DISROBED AND DEFENSELESS

Some people may announce that the controversy is over before most of the public even hears about it, but Liberty County taxpayers may have a very different view after seeing the prisoners tracking out of the Zack Zbranek law offices just before lunch on Friday January 21, 2011. As some observed almost $100,000 of county property being returned to the courthouse by prisoners in orange jumpsuits, they would be more than justified if once again they patted themselves on the back about voting overwhelmingly to evict Judge CT Rusty Hight from his position as the District Judge of the 75th District Court.

Defeated and embittered, in his last days in office, rather than do his work by holding court, Judge Hight decided to strip the offices of the newly elected judge of all of the books used by judges to reference court cases. This kind of behavior may have been just a vengeful attack on his opponent, but it hurts everyone that loves this county or loves justice. Newly elected District Judge, Mark Morefield was not available for comment.

Records obtained from the County Auditor’s office through an open records request indicate that over $90,000 in the last six years have been spent to keep the library in the 75th judicial up to date. The County Auditor’s office indicates a great deal more money has been spent on black letter law books for that office, but copies of invoices only go back to September 30, 2004. All of that money is taxpayer money and you don’t have to a law degree to know those books belong to Liberty County.

After losing at the polls in the November election, former Judge Hight added to his legacy of allowing sex offenders to go free and wheeling and dealing cases with friends of the court and allowing District Attorney, Mike Little to selectively prosecute political enemies. He can now forever be remembered by the way he not only quit kissing babies after the election was over, but how he quit holding court. He now can say he took the tools purchased by taxpayer money and needed by all judges and left WE THE PEOPLE to pay the price for his theft. How proud he must be of his public service!

In a ridiculous effort to justify taking public property, former Judge Hight claimed he merely took his brother-in-law’s- the late J.C.”Zeke” Zbranek’s law books. But believing that excuse would require someone to believe our former District Judge had no inkling of the laws having to do with ownership and that he was not bright enough to remember purchasing boxes and boxes of books and stocking row after row of shelves in his office in the courthouse. Most of that was done after Judge Zbranek was retired and many of the purchases were made after Judge, Zbranek’s death. How could anyone believe those books were former Judge Hight’s brother-in-law’s? And if someone still wants to give former Judge Hight the benefit of the doubt, the explanation of why he still refused to return the books when dates are in the books and the county receipts are on file.

On top of all of that, anyone that thinks this was just an oversight or mistake needs to know one other thing. Judge Hight openly considered taking all of the furniture too!

This issue is resolved according to some. On December 17, 2010 County Attorney, Wes Hinch was asked to help resolve the problems identified after newly elected District Judge, Mark Morefield walked into his new office and found the entire wall full of law books were missing. Wes Hinch immediately requested documentation from County Auditor, Harold Seay. Wes Hinch awaited documentation clearly showing county ownership of most of the books as supporting evidence before preparing a request for an Attorney General’s opinion.

As Judge Hight continued to stonewall any efforts to get him to return the books, Judge Morefield continued to hold court and referenced his own books a block away in his old law offices, or sometimes he borrowed books from other judges in the courthouse. Judge Morefield did what he needed to do to catch up the court docket rather than cause more delays for people who have waited for their day in court since Judge Hight shut it down in December.

Instead of filing a complaint and investigation, while waiting for documentation, the County Attorney decided to write a letter to Judge Hight asking him to produce any agreement between Judge Zbranek and Liberty County that would justify him even keeping the books that were purchased during Judge Zbranek’s tenure. That letter seemed to be the catalyst for Judge Hight inviting Liberty County to retrieve their property out of his offices in the Zbranek law offices. Wes Hinch did not file charges against Judge Hight and Liberty County District Attorney, Little would not do anything to protect the people’s interest when clearly grand larceny had been committed. These two seem team up quite often lately – and it is always teaming up to DO NOTHING.

Taxpayers and voters and all of us regular folks at this point may wonder why didn’t Judge Hight just return the books himself (instead of Judge Hight sending word the stolen books could be retrieved) but he didn’t. In order to secure county property, Wes Hinch called on Jim Teal rather than Sheriff Patterson like he should have. Teal, the supervisor of The Intermediate Sanction Facility within the jail, secured prisoners and dollies to move the books and properly restock the District Judge’s office. How ironic it would be if any of those convicts were imprisoned for theft. Wes Hinch used the county’s tax money to return the stolen books and he used convicts to help cover a crime.

Those who pay the salaries of public officials may wonder where DA, Little was in December and the first three weeks of January. DA, Little’s name is inexplicably missing in every account of this story Liberty Dispatch has heard. DA, Little’s missing in action on this could be attributed to all of the close political ties he has with fellow Democrat Judge Hight. DA, Little’s relationships and his past practices in that courthouse could have made everyone involved reluctant to approach Little and trust Little with this case after hearing story after story of not only Little’s selective prosecution, but Little’s personal vendetta against high ranking public officials. Even high ranking public officials may have had to pause to consider what good it would do to call law enforcement when this is one of the District Attorney’s pals.

Not to miss out on the irony of the whole scenario, Judge Hight was the Judge and Little was the prosecutor not that long ago when former Courthouse Maintenance Director Buddy Craig was shown no mercy for many months because he had some county property stored at his house. Buddy Craig is a heck of a nice guy and a hard worker with a reputation at least as good as his accusers. DA, Little and Judge Hight never accepted Buddy’s assertion that he simply was storing the material in the best place. DA, Little tried to nail Craig with some prison time. He was not offered an opportunity to return the material even though Buddy Craig’s story was more credible than Judge Hight’s even though there was evidence presented to corroborate his story.

The allegations and evidence charged that Judge Hight committed grand larceny and Zbranek accepted stolen property. Liberty County Attorney, Wes Hinch and Liberty County District Attorney, Little turned a blind eye to these crimes just like they did with the Judge Phil Fitzgerald and Lee Groce crimes. These men are not elected to cover up crimes for certain people.

It appears true once again that justice in our courthouse with Little as District Attorney depends on who you are and how you fit in with Little and Little’s buddies’ agendas. If that is not true then prepare to see a trial very similar to the one we saw in the Craig case. Prepare to see what would have happened if you or I had taken a District Judge’s books and kept them for weeks with this kind of lame excuse. Prepare to see Judge CT Rusty Hight disrobed and defenseless.