The Ellis County Press: City ignores attorney demands

City ignores attorney demands
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Editor on 10/29/2009 10:53:00


MEGAN GRAY
The Ellis County Press
KAUFMAN COUNTY - The City of Combine has refused an attorney's demand to release
documents and property belonging to Joey G. Dauben, arrested Monday, Sept. 14 on
false charges filed on him by a reserve police officer .
Dauben, a former news editor for _The Ellis County Press_, was accused of three
felonies stemming from a mug shot he posted on his blog, _The Ellis County
Observer_.
Those felonies - engaging in organized criminal activity; misuse of official
information; obstruction or retaliation - were rejected by the Dallas County
District Attorney's office on Friday, Sept. 18.
Dauben was released from Grafton County Jail in New Hampshire on Friday, Sept.
25.
John Allen "Jay" Hoskins, a Combine Police Department reserve officer requested
a "leave of absence" following an auto accident shortly after felony charges
against Dauben and a former Bardwell police chief were rejected by Dallas and
Tarrant County prosecutors.
City officials were notified by Dauben's lawyer intending to sue for civil
rights violations several weeks ago.
Combine, located east of Ferris and incorporates both Dallas and Kaufman
counties, has refused to respond to inquiries and notifications sent by
Waxahachie defense lawyer Rodney Pat Ramsey, Dauben's attorney.
According to Ramsey's letter to Combine Mayor Keith Taylor on Friday, Oct. 16,
the information obtained in a search warrant issued by a Kaufman County district
judge from Hoskins' warrant affidavit was in violation of Art. 18.02 and 38.11
of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, as well as numerous state and federal
constitutional protections and should have never been released to anyone outside
the police department.
Hoskins was also responsible for the issuance of a search warrant executed in
New Hampshire where Dauben lived at the time, resulting in the seizure of his
BlackBerry cell phone, computers, digital and video cameras, a digital tape
recorder and other forms of electronic media equipment, which was used in
Dauben's official capacity as a newspaper publisher and writer.
The property still has not been returned to Dauben.
Open records requests to Combine City Secretary Karla Strachan for copies of
offense and arrest reports, affidavits and search warrants were not in the
possession of the city of Combine, but rather with Hoskins, a former writer for
_The Ellis County Press_.
"Let me be clear, if the documents are in the possession of officer Hoskins,
they are in the possession of the City of Combine," stated Ramsey's letter.
"You hired him; you gave him the authority to act as a police officer; and you
granted him the power to abuse that privilege when your city allowed an unpaid
reserve officer to start bogus investigations without proper supervision or
accountability."
Hoskins, working with former narcotics officer-turned-film star Barry Cooper,
also accused and charged former Bardwell Police Chief Michael Chase Meissner on
six felonies, three of which pertained to a child prostitution ring, possession
of child pornography and the same charges Dauben was arrested for.
Cooper's film crew were staged outside of Meissner's Arlington home when arrest
warrants were issued. Cooper used the event for his 2010 campaign for Texas
Attorney General.
Ramsey said he is currently working with a Dallas attorney on a Federal statute
"1983 claim," a remedy in civil rights lawsuits.