LLANO, Texas (KXAN) – Grand jury indictments against a city of Llano police officer and a Llano County deputy are the latest in a series of criminal charges against the largest municipal police force in the county.
On Aug. 13, a grand jury indicted Llano Police Officer Mark Burke and Llano County Deputy Duncan Roberts each on three counts of official oppression after trying to pick a lock at a home, then kicking the door in and arresting a man inside.
The August indictments are the latest in a string of criminal charges that have led to the resignation, suspension and termination of five Llano city cops —including the force’s police chief.Ex-Llano police chief sentenced to six months in jail
Llano police chief, three officers indicted on charges
DPS: Llano police officer's Facebook ‘threats' caused courthouse evacuation
Roberts is the latest Llano County Sheriff's Office deputy charged in connection to any of the abuse of power charges since the first indictment came down in December 2017.
As of this report, five officers are awaiting trial on multiple counts of abuse of power charges.
Officers in Trouble
In December, Llano Officer Grant Harden was indicted on six counts; including charges of tampering with dash camera footage of a DWI stop, tampering with the video of an arrest, using excessive force against a woman he was arresting and unlawful arrest of that woman on charges of assaulting a public servant and resisting arrest.
Harden was later indicted a third time, charged with assaulting another woman prosecutors said he “unlawfully” charged with resisting arrest on April 26, 2016.
In January, in a second round of indictments against Harden, prosecutors accused him of unlawfully arresting Cory Nutt, a man who yelled at Harden, accusing the officer of speeding through his neighborhood just past 10 p.m. on May 2, 2017. The body camera video from the arrest that night shows Nutt standing in the doorway of his home, asking why a group of Llano officers wanted him to “step out” of his home to talk to them.
Nutt would not walk out of the house. The video shows officers threatening him with arrest and threatening to call his boss in what appears to be an attempt to get Nutt fired. The officers accused Nutt of using profanity and being drunk in public, although the video shows Nutt didn't leave his house and wouldn’t allow the officers inside.
“If you like wearing that shirt that says LCRA, I suggest you come on down here and start talking. If not, I’ve got four charges on you now, sorry, three. And I promise you, when I get off the phone with your supervisor, you will not be wearing that shirt anymore,” one of the Llano officers tells Nutt. The officers threatened Nutt’s job on three separate occasions during the encounter, the video shows.
None of the Llano officers ever presented Nutt with an arrest warrant or a warrant to enter his home. Eventually, Nutt stepped out of the house after Officer Aimee Shannon points a taser at him and the officers threaten him with it, “Do you want tased,” a cop asks Nutt, “She’s fixing to tase you, dude.”
“Please don’t,” Nutt told the officer while the red laser light on the end of Shannon’s stun gun bounced between Nutt’s crotch and abdomen.
Nutt eventually steps outside where he’s handcuffed and taken to jail. Nutt’s attorney, Austin Kaplan confirmed the charges were later dropped against his client.
Along with Harden, the January indictments also charged Llano Police Chief Kevin Ratliff, Officer Jared Latta and Officer Shannon with abuse of power-related charges stemming from the Nutt case.
Aside from Ratliff, the remaining officers have pleaded not guilty to the charges and are free on bond, awaiting trial. Of those officers, only Harden's attorney responded to KXAN for comment on this report.
continued with videos...https://www.kxan.com/news/investigat...nts/1390845957The cases that were indicted recently in Llano County involve complicated constitutional and legal principles that lawyers, judges and constitutional scholars cannot even agree on…When you start prosecuting police officers for official oppression based on grey or unsettled areas of law; they are not taught that law in the academy or subsequent training, or there are no policies or procedures available you are soon going to run into a situation where officers will hesitate to act - this will result in an innocent victim or Officer being seriously injured or worse." - Travis Williamson, Officer Grant Harden's Attorney
Reply With Quote
Site Information
About Us
- RonPaulForums.com is an independent grassroots outfit not officially connected to Ron Paul but dedicated to his mission. For more information see our Mission Statement.
Connect With Us