testify in all three trials, and so she would never have to testify again, we agreed to the 10 years in prison.”

In his second trial that was overturned, Pedersen received a 20-year sentence.

“Fortunately, he was found guilty in the third trial and there can be no appeals,” Young said. “He will have to serve at least half his sentence in prison.”

Tatum sentenced to 10 years probation

By Bill Hankins
The Paris News

Published October 2, 2009

Twenty one-year-old Justin Tatum was sentenced to 10 years probation Thursday on charges of intoxication manslaughter for an auto accident that led to the death of Amanda Matthews in April of 2008.

The sentence by 6th District Court Judge Eric Clifford left the victim’s family angry.

The victim’s sister made an impact statement after the sentencing.

“You took away my sister and my best friend, and I will never get her back,” she said.

The caretaker of Matthews 8-year-old son testified he is still traumatized by losing his mother and often cries at night.

Later, family members said the judge’s ruling was unfair and Tatum should have gone to prison.

The defense called alternative school teacher Joan Moore, who told the court of a rehabilitation lockdown facility in Lubbock that could treat Tatum if he were to receive probation.

Clifford passed sentence with the stipulation Tatum undergo treatment in the rehabilitation facility.

County and District Attorney Gary Young said today: “While we do not agree with the sentence, we respect the judge’s decision. Each case is different, and each decision has to be made on the individual case.”

Assistant District Attorney Bill Harris, who prosecuted the Tatum case, said: “While we were deeply disappointed in the judge’s decision, we respect that decision. What was so tragic about this case is you now have an 8-year-old boy whose mommy is gone, and at some time Tatum will get to go back to his family, and the boy will never see his mommy again because Tatum chose to drink and drive.”

The one-car accident that killed Matthews happened at approximately 2 a.m. April 3, 2008, on Stillhouse Road.

Department of Public Safety trooper Greg Wilson said the accident report came in approximately 30 minutes after the accident occurred.

Matthews was transported to Paris Regional Medical Center, where she died after being removed from life support.

Wilson, who testified at the sentencing hearing, said Tatum denied being the driver of the vehicle, but the investigation proved he was behind the wheel.

Tatum pleaded guilty earlier in September to the intoxication manslaughter charge and asked the judge to pass sentence.

Tatum was returned to the Lamar County Jail to await arrangements for him to be picked up by the rehabilitation facility.

Member of DA’s office sentenced

By Bill Hankins
The Paris News

Published October 9, 2009

Lamar County and District Attorney Victims and Witness Coordinator Allan Hubbard found himself facing a judge Thursday on a contempt of court charge.

Sixth District Court Judge Eric Clifford sentenced Hubbard to 20 days community service work at the Lamar County Animal Shelter and barred him from the 6th District Court until Jan. 1.

The contempt of court charge stemmed from an incident in the court after a recent sentencing hearing when Hubbard allegedly accosted a defense attorney with angry words and a slap on the shoulder.

Hubbard apologized to the judge, the defense attorney and to the court.

“There is no excuse for what I did in the courtroom,” Hubbard said. “I fell short of proper courtroom procedures, and I feel sorry for that.”

Clifford, who had accused Hubbard of displaying extreme disrespect for the court, told Hubbard: “I have to maintain order in the courtroom. I appreciate your apology and maybe something good will come of this. The defense attorney was just doing his job, and not only that, he was court appointed.”

Hubbard, who is in charge of preparing witnesses and crime victims for testimony in trials, said he will have to turn to volunteers to do his work in Clifford’s courtroom until the first of the year.

After the hearing, Hubbard reflected on what he did wrong.

“It is a good example of the need for keeping my mouth shut,” he said.

County and District Attorney Gary Young had no comment.

Judge releases DWI defendant on bond

Staff Report
The Paris News

Published September 30, 2009

A Lamar County jury took six minutes Tuesday to find a Paris man guilty of driving while intoxicated and wrecking his car beneath an overpass in July 2008.

Robert Earl Dangerfield, 59, had numerous previous convictions and prison sentences for driving while intoxicated, which enhanced his punishment range up to 20 years. Assistant Lamar County and District Attorney Greg Barber asked District Judge Eric Clifford for the maximum sentence.

Clifford sentenced Dangerfield to 10 years, then granted Dangerfield an appellate bond of $10,000 and released him.

The judge told Danger-field to report to the Lamar County Adult Probation department to have a device installed on his person that detects if he ingests any amount of alcohol and reports it immediately to probation authorities.

The state opposed the amount of the appeal bond.

“We think a higher amount would be more appropriate,” said Assistant County and District Attorney Jill Drake.

“The citizens of our county were lucky none of them were in his path that night,” Barber told the judge, recounting Dangerfield’s sudden turn across three lanes of traffic, under the overpass bridge and into concrete pylons.

Jurors heard audio from Paris Police Officer Billy Pillars’ in-car recording system following the accident at North Main Street/U.S. 271 and Loop 286. Dangerfield admitted to Pillars that he was drunk.

Jurors watched video from Dangerfield’s intoxilyzer room discussion with Paris Police Cpl. Doug Murphy. Dangerfield refused to give Murphy a breath sample the night of the incident.

After finding him guilty, jurors said what convinced them was when Dangerfield told officers, “I’m drunk.”

Defense attorney Ben Massar attributed Dangerfield’s slurred speech and trouble walking to various medical conditions. One of Dangerfield’s own doctors refuted that evidence.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | September 29, 2009

Judge releases DWI defendant after jury finds him guilty

A Lamar County jury took just six minutes Tuesday to find guilty a Paris man who drove drunk and wrecked his car under an overpass in July 2008. The trial judge then released the man on an appeal bond.

Robert Earl Dangerfield, 59, had numerous previous convictions and prison sentences for driving while intoxicated which enhanced his punishment range up to 20 years. Dangerfield shook his head in disagreement as Assistant Lamar County and District Attorney Greg Barber asked District Judge Eric Clifford to sentence Dangerfield to the maximum.

Clifford sentenced Dangerfield to 10 years. But after jurors left the courthouse, Clifford granted Dangerfield an appellate bond and released him. The judge told Dangerfield to report to the Lamar County Adult Probation department to have a device installed on his person that detects if he ingests any amount of alcohol and reports it immediately to probation authorities.

Assistant County and District Attorney Jill Drake said, "By law, this defendant was entitled to an appeal bond. But we think a higher amount would be more appropriate." The state opposed the low amount of appeal bond, which Clifford set at $10,000.

"The citizens of our county were lucky none of them were in his path that night," Barber told the judge, recounting Dangerfield's sudden turn across three lanes of traffic, under the overpass bridge and into concrete pylons. "Otherwise, we'd have an intoxication manslaughter."

Jurors heard audio from Paris Police Officer Billy Pillars in-car recording system where Dangerfield urinated on himself following the accident at North Main Street/U.S. Highway 271 and Loop 286. Dangerfield admitted to Pillars that he was drunk. A civilian witness also told the jury what he saw.

Jurors watched video from Dangerfield's intoxilyzer room discussion with Paris Police Corporal Doug Murphy. Dangerfield refused to give Murphy a breath sample the night of the incident.

After finding him guilty, jurors said what convinced them was when Dangerfield told officers, "I'm drunk."

Defense attorney Ben Massar attributed Dangerfield's slurred speech and trouble walking to various medical conditions. One of Dangerfield's own doctors refuted that evidence.

Jury gives Clawson maximum sentences

By Bill Hankins
The Paris News

Published June 21, 2009

A Lamar County jury of eight women and four men Friday sentenced John Clawson Jr., 53, to two life terms and three 20-year terms in Texas Department of Criminal Justice on two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and three counts of indecency with a child.

It took the jury just 12 minutes to find Clawson guilty and eight minutes to determine the sentences, the maximum allowed under the law.

The jury also determined a fine of $10,000 on each of the five counts, also the maximum.

Clawson’s daughter testified in court her father had sexual relations with her from the time she was 9 years old, until she was about 12, when Child Protective Services took her and her brothers from the home and placed them in foster care.

The sexual assaults apparently took place in 2000 through 2003, and Child Protective Services were alerted to the incidents by a neighbor whom the girl confided in.

Clawson once claimed ownership of the downtown Gibraltar Hotel, and testimony in the punishment phase of the trial stated he lived there several months with his family, despite having no electricity or water.

Later the family lived in a 400-square foot, one-room house in the Maxey Community, where the attacks on his daughter were committed.

In the home in Maxey, all seven family members slept in the single room, with only a partial wall separating a rest room facility.

The daughter testified her father would send the brothers outside, undress her and himself and have sex relations with her while watching pornographic films.

Investigators found several pornographic films in the home, and Clawson testified he watched them.

Clawson took the stand on his behalf in the punishment phase of the trial and stated he had been impotent during those years and could not have committed the attacks.

He used a walker to leave his wheelchair to go to the witness box.

Clawson draws $700 a month disability, has not work for many years and claimed he has back trouble, diabetes, COPD (respiratory problems,) prostate problems and several other diseases.

Lamar County and District Attorney Gary Young asked Clawson how he paid for the three colleges and business schools he attended in those years.

When arrested he was enrolled in Texas State Technical College in Waco, where he said he was studying to be a golf course landscaping specialist.

He also had studied at Paris Junior College one year and at International Business School in Sherman for a time.

“Did you ever get a job after attending these schools?” Young asked.

“No, I did not find one,” Clawson answered.

“How did you pay for these colleges?” Young asked.

“I got government loans for some and paid out of my pocket for the rest,” Clawson answered.

“You mean the taxpayers paid your way, both for the loans and through the disability checks?” Young asked.

“Yes, but I would have paid the loans back, if I had gotten a job,” Clawson said.

Young pointed out while Clawson was disabled, he hitch-hiked from his home in Maxey to Sherman to attend school.

The prosecution brought in a woman who said Clawson had sex relations with her in 1988, when she was 15, and she got pregnant and had his child.

She told jurors Clawson did pay some money to help raise the child.

“He would come over and give me money if I continued to have sex with him,” she said.

She also testified when the daughter was about 12, Clawson assaulted the daughter.

His wife, now separated from him, asked jurors to give him probation.

“He is a good, honest, truthful man,” she said.

Clawson told jurors: “I have tried to follow the law. At times I messed up. I am not perfect.”

“You didn’t watch those porno films for the plot did you?” Young asked.

He got no answer.

Defense attorney Diane Sprague told the jury in her closing statement: “There is no physical evidence, no physical exam. The girl felt she did not have the life she wanted and wanted out. There is no argument she needs to be where she is now.”

Prosecutor Jill Drake told jurors: “The state has given you the facts in this case. When she was with the church group, she began to feel safe, and that is when she felt empowered enough to talk about what happened to her.”

That was in late 2008, and Clawson was arrested shortly afterwards.

“Obviously the jury was as offended by Mr. Clawson’s actions as the district attorney’s office, child protective services and anyone else who has dealt with this family, and the jury gave the appropriate sentence that will make sure Mr. Clawson never gets out of prison,” Young said. “We appreciate the jury’s service and diligence in having to sort through the details that were not very enjoyable.”

Daughter alleges past sexual abuse, molesting

By Bill Hankins
The Paris News

Published June 19, 2009

John Clawson Jr, the man who once claimed ownership of Paris’ Gibraltar Hotel, went on trial Thursday in Lamar County’s 6th District Court on charges of molesting and sexually assaulting his daughter.

The daughter, now 18, told the court the alleged sexual assault began when she was 9 and continued until she was removed from her home by Child Protective Services and placed in a foster home.

She was reluctant to look at her father when asked by prosecuting attorney Jill Drake to identify him, and she broke into tears during testimony.

She had difficulty talking about things of a sexual nature, unable to say some of the terms openly.

She told jurors her father would send her brothers outside the small country home and would undress, and undress, her before having sexual relations with her.

When asked why she did not cry out sooner, she said she was afraid of her father.

She said her mother worked in Dallas and stayed there weekdays, coming home on weekends.

The court took a break in the middle of her testimony to put a barrier between her and her father, who sat at the defendant’s table.

Afterward, her testimony was more open, but she still would not use sexually explicit terms or talk about parts of the body.

A child welfare interviewer, Angela Crawford, testified she talked with the daughter in August of 2003, after an anonymous complainant first brought up sexual abuse issues.

The girl, then 11, would not talk about the sexual abuse then, but when she was interviewed again in August 2008 she gave details of the incidents.

That led to charges against the father.

A former neighbor testified it was in 2003 she called Child Protective Services anonymously after the girl told her the father had made her have sexual relations with him since she was 9.

On cross examination, defense attorney Diane Sprague asked the daughter if she really wanted to get away from the home and her parents, and that might be the basis for the outcry.

“You did not like living there did you?” Sprague asked.

“Not really,” the daughter answered.

The daughter told the jury she had always been afraid of her father and did not like him.

She said she did not remember much of her childhood, except the home was always cluttered.

The family lived in a one-room, 400 square-foot home, filled with beds for the six members of the family.

Sprague brought the defendant’s three sons to the stand and all denied they had been told to leave the home at times when the father and daughter were there alone.

They also said they had never been locked out of the home.

Both the prosecution and defense rested, with closing arguments scheduled to begin early today.

The old Gibraltar Hotel in downtown Paris was available to anyone who would claim it for back taxes at one time.

Clawson had promised to pay the taxes, but claimed the hotel on squatters rights. He occupied the old building several months before the hotel was taken over by another owner.

The trial was expected to go to the jury by midmorning today.

‘Murder for hire’

By Bill Hankins
The Paris News

Published June 12, 2009

Jean Wagnon’s final hours were filled with fear, confusion and anger, according to two former friends and employees of the Sun Valley liquor store she owned.

Events of the evening leading up to her death have never been spelled out in detail, but Garland “Shag” LaTrade, a key member of the liquor store staff, and Michelle Lollar Cardneaux, who worked at the store, were there that night. She confided in them, and LaTrade drove her home apparently only minutes before her death.

This week, LaTrade and Cardneaux came to Paris from their homes in Enterprise, Ala. and Natchez, Miss. to tell what really happened that night 28 years ago, when a murder-for-hire plan took Wagnon’s life.

Both LaTrade and Cardneaux said they were disappointed in the light sentences handed three men who eventually were charged with the slaying and pleaded guilty.

Lewis Tucker and Travis Mitchell each were sentenced to 30 years in prison. Kenneth Bills, the man who evidence showed to be the killer, received 45 years.

Wagnon, who all three pointed to as the man who hired them to kill his wife, died in 1986, only five years after her murder.

“I think the sentences were too light, because the three had to be sentenced under the laws at the time of the killing in 1981,” LaTrade said. “That means they only will have to serve one-third of their sentences before coming up for parole.”

Under today’s laws, that time would be half their sentence.

“No matter the sentences, I want to let everyone know what really happened that night,” LaTrade said.

He was the confidant of Jean Wagnon, drove her home just minutes before she was killed and was the first one on the scene after the slaying.

“Jean confided in me,” LaTrade said. “She was afraid of Mitchell. She was going through a divorce, but that particular night she and Harley left the liquor store to go home to eat at about 5:30. He usually had a couple of drinks and didn’t return to the liquor store, but she always returned.”

LaTrade said as she returned to the store, she encountered a couple of black men in her yard and asked them what they were doing.

“She said they told her they were there to see Harley about planting some fruit trees on the Wagnon property,” LaTrade said. “When she went to get Harley, he came out and she headed on to the liquor store, but looked back to see Harley taking the two in the house. She was concerned because the Wagnons had jewelry and valuables in the home, so she went back. When she did, the two men left.”

LaTrade said when she came to the store she was visibly shaken.

“She said she watched them get into their car and noticed a woman was driving,” LaTrade said. “She also was concerned about Mitchell ‘being around all the time,’ and told me many times that if anything happened to her to tell everything I knew to law enforcement.”

LaTrade said when she came back to the liquor store, he had all the proceeds counted and turned them over to her, then drove her home about 9:20.

“She told me to wait until she got into the house and turned off the carport lights,” LaTrade said. “I went home after that. I only lived two streets over.”

LaTrade said Harley Wagnon called him at about 10:45 and said: “Get down here now.”

“When I arrived, I found Harley in his shorts sitting beside Jean’s body. I could tell she was dead and had been for several minutes, because her blood was coagulating.”

LaTrade said he asked Harley what had happened and he said: “She fought them hard.”

“He said two white men had burst into the home, grabbed the gun he was holding, forced him to open the safe and knocked him out when no money was there,” LaTrade said. “I asked him if they wore masks, and he said he didn’t know, but he had seen them several minutes, gone through several rooms to the safe and he should have known if they wore masks. And the money bags were laying on a table near the safe, where the so-called intruders could have seen them easily.”

It was LaTrade who first called law enforcement officers, then called Harley’s doctor to say he was going to the hospital early the next morning.

“When I saw Harley at the hospital the next morning, he said: ‘Shag, I want you to open the liquor store today,’” LaTrade said.

“I was surprised, and even more surprised two days later when Harley did not even go to Jean’s funeral,”

Another surprise was awaiting LaTrade.

The day after the funeral, Harley’s brother called him into the office and told him his services no longer would be needed at the liquor store.

“I had helped with the investigation, but District Attorney Tom Wells told me to leave it alone because I did not have the expertise,” LaTrade said. “He did not want me to testify before the grand jury, but when I forced my way in to testify, Tom tried to knock my story down even though I was testifying for the prosecution.”

LaTrade said he thinks a lot of people were paid to cover up the real story of the killing.

“If it wasn’t for the investigation of Johnny Williams, the whole story probably would not have been preserved,” LaTrade said. “Williams kept his notes at his home, so they did not get lost.”

District Attorney Gary Young echoed LaTrade’s comments.

“This case got solved because of two primary reasons,” Young said. “Johnny Williams did an excellent job of investigation despite the hurdles he encountered, including the statement the assailants were white. Williams kept excellent notes that helped link up all the details in the case, and Ted Gibson of the Lamar County Sheriff’s office stuck with the case, asked that it be reopened and brought it to a solution.”

Cardneaux said although she had information about Jean’s battle for a divorce and other things Jean had told her, no one came forward to interview her in the year she remained at the liquor store.

She was fired a year later.

Lewis Tucker abruptly changed his not guilty plea to guilty in exchange for a 30-year prison sentence. His plea bargain came during jury selection for the scheduled capital murder trial. Mitchell’s guilty plea followed a week later, then Bills offered his guilty plea on the day the trial was to begin.

Bills and Tucker were arrested in April 2008 after new technology led to new evidence in the case.

They were subsequently indicted for the murder.

Mitchell, was arrested by U.S. Marshals in May 2008 in Dallas on a warrant for capital murder in the murder-for-hire slaying that took place May 20, 1981 in the home Wagnon occupied with her husband Harley Wagnon.

Mitchell allegedly was the middle-man in the exchange of more than $26,000 paid for Jean Wagnon’s death.

Gibson was one of the original investigators in the slaying and has followed the developments in the case since.

The .38 caliber weapon used has never been found, but was determined to be one Wagnon said he carried to the door when the two men he said were white burst in.

None of the money was taken.

Jean Wagnon’s will left her entire estate to her daughter, Janice Marie Anderson, but Wagnon challenged the will and received some of the Wagnon property.

Early in the investigation, two Hugo men and an Idabel resident were arrested in Oklahoma during an investigation of similar homicides, but those men were never linked to the Wagnon case.

Investigators found three different blood types in the home of the Wagnons.

Earlier this year, some of the more than 40 pieces of evidence collected at the home was sent to the Department of Public Safety lab in Austin. It was at that lab the connection was made to Bills and Tucker.

Court says appeal is ‘wholly frivolous’

By Bill Hankins
The Paris News

Michael Charles Fuller’s latest appeal to the 6th Court of Appeals in Texarkana has been denied.

Fuller faces 15 years in the Texas Criminal Justice system each on convictions of indecency with a child by contact and sexual assault of a child and five years on a conviction of indecency with a child by exposure.

One 15-year sentence and the five-year sentence will run consecutively.

In ruling against Fuller, the appeals court justices said: “We have determined that this appeal is wholly frivolous. We have independently reviewed the clerk’s record and the reporter’s record, and we agree that no arguable issues support an appeal. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.”

Fuller was first convicted in December of 2005 of one count of sexual assault of a child and two counts of indecency with a 15-year-old girl.

He was sentenced to eight years on the sexual assault and two five-year terms on the indecency charges, but he appealed and won a new trial.

It was that new trial that ended with his two 15-year sentences and a stacked five-year sentence.

Also during that trial, another girl came forward to say Fuller had sexual relations with her, leading to new charges against him that still are pending.

Fuller’s original court-appointed trial attorney withdrew from the case, as did his appeals attorney in this latest appeal.

Trial begins in 28-year-old case

By Bill Hankins
The Paris News

When Jean Wagnon was shot and bludgeoned to death in her Sun Valley home 28 years ago, a scramble to find suspects was unleashed.

Many were named, but none brought to trial.

The investigation may have been hindered by the husband of the slain woman, Harley Wagnon, who told law enforcement officers two white men burst into his home, beat him and killed his wife.

Almost three decades later, two men have pleaded guilty to the charge of murder and the third will go on trial.

They are all black.

Lewis Tucker abruptly changed his not guilty plea to guilty in exchange for a 30-year prison sentence. His plea bargain to a murder charge came during jury selection for the capital murder trial that begins Tuesday.

Kenneth Bills and Tucker were arrested in April 2008 after new technology led to new evidence in the case.

The were subsequently indicted for the murder.

The third suspect, Travis Mitchell, was arrested by U.S. Marshals in May 2008 in Dallas on a warrant for capital murder in what prosecutors now believed to be a murder-for-hire slaying that took place May 20, 1981 in the home Wagnon occupied with her husband, Harley Wagnon.

Mitchell pleaded guilty to murder early today in 62nd District Court, also taking a 30-year prison sentence.

Harley Wagnon had been an early suspect in the death, but was never arrested in the case. He has since died.

A grand jury returned indictments in May 2008 against Mitchell and new indictments linking Bills and Tucker to the exchange of money, remuneration for the slaying.

Mitchell allegedly was the middle-man in the exchange of money paid for Jean Wagnon’s death.

Suspects were arrested in Oklahoma shortly after the slaying, but released without charges.

Lamar County Sheriff’s investigator Ted Gibson, armed with new findings produced through new technology, said Bills and Tucker have been linked to the crime scene.

Tucker, 60, was originally arrested on charges of use of a deadly weapon, committing murder in the process.

Bills, 56, was arrested in Choctaw County and faced similar charges.

Bills now faces the new indictment alleging he committed murder for money.

Gibson was one of the original investigators in the slaying and has followed the developments in the case since.

Authorities summoned to the Wagnon home shortly after 11 p.m. in 1981 found Jean Wagnon dead and her husband beaten. She had suffered a gunshot wound, but was later determined by autopsy to have died as a result of a blow to the head.

The .38 caliber weapon used has never been found, but was determined to be one Wagnon said he carried to the door when the two men he said were white burst in.

Wagnon told police he carried the weapon because large sums of money were in the home.

None of the money was taken.

Jean Wagnon’s will left her entire estate to her daughter, Janice Marie Anderson, but Wagnon challenged the will and received some of the Wagnon property.

Early in the investigation, two Hugo men and an Idabel resident were arrested in Oklahoma during an investigation of similar homicides, but those men were never linked to the Wagnon case.

Investigators found three different blood types in the home of the Wagnons.

Earlier this year, some of the more than 40 pieces of evidence collected at the home was sent to the Department of Public Safety lab in Austin. It was at that lab the connection was made to the current suspects.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | June 3, 2009

Woman gets 3 years in prison for shooting estranged boyfriend

A Paris woman who admitted shooting her estranged live-in boyfriend five times was given three years in prison by 62nd District Judge Scott McDowell Wednesday.

Cherrie Elaine Tingen, 47, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon stemming from the June 2007 incident. She told the judge she shot Rickey Cassel, 50, during a night of drinking at a home where Cassel was staying in west Paris.

Both Paris Police Sgt. Tim Moree and the victim testified Cassel was shot once in the head and four times in the back before Cassel walked to a nearby apartment and knocked on the door after 3:00 a.m. Sgt. Moree said Tingen appeared to be intoxicated when he spoke with her at the scene.

Cassel was eventually taken to Parkland Hospital in Dallas by helicopter where he underwent neurosurgery to remove a .38 caliber bullet from his head. Cassel said he still has three bullets in his torso and will soon have shoulder surgery due to the shooting. He said he was in the hospital more than a month and underwent reconstructive surgery to his forehead.

Cassel testified Tingen had frequently physically abused him, including stabbing with a knife and striking him in the head with a hammer six months prior to the shooting. Cassel admitted filing an affidavit of non-prosecution asking the charges be dropped in the hammer incident.

Both the defendant and the victim admitted they reconciled after the shooting and lived together for more than six months in 2008. Tingen said their relationship spanned more than six years total.

Tingen testified she was a victim of frequent abuse from Cassel, both verbal and physical. Dr. Claire Haslam, domestic violence expert, told the judge that Tingen suffers from battered woman syndrome. Tingen told the judge she suffers from bipolar disorder and depression and is a recovering crack cocaine addict which she said she often smoked with Cassel when they were together.

Defense attorney Ben Massar asked the judge to give Tingen probation, but Judge McDowell said, "Crimes like this of such a violent nature demand more than probation." The range of punishment was two to 20 years in prison. Tingen must serve two years before parole eligibility and has five months credit from time served in Lamar County Jail.

Assistant Lamar County and District Attorneys Jill Drake and Greg Barber prosecuted the case.

Victims have no local refuge

By Bill Hankins
The Paris News

Published May 22, 2009

Victims of domestic violence or sexual assault still have no shelter in Lamar County, and that is a huge problem, according to Lamar County Victims and Witness Coordinator Allan Hubbard.

The problem developed with the closing of the troubled Family Haven, after months of accusations and a state investigation caused funds to dry up and resulted in the indictments of a former Family Haven official and its director.

Victims of domestic violence or sexual abuse then had no official place to go in Lamar County.

Hubbard said SAFE-T, a non-profit Texas Corporation operating out of Mount Pleasant is attempting to help with the situation.

“They have taken approximately 25 victims to their shelter in Mount Pleasant, and are offering counseling services locally, but they cannot get state funding for that, because they already are receiving the maximum funding in Mount Pleasant,” Hubbard said.

Hubbard said the state will not provide funds to open a shelter, and a shelter has to be in operation a year before it can apply for state funds.

“The state really is not answering our questions,” he said. “The state views it as the community’s job to provide a shelter and not its problem. If a shelter has been established and has been operational for a year, the state then will provide funds for its operation.”

Hubbard said Lamar County Victims Council met Monday of this week with law enforcement officers and volunteers and decided its only option is to wait until an agency of some type steps up and establishes a victims shelter.

“We have been using Models of the Maker to provide shelter in some cases, but Models of the Maker has security issues, because its location is known, it is in the phone book and the victims of domestic violence are there with others who are seeking shelter for other reasons,” Hubbard said.

Hubbard said there are many reasons victims in Lamar County do not want to go to a shelter in another county.

“They have kids in school and can’t take them out, or they have jobs or other reasons they need to stay in Lamar County,” she said.

Hubbard said the YWCA has provided shelters in other places across the nation, but it has not indicated it would do so here.

“Fannin County Crisis Center based in Bonham also has provided some services in Lamar County for the same thing SAFE-T is providing in their own time,” he said. “It has received some emergency funds from the state for its assistance, but it has no local office in Lamar County.”

Hubbard said a group of churches has gotten together and will provide short-term shelter — a night or two at a local hotel, and for some that is all that is needed, but for others who need extended shelter there is no place locally to go.

“We just have to wait until someone steps forward to start a shelter or to donate funds to start one for local victims to get what they need here,” Hubbard said.

Until that happens, victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse will be scrambling for places to go.

Mennonite youth to get new disposition

By Bill Hankins
The Paris News

Published May 20, 2009

Sixth Appellate District of Texas justices have found error in a Lamar County trial court decision in a case involving a 14-year-old Mennonite youth’s traffic accident that left one of his friends dead and another injured.

Investigators said the boy, driving without a license, was speeding on a farm road in northwest Lamar County when he lost control of the vehicle he was driving and the car flipped repeatedly, tossing two of the four friends out, killing one and seriously injuring another.

Martin Harder was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver pleaded true to the offense of intoxication manslaughter, and a jury assessed a 10-year sentence with no recommendation of probation.

The court entered a disposition order of commitment to the Texas Youth Commission on a determinate sentence of 10 years, and the attorneys for the 14-year-old appealed on points of error involved in the disposition phase of the case.

Defense appeals attorney Gary Waite argued the evidence in the case was insufficient to prove the requirements for commitment to the Texas Youth Commission.

The appeals court agreed and remanded the case back to Lamar County for a new disposition hearing.

In the appeal, the 14-year-old boy claimed his rights to due process of law were violated because of the repeated references to the religious group with which he is affiliated.

The appeals court did not find error in the trial court’s handling on that issue.

A probation officer testified in the sentencing phase of the trial, the youngster should be sent to TYC because of a lack of parental supervision that would make probation unsuccessful in his environment, in his community and in his home.

In his appeal, the 14-year-old boy argued his counsel was ineffective because his attorney did not interview or cause several possible witnesses to testify, and that he did not talk with a psychologist who examined the defendant.

The appeals court justices said they found no deficient performance on the part of trial counsel.

Attorneys for the youngster contend the evidence is legally insufficient to establish his parents could not provide the care and level of support and supervision needed to meet the conditions of probation or that reasonable efforts had been made to prevent or eliminate the need to remove him from the home.

On that point, the appeals court agreed and reversed the decision, requiring a new disposition hearing in the case.

That decision sets up a new disposition hearing sometime in the next few weeks involving first assistant district attorney Bill Harris, the juvenile’s counsel and the judge to determine whether there will be another disposition trial before a judge or jury.

“While we respect the appellate court’s opinion, it must be remembered that this juvenile’s actions caused the death of another human being,” Harris said. “This court’s ruling sets a dangerous precedent that no matter the severity of the conduct of a juvenile, if he’s had little or no interaction with the juvenile justice system, he will almost be guaranteed probation. This is not fair to the victims of violent crime and certainly is contrary to the wishes of juries who are charged with seeing that justice is done and, by their rulings, the public is protected.”

Trial set for Wagnon case

By Bill Hankins
The Paris News

Published May 19, 2009

Twenty-eight years after Jean Wagnon was shot and bludgeoned to death in her Sun Valley home, the case will finally reach a Lamar County courtroom.

A jury will be picked June 1 in the trial of two men charged with her murder. The trial is set to begin Monday, June 8.

Trial date is pending for a third man also charged with murder in the case.

Kenneth Bills and Lewis Tucker were arrested in April 2008 after new technology led to new evidence in the case.

They were subsequently indicted for the murder.

The third suspect, Travis Mitchell, was arrested by U.S. Marshals in May 2008 in Dallas on a warrant for capital murder in what is now believed by District Attorney Gary Young to be a murder-for-hire slaying that took place May 20, 1981, in the home Wagnon occupied with her husband Harley Wagnon.

Harley Wagnon had been an early suspect in the death, but was never arrested in the case. He has since died.

A grand jury returned indictments in May 2008 against Mitchell and new indictments linking Bills and Tucker to the exchange of money, remuneration for the slaying, according to prosecutors.

Mitchell allegedly was the middle-man in the exchange of money paid for Jean Wagnon’s death.

Reports in 1981 said she was shot and bludgeoned to death by two men who burst into her home.

Her husband suffered injuries from a beating.

Suspects were arrested in Oklahoma shortly after the slaying, but released without charges.

Lamar County Sheriff’s investigator Ted Gibson, armed with new findings produced through new technology, said Bills and Tucker have been linked to the crime scene.

Tucker, 60, was originally arrested on charges of use of a deadly weapon, committing murder in the process.

Bills, 56, was arrested in Choctaw County and faced similar charges.

Both Bills and Tucker now face the new indictments alleging they committed murder for money.

Gibson was one of the original investigators in the slaying and has followed the developments in the case since.

Authorities summoned to the Wagnon home shortly after 11 p.m. in 1981 found Jean Wagnon dead and her husband beaten. She had suffered a gunshot wound, but was later determined by autopsy to have died as a result of a blow to the head.

The .38 caliber weapon used has never been found, but was determined by law enforcement officials at the time to be one Wagnon said he carried to the door when the two men he said were white burst in.

All three suspects now being held in the case are black.

Wagnon told police he carried the weapon because large sums of money were in the home.

None of the money was taken, according to reports published then in The Paris News.

Jean Wagnon’s will left her entire estate to her daughter, Janice Marie Anderson, but Wagnon challenged the will and received some of the Wagnon property.

Early in the investigation, two Hugo men and an Idabel resident were arrested in Oklahoma during an investigation of similar homicides, but those men were never linked to the Wagnon case.

Investigators found three different blood types in the home of the Wagnons.

Earlier this year, some of the more than 40 pieces of evidence collected at the home was sent to the Department of Public Safety lab in Austin. It was at that lab Young said the connection was made to the current suspects.

No shelter for homeless

By Bill Hankins
The Paris News

Crime victims, domestic abuse victims and the homeless are having more difficulty finding shelter in Lamar County, and it is not the downturn in the economy being blamed.

It is a series of events that have caused the loss of two shelters that once served hundreds of victims and dozens of homeless people.

First came the tragic Christians In Action fire that razed much of the building on Clarksville Street and sent dozens of shelter residents looking for new homes.

Five people died in that fire, and damages were so severe to the building it could not be reopened to continue its operation as a shelter.

The fire hit the CIA shelter in early January, and Don Walker of Christians In Action said he is still searching for another building to re-establish the CIA shelter.

Another loss that sent victims of domestic abuse and crime looking for a new shelter came last month when Family Haven ran out of money and could no longer aid victims.

That came after a lengthy investigation by the state caused funds to dry up and eventually brought indictments for a former Family Haven official and its director.

A Lamar County grand jury indicted Betty Brown, a former official, and Betsy Mills, director, on securing execution of a document by deception charges.

The charges came out of the investigation by the state after Family Haven’s problems began with complaints, some from dismissed board members, about the handling of clients and programs.

Family Haven denied all wrongdoing.

A search warrant was issued in May of 2007 and state agents swooped in and seized the organization’s records and computers.

From there, it was a downhill battle to survive. Funding sources pulled back, including those from Health and Human Services Commission and the Texas Attorney General, and the organization that helps victims of domestic violence and sexual assault and their children in Paris found itself with little help to carry out its mission.

Earlier this year, Mills said Family Haven no longer had enough money for a shelter staff.

With the indictments and no money, Family Haven’s operations were brought to a halt.

Some of Family Haven’s properties were lost to foreclosure.

Lamar County Victims Coordinator Allan Hubbard said Wednesday the Victims Council still has plenty of options to help victims of crime, but the council has not yet decided on a definite approach to the situation.

“Shelters in Mount Pleasant and Sulphur Springs are providing outreach services in Lamar County, but for many victims who have children in school here and jobs here going to a shelter in Mount Pleasant or Sulphur Springs is not convenient,” Hubbard said.

Hubbard said it is not that they don’t have anywhere to go, it is that it is the convenience issue.

Hubbard said the state will not give money to a shelter unless it has been in business at least a year.

“The state will not provide funds to establish a shelter,” he said. “The Victims Council is discussing the issue and will make a final decision soon on the direction it will take in directing people to a shelter.”

He said Models of the Maker is helping provide help in the interim.

For the homeless, the future is not clear.

After the fire at CIA, shelter officials were undetermined about reopening a shelter.

In recent days, new efforts have been put into reopening CIA, but a search for a new location may take several months.

“We are still operational in the old building, but we need to get back to recycling, and we need another building to do that,” Walker said. “It takes eight men to do the recycling program, and I have the men over here waiting to do that. If we can get back to recycling, we can get some funds through that. If we get a building, it will not take long for us to be back in full operation.”

Meanwhile, some churches and other organizations are helping provide homes for some of the men displaced by the fire.

For others, it may be difficult to find shelter.

Prison time for two Paris men

By Bill Hankins
The Paris News
Published May 7, 2009

Two Paris men this week received prison sentences in drug cases involving delivery of controlled substances.

Tuesday, Reginald Hall, 38, was sentenced to 20 years in prison by 62nd District Judge Scott McDowell after a jury took only five minutes to find him guilty of delivery of a controlled substance in a drug free zone.

Paris Police narcotics officers arrested Hall in May of 2008. He was charged with selling to an undercover officer.

Hall has been in Lamar County Jail nine times since 1992 and has a lengthy criminal history, including several prior drug charges.

Wednesday, Benjamin Freeman, 47, received a 15-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to a charge of delivery of a controlled substance.

Freeman had come to trial asking his attorney be fired and demanding to introduce new motions in his case, but shortly after that decided to take the 15-year plea bargain.

The charges against him also included delivery in a drug free zone.

He was arrested in April 2008.

Freeman has prior convictions on drug charges and a burglary charge dating back to 1986.

Robinson pleads guilty before trial

The Paris News
Published April 23, 2009

A Paris woman, facing a jury panel and more than 15 witnesses implicating her guilt, confessed Wednesday to the September 2008 murder of Dontrae Mitchell.

Veta Robinson, 18, agreed to plead guilty and take life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years rather than take her chances with the jury and receive life without parole.

More than 130 potential jurors waited outside the district courtroom in Lamar County’s courthouse Wednesday as Robinson weighed her options with defense attorney Ben Massar.

County and District Attorney Gary Young said defendants often decide to plead guilty once faced with a jury.

“In Miss Robinson’s case, there were also several people under subpoena ready to testify about her involvement in the shooting, which killed Mr. Mitchell. We don’t often have defendants willing to plead to life,” Young said.

Mitchell, the 25-year-old victim, was shot once in the head in the driveway of a home he shared with the mother of his children in northeast Paris. He later died in a Dallas hospital.

Robinson was apprehended in the Dallas area several days later and charged with capital murder for not only killing Mitchell, but also robbing him of several hundred dollars.

Mitchell was most known in the community for driving a yellow car decorated like the television cartoon character Spongebob. His mother, an aunt and the mother of his children made emotional victim impact statements to the defendant in court describing their loss, how Mitchell was loved by his children, and chastised her for taking Mitchell’s life.

Prosecutors said Robinson comes from a family with an extensive history of prison and was released from the Texas Youth Commission early in 2008 for a juvenile felony conviction. Robinson has continued to have disciplinary action while held in Lamar County Jail.

“Under the law, the prison system cannot consider parole for her for 30 years,” Young said. “That doesn’t mean she’ll be granted parole at that time, when she’s 48 years old, but they can begin thinking about it then. That will all depend on how she acts while on the inside.”

Jury selection begins in Robinson trial

By Bill Hankins
The Paris News

Published April 22, 2009

Jury selection began today in the murder trial of Veta Robinson, charged in the shooting death of Dontrae Mitchell.

Mitchell, 25, was found shot Friday, Sept. 19, 2008, at 1325-11th N.E. St. in Paris.

He was taken to Paris Regional Medical Center, then flown to Dallas Parkland Hospital, where he died two days later.

He was well known as a street vendor, and police theorized the shooting was the result of a a robbery.

One person was arrested in the case, then released after interrogation.

Robinson, 18, was arrested Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2008, by U.S. Marshals in a Dallas apartment complex on a murder warrant charging her with the death.

Mitchell was shot in the head sometime before 4 a.m. Friday, Sept. 19, in the 1300 block of 11th St. N.E.

“During our investigation we obtained leads that linked her with Mitchell’s death,” Paris Police investigator Randy Tuttle said.

Testimony is expected to begin Thursday in what is expected to be a two-day trial.

Robinson has been in Lamar County Jail under $500,000 bond.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 22, 2009

Woman pleads guilty to murder, receives life in prison

A Paris woman, facing a jury panel and more than 15 witnesses implicating her guilt, confessed Wednesday to the September 2008 murder of Dontrae Mitchell.

Veta Robinson, 18, agreed to plead guilty and take life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years rather than take her chances with the jury and receive life without parole.

More than 130 potential jurors waited outside the district courtroom in Lamar County's courthouse Wednesday as Robinson weighed her options with defense attorney Ben Massar. County and District Attorney Gary Young said defendants often decide to plead guilty once faced with a jury.

"In Miss Robinson's case, there were also several people here under subpoena ready to testify about her involvement in the shooting which killed Mr. Mitchell. We don't often have defendants willing to plead to life," Young said.

Mitchell, the 25-year-old victim, was shot once in the head in the driveway of a home he shared with the mother of his children in northeast Paris. He later died in a Dallas hospital and the autopsy ruled cause of death as gunshot to the head. Robinson was apprehended in the Dallas area several days later and charged with capital murder for not only killing Mitchell, but also robbing him of several hundred dollars.

Mitchell was most known in the community for driving a yellow car decorated like the television cartoon character Spongebob. His mother, an aunt and the mother of his children made emotional victim impact statements to the defendant in court describing their loss, how Mitchell was loved by his children, and chastised her for taking Mitchell's life.

Prosecutors said Robinson comes from a family with an extensive history of prison and was released from the Texas Youth Commission early in 2008 for a juvenile felony conviction. Robinson has continued to have disciplinary action while held in Lamar County Jail.

"Under the law, the prison system cannot consider parole for her for 30 years. That doesn't mean she'll be granted parole at that time, when she's 48-years-old, but they can begin thinking about it then," Young said. "That will all depend on how she acts while on the inside."

Judge rejects request for new trial

By Bill Hankins
The Paris News
Published April 8, 2009

Sixth District Court Judge Eric Clifford rejected a defense plea Tuesday for a new trial for convicted sex offender Aaron Hart, 18, who was sentenced to 100 years in prison Feb. 13 on five counts of sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child.

Hart’s appeals attorney, David Pearson, asked the court to throw out Hart’s conviction and sentence on the grounds of ineffective counsel in the original trial.

Pearson said the original defense attorney, Ben Massar, failed to investigate fully Hart’s mental retardation and failed to present that side of the case to the jury that sentenced him to 30 years on three counts and five years on two indecency counts.

“This case cried out for a mental health evaluation to explain the definition of mental retardation,” Pearson said.

Prosecutor Gary Young told the court Hart was competent to make the decision to plead guilty and to ask a jury to pass sentence.

“It is a fact Aaron Hart committed the crime,” Young said in his closing arguments. “The evidence was overwhelming. It is obvious Hart has problems, and the jurors felt he is a danger to this community. There simply is no evidence to warrant a new trial.”

Pearson said there are a lot of factors in competence.

“Would a reasonably responsible attorney investigate this further?” asked Pearson. “He (Hart) is barely functional.”

Hart called Paris High School principal Gary Preston and PHS special education teacher Elizabeth Cole to the stand.

Both said it would have been beyond Hart’s ability to understand the Miranda Warning given him by police after he confessed to the crime at the arrest scene.

Neither was called to testify in the original trial.

“It was often difficult to have verbal communication with him,” Preston said. “It was hard to understand what he was saying.”

Preston said he feels Hart knows right from wrong, but has a tough time understanding the severity of certain wrongs.

Pearson called two expert witnesses, Dr. Vincent Ramos, a licensed psychologist, and John P. Niland, of the Texas Defender Service.

Ramos said Hart is functioning with moderate retardation and was diagnosed that way at the age of 5.

“His intelligence is not going to improve over time,” he said. “He would have a difficult time being able to determine the degrees of right and wrong.”

Niland told the court Hart has an IQ of 47 to 52 and the understanding of a child at the age of 6.

“There were a number of steps counsel should have taken in the original trial, and he did not,” Niland said. “Investigation in this case fell below reasonable standards.”

Young moved to impeach each of the expert witnesses on the basis they also did not investigate the case thoroughly, having not read the original psychology report by Dr. David Bell, who determined Hart competent to help his attorney in the original trial.

Pearson called the original defense attorney, Massar, to the stand, and Massar said he felt he had taken all the necessary steps in defense of Hart.

Massar said it was Hart’s decision to plead guilty and ask the jury to pass sentence.

“He was hoping for probation,” Massar said.

Defense investigator Jim Chadwick also was called to the stand and told the court it was indeed Hart who made the decisions in his own defense.

After the jury passed sentences of 30 years on three counts and five years on two counts, Clifford then stacked the sentences to run the full 100 years.

“The kid is of diminished intellect and does not need to be in prison, but there wasn’t any place to put him,” Clifford said after the original trial.

At the end of Tuesday’s hearing, Clifford said: “Irregardless of whether he understood the Miranda Warning, the evidence was overwhelming. The court denies the motion for a new trial and a new sentence.”

Ceremony dedicated to victims of crime

Staff Report
The Paris News

Published March 29, 2009

A ceremony of hope scheduled this week acknowledges the plight of crime victims of all ages and begins a month of events planned by a group of advocates.

“Sometimes victims are children, sometimes they’re adults. They all need our compassion and our righteous anger at their circumstances,” said Allan Hubbard, member of the Lamar County Victims Council.

The group of area agencies hosts the annual Light of Hope ceremony at 6 p.m. Thursday at Calvary United Methodist Church.

Special music, a time of reflection, and honoree recognition are planned at the candlelit ceremony followed by a reception. Anyone is welcome to attend, Hubbard said. He added that he shares the concern and hurts of what victims go through.

Guest speaker is Messina Madson, assistant district attorney in Dallas County. Madson specializes in family violence prosecution and trains officers on domestic disputes at Dallas Police Academy.

April is Child Abuse Awareness Month and Crime Victims Week falls within the month.

A memorial wall will be erected April 1 on the first floor of the Lamar County Courthouse for victims to post memorabilia, poems, photos and the like in memory or honor of victims.

The Victims Council is made up of representatives from CASA for Kids, Child Protective Services, adult and juvenile probation, SAFE-T, the County and District Attorney, Child Welfare Board, Children’s Advocacy Center, NETO, and People Against Violent Crime.

For more information, contact Hubbard at 903-737-2458.

Fugitive roundup begins Thursday

By Mary Madewell
The Paris News

Published March 23, 2009

Persons with outstanding misdemeanor arrest warrants have until Wednesday to clear their names before a large scale fugitive round-up begins, according to Greg Barber, assistant attorney with the Lamar County/District Attorney’s Office.

“Persons with active warrants may be arrested at their homes, places of employment or wherever they may be found,” Barber said today.

“Those with active warrants have until March 25 to clear their names by turning themselves in or paying off their fines,” Barber said. “The warrant fee is being waived for those who pay in full prior to arrest.”

After Wednesday, law enforcement will actively pursue those who still have outstanding warrants from courts involved in the warrant round up.

In addition to Lamar County, participating entities include the City of Paris and the City of Reno.

Precinct 5 Place 1 Judge Cindy Ruthart said earlier that courts have a backlog of misdemeanor cases.

“We have a backlog and this is to help to dispose of some of these cases,” Ruthart said. Most Class C misdemeanors are for traffic tickets and simple assaults.

County warrants can be paid at Justice of the Peace offices at the Lamar County Courthouse.

In Paris, fines may be paid in person by appearing from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Wednesday at the Municipal Court Building, 2910 Clarksville St. Payments can be made by cash, check, money order or cashier’s check. Debit or credit card payments adds five percent to the original amount.

In Reno, fines can be paid during the same business hours at Reno Municipal Court, 160 Blackburn St.

Up for parole

By Bill Hankins
The Paris News

Published March 6, 2009

Two confessed murderers sent to prison for life in early 1980 in Lamar County cases soon could be walking the streets as free men.

The two will come up for parole this year after serving 30 years of their sentences behind bars.

Charles Parham, 49, pleaded guilty to killing Richard Todd Lewis, 18, in a case that involved drugs in July of 1979.

Parham first injected the victim with battery acid, and when Lewis did not die, he shot him with a handgun.

A jury assessed punishment at life in prison on Jan. 9, 1980.

Parham came up for parole in 1999 but was denied.

As of July 2009, he will have spent 30 years in prison, and will come up for a parole hearing again.

Lewis’ surviving family members have said they will be writing letters of protest asking the parole board not to grant parole.

In another case, L. C. Stover, 57, pleaded guilty to killing his father, Jessie Daniel Stover, and step-mother, Juanita Stover, at their home in the 400 block of Clarksville Street in Paris Nov. 24, 1979.

Judge Henry Braswell assessed punishment at life in prison Jan. 10, 1980.

Stover told the court he and his father got into an argument, and the defendant took a .22 caliber chrome revolver handgun away from the father and shot him when the father advanced toward him. He said he then shot his step-mother, who came into the room after hearing the shots.

She stumbled outside and bled to death on the front lawn.

The defendant was arrested at the scene.

He was first considered for parole in 1999, but was denied.

He will have spent 30 years in prison as of November 2009.

Some surviving family members still live in Paris.

The brother is petitioning the parole board to allow his brother’s release and has asked he be allowed to live with him in Oklahoma.

“When a murder trial takes place, or any kind of long prison sentence is handed down, there is a tendency to think it will be a very long time before parole eligibility ever comes up,” Lamar County Victims Coordinator Allan Hubbard said. “And it is a long time. But eventually, that day does come.”

“We’re committed even after a prison sentence is long under way to making sure defendants remain where they belong,” said Lamar County and District Attorney Gary Young. “Parole is an acceptable measure for some defendants, but not for murderers.”

The district attorney’s office is attempting to track down surviving family members in both cases.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 4, 2009

Man pleads to life in prison for continuous sexual abuse of child

A Paris man Wednesday pleaded guilty and agreed to go to prison on a life sentence for sexually abusing three family members.

The man is not being named so as not to identify the child victims in the case.

The 47-year-old man listed a west Paris address and was indicted in October 2008 for the first degree felony of continuous sex abuse of a child and second degree felony of indecency with a child. The man has been in the Lamar County Jail since late September 2008.

"There was a large amount of child pornography found on his computer and I agreed not to file those cases if he would agree to go to prison for the maximum sentence on what he did to the kids," said Lamar County and District Attorney Gary Young. "Thankfully, we avoided putting those children through trial testimony and he still got the maximum through the plea bargain."

The children were interviewed at the Paris Children's Advocacy Center after one of them told parents of the ongoing molestation. Child Protective Services were involved and Paris Police Sgt. Shane Boatwright led the investigation which resulted in two computers being seized from the man's home. One was found to contain more than 1,000 pornographic images and videos, many involving children.

One of the children told authorities the man made them look at the pornography and that the man "did a lot of the same things to me."

Young said the details of the crimes were shocking. "Let me just say if there ever was a defendant who deserved life in prison for molesting children, it was this guy," Young said.

The man was represented by court-appointed defense attorney Diane Sprague. He must serve 30 years before parole eligibility, when he will be 77-years-old.

Alberts guilty of sexual abuse

The Paris News
Published February 25, 2009

A Reno man was found guilty Tuesday of sexually abusing one of his grandchildren and another child. He was sentenced to a stacked sentence of 64 years and will be eligible for parole in 32 years.

Michael Lee Alberts Sr., 58, was charged with multiple counts of molestation of the two children who came forward in 2006 as a result of an investigation into a completely unrelated offender.

“We frequently do risk assessment interviews at the Children’s Advocacy Center with all children who have close contact with someone accused of sexual abuse,” said Gary Young, Lamar County and district attorney. “These children were forensically interviewed on risk of one perpetrator, but revealed they had been sexually abused by Mr. Alberts.”

Both children testified, as did expert witness Children’s Advocacy Center forensic interviewer Rebecca Peevy, who said children frequently do not tell right away when they are sexually assaulted. Peevy said children show different ranges of emotions when they finally confide in someone and that perpetrators commit such crimes in secret outside the view of other witnesses.

“What you did to those children was disgusting, but making them have to come up here and testify and tell people in open court was even more disgusting,” Eric Clifford, 6th District judge, said. “My intention in stacking these sentences is that you never get out of prison.”

A third child took the stand in the punishment phase and said Alberts had also molested them five years earlier.

Defense attorney George Preston asserted through witness testimony by Alberts’ family members that no one else saw the crimes happen. Preston said the children had been coached to tell the stories.

Alberts took the stand in his own defense, cited his multiple heart attacks and health problems and said he could comply with terms of probation. In a round of questioning marked with frequent objections between Young and Preston, Alberts admitted that a person who molested children should go to prison but he fell short of admitting he committed the crimes.

“I have to say ‘I did it’ because the jury found me guilty, but I pled not guilty because I didn’t do it,” Alberts told Assistant County and District Attorney Jill Drake.

Local sex offender therapist Dr. Joann Ondrovick testified she had seen Alberts on 10 occasions and was paid for her testimony for the defense. Preston asked Ondrovick if Alberts was a good candidate for probation, but Young objected and pointed out the ethical stance established by a sex offender treatment association that says therapists should not make such judgments.

“Those children have to live with what he did,” Drake said in her closing argument. “Is this a probation case? No. Send him to prison.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 24, 2009

Grandfather guilty of sex abuse gets 64 years in prison

After a jury found a Reno man guilty Tuesday of sexually abusing one of his grandchildren and another child, they sentenced him to prison and district Judge Eric Clifford stacked the sentences to total 64 years.

"What you did to those children was disgusting, but making them have to come up here and testify and tell people in open court was even more disgusting," Clifford said at the trial's conclusion. "My intention in stacking these sentences is that you never get out of prison."

Michael Lee Alberts Sr., 58, was charged with multiple counts of molestation on the two children who outcried in 2006 as a result of an investigation into a completely unrelated offender.

"We frequently do risk assessment interviews at the Children's Advocacy Center with all children who have close contact with someone accused of sexual abuse," said Lamar County and District Attorney Gary Young. "These children were forensically interviewed on risk of one perpetrator but revealed they had been sexually abused by Mr. Alberts."

Both children testified as did expert witness CAC forensic interviewer Rebecca Peevy who said children frequently do not tell right away when they are sexually assaulted. Mrs. Peevy said children show different ranges of emotions when they finally confide in someone and that perpetrators commit such crimes in secret outside the view of other witnesses.

Defense attorney George Preston asserted through witness testimony by Alberts' family members that no one else saw the crimes happen. Preston said the children had been coached to tell the stories.

A third child took the stand in the punishment phase and said Alberts had also molested them five years earlier.

Alberts took the stand in his own defense, cited his multiple heart attacks and health problems and said he could comply with terms of probation. In what became a contentious round of questioning with frequent objections between Young and Preston, Alberts admitted that a person who molested children should go to prison but he fell short of admitting he committed the crimes.

"I have to say 'I did it' because the jury found me guilty, but I pled not guilty because I didn't do it," Alberts told Assistant County and District Attorney Jill Drake.

Local sex offender therapist Dr. Joann Ondrovick testified she had seen Alberts on 10 occasions and was paid for her testimony for the defense. Preston asked Dr. Ondrovick if Alberts was a good candidate for probation, but Young objected and pointed out the ethical stance established by a sex offender treatment association that says therapists should not make such judgments.

In her closing argument, Mrs. Drake said, "Those children have to live with what he did. Is this a probation case? No. Send him to prison."

Alberts will be eligible for parole in 32 years.

Retired trooper sentenced to 20 years on theft

By Bill Hankins
The Paris News

Published February 22, 2009

Retired Texas Department of Public Safety trooper John Raymond Cross was sentenced to 20 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice system Friday after being convicted by a Lamar County jury of theft of more than $100,000 but less than $200,000 from a retired Deport doctor.

Dr. T. H. Glover, 76, testified he had given Cross $128,952 in interest-free loans to help Cross develop and market an “adjustable door striker” and a “silent trolling motor” for fishing boats.

“I trusted him,” Glover said. “He seemed like a good Christian man and a good church member, and he said he was sure he had an invention that would make him and the City of Deport a lot of money by putting a manufacturing plant there.”

After Glover’s niece discovered dozens of checks he had written to Cross, she went to the Lamar County Sheriff’s Department and filed a complaint.

Sheriff’s investigator Ted Gibson said Cross told him in an interview the trolling motor invention was a “pure fabrication and never really existed.”

For a period of 15 months from 2006 through the spring of 2008, Glover had given Cross a series of checks for such things as patent searches, applications for a patent, building large machines to manufacture the trolling motor, transporting those machines to Oklahoma and back again to Texas.

Testimony showed he told Glover the reason he could not pay him back was because “the Indian Nation” had reneged on manufacturing the motor because he had gone to another possible manufacturer to make the device.

Even before the trolling motor story began, Cross had been getting money from Glover for another invention he called an adjustable door striker plate, later telling Glover some “evil lawyers” in Dallas had gotten hold of his money and would not release it to him.

Prosecuting attorney Bill Harris told jurors: “Every time he needed money, he came back to Dr. Glover. He used Dr. Glover as an ATM machine in a fictitious scheme of fraud and lies.”

Glover was a medical doctor who had lived in Deport his entire life and practiced medicine there 30 years.

Harris said Glover had watch Deport’s declining population and wanted to do something to help the community.

Glover retired in 1989 because of health reasons. He had never married, and his niece, who had worked for years in the doctor’s office, was his main caregiver.

He said he met Cross in church and sometimes hired him to do work around his home.

The checks he paid Cross for work were not included in the $128,952 for which the theft charges were brought.

Glover said the loans started with a $500 check in 2006 for the door striker and grew in size over the months.

Checks in 2006 totaled $7,675, in 2007 $96,151, and in 2008 $25,952 before the niece, Betsy, and husband Jerrome Chapman, discovered them.

During the months, Glover said Cross had told him he won some lawsuits over the inventions but still did not have the money awarded him by the courts.

Testimony showed the lawsuits never existed.

Throughout the trial Friday, defense attorney Dianne Sprague contended the money was simply interest-free loans and should be a civil matter.

Harris told the court obtaining the loans through false pretenses and fraud made the case a criminal matter, and the amount of the funds obtained made it a first degree felony.

Gibson said Cross told him during an interview he was hooked on gambling and needed the money.

“He said he was sorry for what he had done, and he knew it would never happen again,” Gibson said.

But prosecutors in the punishment phase of the trial brought three witnesses in who testified Cross had taken money and not paid it back in the past.

Law enforcement officer David Stevens testified he had known Cross “all my life.”

Stevens said the door striker plate deal did exist but Cross and his partners could not get a patent on it.

“It still could be produced today, but we have no protection on it,” he said.

Stevens was a witness for the defense.

In his closing arguments, Harris told jurors: “You now have an opportunity to send a message to the scam artist who prey on our elderly. The evidence is overwhelming the defendant tricked or coerced the victim to provide money in a fictitious venture.”

Sprague told jurors: “I believe Dr. Glover was competent when he wrote the checks. The money was a loan. He was not investing in the inventions. John Cross was just out there trying to do something with his invention. I don’t think you can find a man guilty of a first degree felony based on loans.”

After he was charged, Cross did attempt to begin paying back the funds, but only paid $1,300.

It took jurors less than an hour to find Cross guilty of theft of more than $100,000 but less than $200,000.

Cross had asked 6th District Court Judge Eric Clifford to pass sentence rather than the jury.

After a short punishment phase, Clifford handed down his sentence: 20 years in TDJC, with parole dependent on restitution.

“He was preying on old people, and what we have is a pattern of fraud and theft and the victimization of older people,” Harris said.

Paris teen sentenced to 100 years in prison

By Charles Richards
The Paris News

Published February 15, 2009

“It was one of the most heartbreaking things you will ever see,” District Judge Eric Clifford said after sentencing a Paris teenager to 100 years in prison on five counts of sexual assault of a child.

Aaron Hart, 18, of 1055 22nd N.E. St., a special education student throughout his years in school, pleaded guilty Wednesday to the Sept. 28, 2008, sexual assault of a young boy who lived nearby.

Represented by defense attorney Ben Massar, the defendant asked that a jury determine his punishment. During cross-examination, Hart answered that he knew what he did to the neighbor child was wrong.

Asked by District Attorney Gary Young why he did it, Hart replied there were “voices in my head … and I got dizzy.”

The jury deliberated about three hours Wednesday before coming back with a recommendation of 30 years in prison for three counts of sexual assault of a child and five years in prison for each of two counts of indecency with a child.

Clifford had the discretion of ordering the sentences for the 2008 Paris High School graduate to be served concurrently or consecutively.

“I stacked them. The kid is of diminished intellect and doesn’t need to be in prison, but there wasn’t any place to put him. I just couldn’t take a chance running him concurrently with a 30-year sentence and him being back out in the community in 15 years,” Clifford told The Paris News.

On the day of the sexual assault, a member of the young child’s family said she was watching through a window as he played outside. She said she stepped away to go to the restroom, and when she returned the boy was no longer outside the window.

She said when she went outside, she heard some voices over near a tool shed and saw Hart with his pants pulled down, next to the boy. She said she grabbed the child, took him inside and called police. Hart stood at a window, peeping in at them while she waited for police to arrive, she said.

There was no question as to the defendant’s mental competence, Young told the jury during final arguments. He said Hart clearly knew the difference between right and wrong, can

Sentence read and write, can ride a bicycle, and had worked around the neighborhood, mowing yards.

The defendant’s father, who is elderly, testified he tried to look after his son to the best of his ability. The defendant’s mother is confined to a wheelchair. The father testified his son frequently sneaked out of the house at night after everyone else had gone to bed.

Police told of seeing Hart around town late at night, often in the company of other boys who they said tried to talk him into things. Hart was frequently riding a different bicycle than the last time they’d seen him, officers said.

The Lamar County Sheriff’s Office is investigating reports that the defendant himself was sexually assaulted in the county jail while awaiting trial.

Allan Hubbard, victim’s advocate for the district attorney, said the case is perplexing because life in prison was given to someone who has a child’s mind in an adult body.

“We’ve seen less sentences for worse crimes where sex was involved. You don’t want to send him to prison for life, but you cannot put him back on the street and worry about what he may do to some other kid,” Hubbard said.

“Speaking for myself and not for the district attorney’s office, this illustrates the need for some system between probation and life in prison for someone like this,” Hubbard said.

“It begs for some kind of institutional way to lock a person up where they cannot get out. But there’s just not a fit, and this office cannot create that, and the judge cannot create that.”

After sentencing, the judge met with members of the jury. They asked what would be the effect of stacking the sentences, and he told them Hart must serve at least half the sentence and will not be eligible for parole until he is 68.

“They were fine with it,” Clifford said. “It was gut-wrenching. There might have been one or two jurors that weren’t crying when it was over. I felt like crying myself.”

Sex offender receives 45-year sentence

Staff Report
The Paris News

Published January 25, 2009

New 6th District Judge Eric Clifford sentenced a sex offender who violated conditions of his registration to 45 years in prison Friday.

Clarence Wesley Haley, 42, of Paris, was found guilty by a jury Friday of two counts of failure to register as a sex offender. Haley chose to let Judge Clifford set his punishment.

“Clearly, Judge Clifford thinks, as most of our county does, if you are a sex offender, and you fail to register properly, you must go to prison,” said Lamar County and District Attorney Gary Young.

Haley moved to Paris in April 2007 and was operating a tattoo parlor on Lamar Avenue but had failed to notify Paris police he had relocated from his previous address in Longview.

First Assistant District Attorney Bill Harris prosecuted Haley and said his minimum punishment was enhanced to 25 years because of prior convictions for burglary of a habitation and possession of a weapon in a penal institution.

Prosecutors offered proof of seven prior felony offenses.

Haley was originally convicted of aggravated sexual assault in Austin in 1985 after breaking into a woman’s apartment and raping her, Harris said. Additional trouble in North Dakota was presented during his punishment phase.

“He broke into a house in North Dakota and was discovered at the foot of the female homeowner’s bed with his pants down,” Harris said.

It was also shown during the punishment phase that Haley evaded arrest in March 2007 in a high speed chase with Longview police. Out of that incident, he also was charged with endangering a child because of a young boy who was a passenger in the car, Harris said.

“It cannot be discounted the excellent work by our city sex offender registrar, Officer Matt Birch,” Harris said. “Birch followed up with every angle of the registration requirements and filed these cases by the book.”

Harris also praised Judge Clifford by saying, “His sentence obviously shows he recognizes what a menace Haley is and that a long prison term was appropriate.”

Haley was represented at trial by defense attorney George Preston.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 23, 2009

Sex offender violates conditions, gets 45 years

New state district judge Eric Clifford sentenced a sex offender who violated conditions of his registration to 45 years in prison Friday.

Clarence Wesley Haley, 42 of Paris, was found guilty by a jury Friday of two counts of failure to register as a sex offender. Haley chose to let Judge Clifford set his punishment.

"Clearly, Judge Clifford thinks as most of our county does. If you are a sex offender, and you fail to register properly, you must go to prison," said Lamar County and District Attorney Gary Young.

Haley moved to Paris in April 2007 and was operating a tattoo parlor on Lamar Avenue but had failed to notify Paris police he had relocated from his previous address in Longview.

First Assistant DA Bill Harris prosecuted Haley and said his minimum punishment was enhanced to 25 years because of prior convictions for burglary of a habitation and possession of a weapon in a penal institution.

In total, prosecutors offered proof of seven prior felony offenses.

Haley was originally convicted of aggravated sexual assault in Austin in 1985 after breaking into a woman's apartment and raping her, Harris said. Additional trouble in North Dakota was presented during his punishment phase.

"He broke into a house in North Dakota and was discovered at the foot of the female homeowner's bed with his pants down," Harris said.

It was also shown during punishment that Haley evaded arrest in March 2007 in a high speed chase with Longview police. Out of that incident, he was also charged with endangering a child because of a young boy who was a passenger in the car, Harris said.

"It cannot be discounted the excellent work by our city sex offender registrar, Officer Matt Birch," Harris said. "Birch followed up with every angle of the registration requirements and filed these cases by the book."

Harris also praised Judge Clifford by saying, "His sentence obviously shows he recognizes what a menace Haley is and that a long prison term was appropriate."

Haley was represented by defense attorney George Preston.

Cody Posey gets probation

By Charles Richards
The Paris News

Published January 21, 2009

Over the objection of District Attorney Gary Young, District Judge Eric Clifford on Tuesday followed the recommendation of his predecessor and ordered 22-year-old Cody Posey released after serving 95 days of a two-year sentence for negligent homicide.

Former District Judge Jim Dick Lovett had the authority to revoke probation — as he did on Nov. 21, 2008, after Posey was arrested for driving while intoxicated — but not to grant probation again following revocation, Young said.

Only a jury can grant probation on a case in which there was a finding that a deadly weapon (the irresponsible use of a motor vehicle) was used, Young said during a morning hearing in the Lamar County Courthouse.

“You have been left with a decision that legally I don’t think you can make,” Young said.

“I do feel I have the power. I am going to grant shock probation,” Clifford said. At the same time, he doubled the length of Posey’s probation to 10 years.

“Frankly, I doubt he will make it, but we’ll see. I do not want him released with no strings. If I put him back on probation, he will be under watch,” Clifford said.

About four hours later, at 2:10 p.m., Posey was released from Lamar County Jail, where he spent 73 of his 95 days of incarceration. He spent 22 days — from Dec. 8, 2008, to Jan. 9, 2009 — in the Gurney Unit of the Texas Department of Corrections, near Palestine.

If Posey violates his probation during the next 10 years, he can be sent back to prison to complete his sentence.

Clifford announced his decision quickly, after Young and defense attorney James Rodgers sparred over Lovett’s suggestion in open court two months ago that Rodgers file a motion for shock probation after Posey spent some time in prison.

Posey was convicted June 29, 2006, of negligent homicide in the Dec. 22, 2004, deaths of Marie “Tudy Girl” McDonald, 54, and her grandson, Kevontre “Keke” McDonald, 3. The jury set the sentence at two years, but granted probation.

Posey’s west-bound jacked-up pick up truck smashed into and over the McDonalds’ car from the rear during a snowstorm as they waited to turn left on 36th N.E. Street on Farm Road 195, a half mile off Loop 286.

Clifford was sworn into office Jan. 1 following his election in November to succeed Lovett, who did not seek re-election.

“I think the judge did the right thing, considering all the circumstances. He was put in a difficult position, having to take over and finish what another judge had done,” Rodgers said.

“He followed the recommendation that Judge Lovett had made. Actually, he increased it, by extending the probation. So I think that’s appropriate. I think it shows good consideration of the entire circumstances,” Rodgers said.

As soon as Clifford announced his ruling, Young announced his intention to appeal to the 6th State Court of Appeals in Texarkana.

Young said later that his objection has nothing to do with Clifford inheriting a case in which he was not previously involved.

“Even if Judge Lovett were still on the bench, it would be the same thing. Once he’s revoked probation, I believe he’s prohibited by statute from granting probation because of the deadly weapon finding,” the district attorney said.

“Everyone I’ve talked to that is knowledgeable about criminal law agrees with me. We’ll appeal it to Texarkana and see what they say,” Young said.

DA opposes Posey’s request for probation

By Charles Richards
The Paris News

Published January 16, 2009

District Attorney Gary Young said this week he will oppose a bid by Cody Posey, 22, for release on “shock probation” after spending only 22 days in the state prison system.

On June 29, 2006, Posey got probation from a Lamar County jury that convicted him of negligent homicide in the Dec. 22, 2004, traffic deaths of Marie “Tudy Girl” McDonald, 54, and her grandson, Kevontre “Keke” McDonald, 3.

After Posey was arrested in October for driving while intoxicated, State District Judge Jim Lovett revoked probation and ordered Posey on Nov. 21 to begin serving the original two-year prison sentence.

At the same time, the judge gave defense attorney James Rodgers the option to file a motion after 90 days for shock probation, said Allan Hubbard, victim witness coordinator for the district attorney’s office.

In an email to The Paris News, Hubbard said:

“Mr. Young told me our position will be that Posey had his probation revoked by a judge and should serve the remainder of his time in prison, as should anyone who is given a second chance when put on probation for a felony offense and makes decisions that are in violation of their terms and conditions of probation.”

“It doesn’t happen all that often, but it’s not uncommon for a judge to give shock probation,” Young said Wednesday.

“The theory behind it is, you need to go down to TDC (Texas Department of Corrections) and decide ‘I don’t EVER want to be here again.’ And it shocks you into doing the right thing,” Young said.

Posey was incarcerated in the Lamar County Jail from the date of his DWI arrest on Oct. 14 until Dec. 18, when he was turned over to the TDC’s Gurney Unit, six miles south of Tennessee Colony, near Palestine.

Last Thursday, Rodgers applied for a bench warrant to bring Posey back to Lamar County for a hearing before Lovett’s successor, State District Judge Eric Clifford, to grant Posey shock probation.

Clifford signed the warrant the same day and scheduled a Jan. 20 hearing. A Lamar County sheriff’s deputy picked Posey up on Friday and returned him to the Lamar County Jail.

“It was an accident, and it was tragic, but the guy should spend more than three weeks and a day in prison,” Young said Wednesday.

Rodgers calculated the 90-day window to expire on Jan. 14, three months after Posey’s most recent incarceration began, since time served in county jail counts toward his two-year sentence.

Young said Posey’s negligent homicide conviction was escalated from a state jail offense to a third-degree felony because of the jury’s finding that a deadly weapon — Posey’s “monster” pickup truck — was involved in the fatal accident on Farm Road 195 during a snow storm.

Because of that, Posey should serve four to five months in prison before being considered for shock probation. Any hearing on shock probation should be scheduled for May at the earliest — six months from Nov. 21, less 40 days credit for time spent in the Lamar County Jail, Young said.

“Also, it’s going to be our position that legally Judge Clifford has no authority to give probation, since he didn’t have anything to do with the trial or the revocation hearing. It was something that was dumped in his lap,” the district attorney added.

Lamar County Sheriff B.J. McCoy denied his office has shown any favoritism to Posey, whose mother is McCoy’s cousin. McCoy’s mother and Shirley Posey’s mother were sisters.

“I’ve only met the kid one time, and that was when he was in our jail a couple of months ago,” McCoy said.

“I didn’t investigate the crime. I didn’t want to know anything about it. I knew something might come up, so I tried to stay away from it,” the sheriff said.

January 8, 2009

Drug dealer and child molester go to prison

A jury trial and a plea bargain this week before 62nd District Judge Scott McDowell resulted in prison sentences for a drug dealer and a child molester in separate cases.

James Edward Perkins, 57 of Paris, was found guilty by a jury for delivering crack cocaine in a drug free zone to two different undercover informants.

Judge McDowell sentenced Perkins to 35 years in prison after hearing of his criminal history which included felony theft in the 1970s and a 1995 drug delivery conviction in Dallas County for which he had already spent time in prison.

"Mr. Perkins' minimum sentence was enhanced to 25 years due to his prior convictions," Lamar County and District Attorney Gary Young said. "He was offered a considerably lighter sentence prior to trial but chose to exercise his right to a jury. Our juries in Lamar County do not like drug dealers."

Allen Dewayne Frazier, 48 of Paris, received 25 years in prison in a plea bargain deal with prosecutors for aggravated sexual assault of a child.

"In a very unusual occurrence, there was actually an uninvolved witness who caught Mr. Frazier in the act," said assistant D.A. Jill Drake. "We avoided having to put that child through trial testimony since the defendant saw the writing on the wall and went to prison voluntarily."

Young praised Paris police investigators in narcotics and crimes against children for their "diligent attention to good investigating."

Perkins was represented at trial by defense attorney Ben Massar. Frazier was represented by Dianne Sprague.
(c) 2005 Lamar County Attorney
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