One of the more interesting things noted in the article is how Judge John Roach Jr. seems to be following in his daddy's footsteps:
Some of the whistleblowers are clerks permanently assigned to the court of Judge John Roach Jr., the son of the DA who also was up for re-election in 2010, Hinton says. The judge wanted Crigger's people to hold up his campaign signs at polling sites along with Crigger's. They didn't, contends Hinton, and all of a sudden Roach's clerks were lined up to spill the beans on the "blue book" system and how it was employed to help Crigger's campaign.
The elder Roach refuses to identify the whistleblowers but confirmed he and his son played a role in bringing the case forward.
"There are only a few people who you can trust at the courthouse. One of those persons was me and the other was my son, Judge Roach. Whoever these whistleblowers are, they first reported it to him, he reported it to me and I reported it to the Texas Rangers."
In the strongest terms, though, both Roach and his son say Hinton's scenario of political payback is wrong.
"That is just not true," Judge John Roach Jr. says of Hinton's account. "I never discussed my campaign with Ms. Crigger or her staff nor did I ever ask her people to campaign for me."
He says a single employee, not assigned to his court, came forward with allegations. "I was alerted to the possibility a crime was being committed to the detriment of the taxpayers of Collin County. I had no choice but to report it," he maintains, adding that he reported it to his father, the DA. "They could have found nothing. They found a lot and that led to indictments."
What a shock....the apple really doesn't fall far from the tree. The bigger story here is that the blatant abuse of power and process described in the article is not limited to the pissing matches among the lowlife political hacks in Collin County. These tactics are used against average, everyday citizens who find themselves in front of the likes of Roach Jr. and forget to genuflect to his worship's satisfaction. The mere hint that you might exercise your rights in the midst of, say, your custody case, and you could very well find that you ALSO face an indictment for "tampering with a government record."
Roach...what a perfectly fitting last name for such a repulsive father/son duo...
You can read the Dallas Observer article in its entirety at http://www.dallasobserver.com/2011-03-03/news/in-the-collin-county-courthouse-due-process-has-a-funny-way-of-expressing-itself-payback-personal-vendettas-and-overzealous-prosecutions/
