James Roesch
- "So I went ahead and timesed it by 100," he said. "I think that's fair."
Sounds like he was doing some of Jethro Bodine's ciphering......
Posted on 02/18/2002 4:27:32 PM PST by lonestar
BEAUMONT - A Ku Klux Klan leader wants to sue the Jasper County district attorney and sheriff for $25 million for what he says was a constitutional violation, according to documents filed Friday in federal court here.
James Roesch, the 20-year-old imperial wizard of the Knights of the White Kamellia, said his rights were violated when he wasn't given a probable cause hearing before he was indicted by a grand jury on a charge of indecency with a child by sexual contact.
Roesch, who is representing himself, is asking a federal judge to waive the $150 it costs to file the suit.
"I wasn't given due process," Roesch said. "And neither was any other person in the last 18 years more than likely. This case isn't about me or the klan. It's about the rights of the people of this county and the people of this country who are being violated every day and don't even know it."
Jasper District Attorney Guy James Gray said the suit is "kind of ridiculous," and that the claims are untrue. He said a grand jury proceeding serves as a probable cause hearing, and that Roesch was given due process.
"The real significance to me is that he first called the media before the suit was even filed," Gray said. "It tells me he's looking for publicity."
Although Roesch was rumored to have filed the $25 million suit earlier in the week, he did not do so until Friday. Roesch said he decided to sue for $25 million because he had been held on a $25,000 bond when he was arrested on the indecency with a child charge.
"So I went ahead and timesed it by 100," he said. "I think that's fair."
University of Houston law Professor David Crump said that both the state and U.S. constitutions guarantee due process. Although he had not seen Roesch's suit, he said that if there is a legitimate question as to whether Roesch was given due process, the case would not be frivolous.
Sheriff Billy Rowles said his department carefully investigated the accusations against Roesch before arresting him.
"And the grand jury thought there was enough to indict him on," he said.
Although the sheriff said he would take the suit seriously, he joked, "He'd have a lot easier time getting $500 from me than $25 million. I can't write that many zeroes."
An Ohio native, Roesch moved to Jasper in 1999 and brought his klan group's national headquarters with him.
The Knights of the White Kamellia is one of the largest white supremacist groups in the country, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a hate group watchdog.
In its annual intelligence report, though, it said membership has dwindled.
"Another large Klan outfit, the Knights of the White Kamellia, lost more than half its chapters in the wake of its takeover in mid-1999 by a young and inexperienced Klansman, James Roesch," the report states.
When he moved to Jasper, Roesch said the community was a prime recruiting area after the James Byrd Jr. murder. Byrd, a black man, was killed when three white men chained him to the back of a pickup and dragged him down a county road.
Since Roesch's move here, though, the klan activities he promised haven't surfaced. In fact, Roesch received no more media attention until he was arrested and booked June 21 in Jasper County Jail on charges of fondling a 14-year-old girl.
The 14-year-old girl filed a complaint against Roesch on June 13, Jasper Sheriff Department Capt. Curtis Frame said. The girl told investigators that Roesch grabbed her between her legs, Frame said.
The crime is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Roesch has no criminal convictions in Texas, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety's records. In his hometown of Kettering, Ohio, though, police knew him well.
At age 16, Roesch was convicted of several charges of ethnic intimidation there. He left racist fliers at a Nigerian family's home, shouted racial insults at the children and painted a swastika on their tree, according to Kettering police.
Roesch has since moved to Woodville, but the Knights of the White Kamellia's headquarters is still at a post office box in Jasper, according to the group's web site.
Since Roesch is trying to avoid paying the $150 filing fee, a federal judge assigned to the case must approve a motion for such an exemption. That judge then typically will assign the motion to a magistrate who either will request financial records from Roesch or hold a hearing on the motion, said Johnette Cartwright of the U.S. District Clerk's office.
In his motion for pauper's status, Roesch says he hasn't worked since Dec. 7, 2001, when he was making $900 a month. He claims to own a $36,000 home, a $4,000 car and an $800 truck.
If the judge doesn't waive the fee, Roesch will have 30 days to pay it, Cartwright said. If not, the case will be dismissed. Roesch, though, said he would pay the fee if he had to.
This guy acts and talks like he's still in second grade.
Maybe that was his last year of school.
Sounds like he was doing some of Jethro Bodine's ciphering......
I suspect he has to stop and think about the spelling of kkk before writing it....LOL
The DA is my wife's x-husbands cousin.....got that?....anyway ole Guy James has lot's of hidden items in his closet!!!!
This guy acts and talks like he's still in second grade.
Maybe that was his last year of school.
I think it was... $25,000 times 100 is $2.5 million, not $25 million.
You got that right!
This photo was taken immediately after announcing he would be a candidate on the Democrat tikkket.
The only time I remember seeing the Klan on Washington, D.C. television was about eight years ago. A group showed up in their suits to endorse Paris Glendening, the Democrat, for Maryland's governor. The image of that nutcase in his hood, standing at the podium with a huge "GLENDENING" sign blaring was a sight to behold. I bet the news editor was looking for another job before the segment finished airing.
If this is the leader, I wonder what the followers look like?
Or are there any?
Surely he would have known that if he were educated in Jasper. Since he was (more likely was not) educated in Ohio he has an excuse.
I'm surprised the charge was indecency with child. From the looks of this guy, farm animals seemed more likely...or maybe that was strictly his dad's preference.
And he's only 20 years old. Sort of tells you all you need to know about the intelligence level of the Klan members who follow him. Not that there was much question about that to begin with.
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