Jacksonville Progress
May 03, 2009 10:40 pm
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By Kelly Young
kyoung@jacksonvilleprogress.com
Tensions between the city of Jacksonville and the Cherokee County district attorney’s office, regarding the prosecution of members of the House of Israel, reached a new degree this past week. Mayor Robert Haberle appealed to the state level in an attempt to circumvent District Attorney Elmer Beckworth’s recent decision not to obtain a special prosecutor in the criminal cases against Robert Fox and David Baugh.
Citing what he calls “inadequate prosecution” by the district attorney’s office, Haberle has contacted state Rep. Chuck Hopson and state Sen. Robert Nichols to see if any action can be taken at the state level to either investigate Beckworth’s refusal for a special investigator or to appoint one without his permission.
“We don’t feel like we are getting proper prosecution against these people by the district attorney’s office, so we have asked for help from the state officials to see if they can use their influence with the attorney general’s office to find out why,” Haberle said. “Our police department is doing a very good job of conducting quality searches and seizures and of getting quality arrests, at both the misdemeanor and felony levels, and then the cases are being turned away by the district attorney.”
In a letter sent to Beckworth by Jacksonville Police Department Chief Reece Daniel on April 23, the chief asked for a special prosecutor due to the House of Israel’s proclivity for filing “lawsuits and complaints against everyone involved in any stage of their arrest or prosecution” — including both Beckworth and Daniel.
Daniel said in the letter the House of Israel has attempted to stall the criminal justice system through “the recusal of judges, voluminous frivolous legal findings and lawsuits in an attempt to intimidate the police, prosecutors and judges.” He said he believes a special prosecutor would not be subject to these pressures.
Beckworth called Daniel’s request “improper.”
“The district attorney in a county has the prime responsibility of prosecuting offenses. A law enforcement officer seeking a special investigator, just because they don’t like the district attorney’s interpretation of the law, is a dangerous challenge to the balance of power in the criminal justice system,” Beckworth said. “Once the special prosecutor is involved, it just throws the whole system out of whack.”
According to Daniel, he is convinced the intimidation tactics employed by Fox and Baugh have worked on Beckworth. He said the district attorney’s “timidity” has caused the district attorney to lose credibility with the police department.
“These people have been suing everybody in the world — the city, the police department, every attorney who has dealt with them, every judge that has dealt with them and even the attorney general himself — the only person it seems to have affected is Elmer,” he said.
Beckworth dismissed the implication that he has been intimidated by the House of Israel’s tactics, and said he is pursuing the cases that deserve prosecution.
“To say that I am intimidated by these people is a lie. I have been prosecuting for almost 30 years — I have had people a lot more dangerous than these people threaten me, make anonymous phone calls to my house and try to intimidate me, and it has never happened,” Beckworth said. “I will not do anything unethical, and it is unethical to attempt to prosecute someone for something that you believe is not an offense.”
Both Fox and Baugh went before a Cherokee County grand jury on Monday, and although Beckworth would not comment on any specific charges against either man until the indictments have officially been processed, the police were able to confirm Fox was indicted on the tampering with governmental documents charge he faced, while Baugh was no-billed on the same charge.
Daniel said the Baugh case was unexpectedly taken to grand jury without anyone within the Jacksonville Police Department being notified, which he said didn’t give Detective Jason Price — the detective who has done most of the legwork in the House of Israel cases — time to testify. According to the police, a felony charge of barratry brought against Fox has also been dropped by the district attorney’s office.
Concerning the mayor’s petition for the state to take action, Beckworth said the attorney general’s office doesn’t have the authority to overrule his decision by appointing a special prosecutor to the cases — an opinion shared by the attorney general’s office.
“It is the prerogative of the DA to request or to not request the AG’s assistance in prosecuting cases. The AG’s office does not have the authority to go over the DA’s head; the law requires that person to contact us and request our involvement,” said Tom Kelley, spokesman for the attorney general’s office.
Regardless of whether any action can be taken to reverse the district attorney’s decision concerning a special prosecutor, Daniel said Beckworth’s alleged reluctance to try the members of the House of Israel has effectively tied the hands of his officers.
“A situation has been created where we can’t, in good faith, continue to file charges against these individuals if we have no confidence that our cases are going to be prosecuted,” Daniel said.
Haberle said he is very concerned that any apathy on the part of prosecutors could result in Jacksonville becoming a safe haven for the members of the House of Israel and their ilk.
“My responsibility is to the citizens of this community, and those citizens have made it clear to me and the other council members that they don’t want this fringe group to be able to make Jacksonville a hub for their operations,” he said. “The citizens have expressed some real concerns about this group, and the lack of support from the DA has a lot of the citizens feeling like a blind eye has been turned to their concerns.”
Judge finds Baugh guilty of failure to identify
David Baugh, a House of Israel associate, was found guilty Wednesday of failure to identify in Jacksonville Municipal Court. A Cass-C misdemeanor, Baugh faced no confinement and a maximum monetary fine of $500.
“Judge (Dan) Connelly set a fine of $300 for the offense, and gave Baugh credit for time served. He went to jail for this failure to identify on April 7, 2008, and then was released April 8, 2008, and at $150 a day, that took care of his fine,” said Brett Brewer, the attorney representing the city in the case.
During a hearing in March, Baugh indicated that he would like a court-appointed attorney in the case, a request which was granted at that time. However, after some research found Baugh was not entitled to counsel for a Class-C misdemeanor, Brewer filed a motion to nullify that decision. The judge agreed with the new motion.
Baugh has already indicated he plans to appeal the verdict. Fox was brought in as a witness in the case, but then refused to testify after exercising his fifth amendment right.
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