Opening The Flood Gates To Madness In A Small Town Is Easy When Your Prosecutor Is Ignorant
Aransas County Texas is falling apart at the seams and justice is being tossed in the trash with last weeks leftovers.
On March 7, 2016, Aransas County Attorney Kristen Barnebey dismissed seven felony cases that her office had already announced were ready to go to trial. At this juncture who knows why. Most likely the issue will be blamed on one of her underlings who was just recently fired shortly before this mass of injustice occurred. No matter what the reason, three accused child sex offenders, and an assortment of other suspected felons were allowed to simply walk off.
This apparent failure to up hold the law and justice has been widely ignored by residents until recently when at least two elected officials and a Chief of Police stood up to speak up. Until this moment Barnebey has been allowed to attack and criticize reports from media, calling reporters liars and criminals, and has given excuse after excuse about the ongoing problems.
Unbeknownst to Barnebey I have attended several court proceeding to witness some of the procedural issues I have been told about. I truly had to see it for myself. What I have seen cannot be described any more appropriately than by calling it a circus act of clowns. Its disgraceful and a travesty to Texas Justice for certain.
Its amusing watching a Judge scold prosecutors and shake their heads in disbelief like they are in some horrible remake of an Ally McBeal episode. The prosecutors laugh and giggle with each other as if they were still in college, which I guess shouldn't surprise me since a majority of them are barely 25-years old. Yet this is not the worst of it.
One man who was left in the Aransas County Detention Facility without being indicted for over a year has also had his charges of capital murder dismissed. Despite pressure from law enforcement and the family to file for a lesser charge of aggravated burglary, Barnebey has decided it would not be in the best interest of the county to move forward on the case. Even more troubling is that Barnebey has failed to even take the time to present the case to the Grand Jury for their determination.
Barneby has made every effort to personally silence my opinions and my news reports, going as far as to attempt to place a gag order on me. Barnebey has also attempted to file criminal charges against me, as well as the newspaper I work for. Luckily there is still a sense of justice held by the Judges that preside over Aransas County to stop Barnebey and her efforts to silence me.
To state a fact the actions by Barnebey to silence my reports and opinions have taken more time than she has taken for suspected murderers, child sex offenders, and assault suspects. Since when did the Aransas County Justice System become this woman's private vendetta machine? Since when did the opinion of a reporter and his news reports warrant more attention than a child sex offender. Barnebey was ready to fight the battle to silence me, but wasn't willing to fight to prosecute suspected killers and child rapists.
If this isn't bad enough the rabbit hole spirals further into madness. Barnebey attempted to order the collection of financial records from a non-profit entity without due process in an "official-unofficial" investigation. By using local Sheriffs to harass residents and use intimidation to enforce her will she attempted to collect these records without legal cause. Luckily one resident and professional colleague knew her rights and stopped Barnebey in her tracks making her look like a complete fool.
On top of that Barnebey has attempted to forcibly remove residents from the Courthouse for no reason accept that they disagreed with her. This includes two former Aransas County Prosecutors. Barnebey has also been brazen enough as to suggest to one Police Chief that he needed Psychological Counseling becasue he became emotional over Barnebey's failure to present a murder case to the Grand Jury. During that discussion Barnebey simply hung up on the Chief as if he meant nothing to her, or the residents he serves.
So why does Barnebey continue to drop the ball? I have no clue, but what I will say is that her attitude is unprofessional, unethical, and childish. Barnebey is quickly proving to everyone that she is incapable of running the Office of the Aransas County Attorney, and as with most things ignorance is bliss until a killer is let free. When is enough, enough, and when will the State of Texas and the residents of Aransas County stop this travesty. I guess will just have to wait until another child is molested or another person is killed before someone acts.