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Posted on 08/20/2003 4:44:41 AM PDT by wysiwyg
San Jacinto County District Attorney Mark Price today will try to prove several elected officials were involved in an intricate conspiracy to plant child pornography on the laptop computer of County Judge William Law to drive him from office and seize power.
The story unfolding in a district courtroom north of Houston has all the intrigue of a spy novel that has left the tiny county seat of Coldspring both shaken and stirred.
The plot went so far as to involve clandestine meetings between the co-conspirators. The meetings were arranged through cryptic notes left in a candy jar in the San Jacinto County district clerk's office, Price states in his petition.
The petition, which will be heard by specially appointed Judge P.K. Reiter in the 284th District courtroom in Conroe, asks the court to continue suspending Precinct 2 Constable Jerry Everitt from elected office for being one of those conspirators until a full hearing on the merits. Everitt was temporarily suspended with pay on Aug. 7, but now the district attorney must prove that he will prevail at the full hearing, officials said.
In addition to Everitt, the petition names the county judge's secretary, Jenny Vaughn; wrecker driver Donnie Marrs and six unnamed co-conspirators as being participants in the alleged plot.
However, Everitt's attorney, Greg Cagle, scoffs at the allegations. All nine have denied wrongdoing, Cagle said.
"County Judge William Law gets caught with kiddie porn on his laptop. This is not disputed. And now the district attorney, who is Law's friend, puts on a great defense by crying conspiracy," said Cagle."If you believe that, aliens could have put it there."
Law, who was the county's auditor before being elected judge, could not be reached for comment. But he has publicly stated that he was vacationing on June 3 when certain porn was alleged to have been posted on his computer.
On July 25, San Jacinto grand jurors reviewed investigative reports including a photo of a nude teenage boy found on Law's computer but declined to indict him.
Although a gag order bars most San Jacinto County officials from talking about the case, allegations of the conspiracy are detailed in the petition filed by the district attorney.
In Price's petition, he alleges that two other computers could have accessed the county judge's laptop to plant the porn.
One is used by Vaughn, and another sits in a waiting room where any member of the public could have used it, the petition states.
Further, Price notes that two deputy constables from Everitt's office were seen using the computer in the waiting room.
A message file on the secretary's computer, which might have contained critical evidence, was also erased on July 10 after the investigation was started while the county judge was still vacationing, the petition states.
But Cagle, Everitt's attorney, said the secretary's veracity is being attacked only because she accidentally uncovered the porn on her boss' computer.
"She was looking sad one day and Everitt asked what was wrong. So she showed him what she had found," Cagle said. The porn discovery was reported to a district judge and then Arnie Briscoe, a Texas Ranger with special crimes, was called into investigate.
Briscoe declined to comment on the pending case, but he has been subpoenaed as a witness for the constable.
"Why would anybody plant porn and then wait several months to expose it? That makes no sense," said Cagle.
He said it looked suspicious that when investigators got warrants to check the computers at the judge's home the "files had been wiped out."
However, in the petition, Price paints a vivid picture of the co-conspirators plotting to ruin the judge's reputation.
The petition accuses Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace Randy Ellisor with retrieving from a candy jar messages that requested meetings with the county judge's secretary.
But Ellisor, who has since been jokingly nicknamed "the candyman" by local residents, said he was only bantering with the secretary about who was responsible for keeping the jar filled with candy. The secretary had quipped, "I work for the same people you do and you know I don't have the money," Cagle said.
Ellisor could not be reached for comment.
According to the petition, the conspiracy began because the constable and others were angry with the county judge for removing Precinct 2 County Commissioner Bruce Wayne Thomas from office. Thomas, who resigned form office July 17, was accused of the "the misuse and misappropriation of county property," according to the petition.
Further, the petition contends Everitt conspired with Thomas to use funds, legally restricted for bridge repairs, to pay for a secretary. Cagle said Everitt did not know the money was for restricted use and the secretary shares her duties with Everitt, Thomas and another county official.
Thomas could not be reached for comment.
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And all of these are politically incorrect major crimes that the person set up can lose their property and be sent to federal jail for.
It looks like it may be happening here. Pity the poor Joe who is not a judge that it happens to.
Like a good DA he is working without regard to party. Would it happen if the roles were reversed?
Ooh, how clever a writer can we be!
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