A resident of Liberty, Texas, Warren had been accused of Tampering With a Witness, Deadly Conduct and Terroristic Threats following an April 24, 2010 dispute with his neighbors after the neighbors’ two pit bulls allegedly killed Warren’s boxer breed dog.
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| Strawn with photos of her two pit bulls that she breeds |
In her statement to Liberty Police Department at the time of the incident, the neighbor, Jennifer Regen Strawn, said that Warren threatened to kill her dogs in order to keep his dogs safe. She also claimed she overheard Warren saying, “What do I have to do to keep my dogs safe? Am I going to have to burn their house down?”
Liberty Police Department declined to prosecute a case against Warren, his wife and the neighbors.
However, a year later, the case against Joe Warren was picked up by the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office Special Crimes Unit under the direction of Capt. Louis Guthrie.
When the special crimes unit concluded that charges should be filed against Warren, the investigators went outside of the county to get a judge’s signature on the arrest affidavit.
District Attorney Mike Little said afterward that he had “never seen a case handled this way before.”
He added that he would have asked for an investigation by a special prosecutor or the Texas Rangers had he been notified by the sheriff’s office that Warren was under suspicion.
Because of Warren’s relationship to the DA’s office, Kelly Siegler, a former prosecutor for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, was appointed to the case as a special prosecutor, along with Texas Ranger Andres de la Garza of Centerville.
Siegler said she was brought in because she did not know any of the parties involved and had no prior involvement with anyone from Liberty County. As the investigation was conducted, the pair purposely closed themselves off in order to work without any outside influences, including local news and blog websites.
“When Kelly and I came into Liberty County, we said we were not going to even visit any of the websites out there,” said de la Garza.
After Wednesday’s grand jury proceedings, Siegler said she feels confident that the case was thoroughly investigated.
“Ranger de la Garza and I, after a three-month investigation, talking to almost 30 witnesses and completing every to-do we encountered, presented the case to 11 objective, unbiased Liberty County citizens. After hearing all the evidence, their decision was to no-bill on all charges,” said Siegler.
Though he was never placed on administrative leave throughout the investigation, the grand jury’s decision for Warren means that he can continue his work as a prosecutor without any further distraction. Warren declined a request for comment. However, DA Little said he is appreciative for the exhaustive job the special prosecution team “did to look at this case from all angles.”
“The DA’s office has continued to carry on business as usual despite all of this, but this has been particularly hard for Joe and his family,” said Little. “This enables us to get back to devoting our attention to prosecuting criminals.”
A call for comment was made to Liberty County Sheriff Henry Patterson, but he was unavailable. His public information officer, Capt. Rex Evans, had this to say about the grand jury’s decision:
“The Liberty County Sheriff’s Office respects the grand jury’s decision. The special crimes unit felt there was enough evidence to obtain a warrant to follow through with the case. They followed all legal procedures and there was nothing done that was not legal.”
As for the special crimes unit’s future investigations, a message on Louis Guthrie’s campaign website for Harris County Sheriff suggests that the sheriff’s office is actively pursuing cases against elected officials in Liberty County.
A statement from the website reads: “Louis currently serves as the director of special crimes and narcotics for the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office under Republican Sheriff Henry Patterson. Louis’s current command involves investigating political corruption, special crimes and undercover operations that include the tracking and arrest of Mexican drug cartel, Aryan Brotherhood and organized crime members.”
Warren’s case may prove costly to Liberty County. Not only could Warren sue the county for damages, the county must pay for three months of expenses and fees for Siegler and de la Garza.
(Your Houston News - Sept 21, 2011)
Earlier:
What happens when you try to protect your pets in Texas
[Originally, I thought that Mr Warren was being charged with simply protecting his property and was frustrated that the police would not / could not do anything about his stupid neighbor and her pit bulls. However, after reading the latest, I think it's really a story about how dirty these politicians can be towards each other.]
