Trial by Website – Part 4 (Let’s kill the messenger ! )

Saint Peter, ordinarily whose main job these days is to be in charge of the entry portal to heaven, has received an additional assignment – keeping track of the goings-on in this tangled tale, the Liberty County, Texas, "Trial by Website."

Things get thicker and thicker, soupier and soupier, as the tale unfolds. It is far from over even though its beginning was about four years ago. You can catch up on the story by backtracking links (TBW Parts 1, 2, and 3) to the earlier three articles. As I watched this affair unfold I have been caused to wonder, "What is going to come along next?"

It seems that some of those with an interest in the outcome of this ever-expanding legal morass have become all atwitter over the actions of Liberty County Sheriff Deputy Louis T. Guthrie and a recently-arrived attorney, James Evans. The former, a senior lawman, is the person who prepared an affidavit of complaint against the county’s assistant district attorney, Joe Warren. The latter is the attorney scheduled to defend the guy thought to be the founder of the website, "LibertyDispatch,com," Frederick Ray Akins. Akins’ own felony trial starts on September 7^th, about a month plus a week from today. [Update: The felony trial has been rescheduled for the end of February, 2012, in order to allow the substitute prosecutor to "digest" the case against Akins and the accused co-conspirator, Eddie Shauberger.]

Deputy Guthrie’s paperwork provided for the arrest of Joe Warren. Deputy Guthrie was not a witness to the crimes Joe Warren is alleged to have committed, but his affidavit resulted in Joe Warren’s arrest on a warrant issued by some magistrate from another locale. (The local judges and magistrates refused to issue the necessary arrest warrant.)

Joe Warren’s boss, the District Attorney, Michael Little, was unaware of the plan to arrest his assistant, as was the County Attorney. It is easy enough to see how Joe Warren’s arrest would adversely affect the orderly operation of the District Attorney’s office.

James Evans, Akins’ defense attorney, has seemingly jumped on the "Let’s clobber the District Attorney’s office" by fussing about Joe Warren, who has now been accused of commiting a felony and two misdemeanors.. Evans has several other cases either in or pending trial in the Liberty County District Courts. He has submitted motions to the court in others of his trials to have Joe Warren removed from his duties as prosecutor in any cases before the court unless Warren is cleared of the wrongdoings of which he is accused.

[Update: The Liberty County Grand Jury in session on September 21, 2011, "no-billed" Joe Warren on all counts of the accusations against him.]

I am not one to pass on whether or not the actions of Deputy Guthrie or those of attorney James Evans are correct, appropriate, potentially viable, tasty and fattening, or simply so much peeing into a hurricane. I have been told by others more familiar with the workings of the legal folks than am I that Joe Warren’s arrest is going to go nowhere, particularly so in Liberty County, and that Mr. Evans motion to rid the courts of any trial prosecutions by Joe Warren is also a non-starter. Be that as it may, the hornets’ nest has certainly received a nice joggling. The buzzing is loud. My guess would be that there will be some stinging in due time.

Jumping around a bit here, it is an acceptable and widely followed practice for people to fuss and holler about office holders, such as district attorneys, judges, and any kind of elected official who causes displeasure among the populace. They are called names that would make a drunk blush. Their performances in office are put to the torch, so to speak. They are parodied, made fun of, cartooned to a fault, and otherwise denigrated. They were elected. They are public figures. Making sport of them is all right.

On the other hand, doing such things toward those who are employed as assistants to public figures is not all right. If you slander or libel those folks, they can sue the pants off of you. There seem to be some devotees of the Liberty Dispatch website who do not seem to understand the distinction between a public figure and an employee who works for a public figure.

Witness some of the "comments" posted on the Liberty Dispatch website in response to its articles (blog pages) about the Joe Warren/Louis Guthrie/James Evans/ Frederick Akins situations:

"... Obvious question: why are you folks pussy footing around with these slime-balls? ..."

"... First the waist line, then the feminine attractiveness, then the mind, memory, reasoning, sanity, motor skills, control of bodily functions... "

"...Yep. duhhhChess of Dumbass. You’re right on course (slowly falling apart, right before your eyes) !!!! lmao ..."

"...Mike Little let Joe Warren stay in office. How sick can it be in that office..."

Those few (and partial) comments are all rather mild as Liberty Dispatch website comments go, but you surely can pick up the odor. Most of the time, the comment-writers sign in as "anonymous." The writers probably do not realize that source Internet identifications (IP addresses) are attached to each comment. They may think that the comment sources are not traceable. For the most part, they are.

The trial by website goes on.