Will Habeas Corpus Be Tested In Central Texas?

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Will Habeas Corpus Be Tested In Central Texas?

Postby rain » Thu Nov 02, 2006 10:19 pm

<br>WAXAHACHIE — While most candidates for public office are knocking on doors, attending "meet the candidates’" events, debating, and speaking to constituents, the Libertarian candidate for State Senate, District 22 — which includes the President's ranch — has for nearly three weeks been virtually incommunicado in a jail in Ellis County, the northern segment of the 10-county district that includes Bosque, Coryell, Ellis, Falls, Hill, Hood, Johnson, McLennan, Navarro, and Somervell.<br><br>Late Monday, following inquiries by the press and pressure from his daughter, mother, and girl friend, Phil Smart was released.<br><br>Smart, 49, of Palmer, a Certified Public Accountant, was arrested on Oct. 10 on charges of assault — causing bodily injury, a probation violation, and running a stop sign, an official at the Wayne McCollum Detention Center in Waxahachie told The Iconoclast on Saturday. At that time, Smart had not been arraigned and bond had not been set, nor had his attorney visited with him during the extended incarceration.<br><br>On Saturday, detention center personnel denied The Iconoclast access to Smart to discuss with him his stance on pertinent issues regarding his campaign, but his girl friend, Donna Watson, was able to visit with him that evening and asked Smart a few questions on behalf of the newspaper.<br><br>Watson said that she had been concerned for Smart’s well-being, since he takes prescription drugs for health conditions, such as high blood pressure, and had been denied them for several days during his incarceration. <br><br>Michelle Shinghal, a journalist for Hammer of Truth, who on Sunday contacted the detention center housing Smart, was told by officials there that Smart was arrested on Oct. 10, but the charge of running the stop sign was listed as occurring on Oct. 19, while Smart was in jail. After having her inquiry transferred to the booking department, Shinghal said that officials could not confirm the dates for the assault charge or the stop sign violation, but said that the assault charge was actually a probation violation and a misdemeanor charge, but that Smart could not be released until seen by a judge. Shinghal said she was told that it could take a month or more for Smart to see a judge.<br><br>But things changed Monday, when his daughter picked him up at the detention center.<br><br>In an interview with The Iconoclast, Smart said that there was actually only one charge, running a stop sign, which he says he did not do. He claims the stop is just another in a series of strange events that happen when he runs for political office, which he did in 2004, for county commissioner of Precinct 1 and was likewise arrested during the waning weeks of the campaign and was let out after the election was over.<br><br>On Monday night, Smart told The Iconoclast that on the day of his arrest he knew he was being followed by a traffic cop and was driving carefully.<br><br>"It’s not all that unusual to have a cop behind you, but, like most people, I exercised extra caution. When I came to the stop sign, he was right behind me. I turned on my right turn signal and let a car pass that I needed to let pass, then waited for a second car to pass. It did.<br><br>"I made the turn and then after he (the cop) turned, he stopped me."<br><br>Smart continued, "He claimed that I failed to stop at the stop sign, which is absolutely false.<br><br>"I’ve got a cop riding my butt and I’m not going to stop at the stop sign?<br><br>"When he pulled me over, he said, ‘Can I search your vehicle?’<br><br>"I said, ‘No.’<br><br>"He said, ‘Why can’t I search it?’<br><br>"And I said, ‘I don’t have to let you search it.’<br><br>"Then he said, ‘You’re under arrest’ then he searched my car. He found some prescription sleeping pills in my car.<br><br>"I said, ‘You can’t arrest someone for not stopping at a stop sign,’ and he said, oh yes, he can. He told me they can arrest you for any kind of traffic stop except for speeding. It didn’t make any sense to me."<br><br>Smart said, regarding the probation charge, that he was already in jail when the judge signed the order.<br><br>"It was some kind of thing they created."<br><br>Smart said that as far as he knows, the alleged traffic violation is the only charge pending.<br><br>"The only thing they would tell me when I checked out of that jail, or book in or book out, whatever you want to call it, they told me 'You have a traffic ticket out of Red Oak for $80, a fine, and if you don't pay that, you could end up right back here."<br><br>Smart says he intends to pay the ticket although he feels he is completely innocent of the offense, "or they will have something, that ticket. If I were to get stopped, they could say they've got a warrant out of Red Oak for $80, and that means, well, you could spend the rest of your life in jail for $80."<br><br>While in the detention center, Smart says he was in a cell by himself, with lights left on, no clocks, no windows.<br><br>"The only way you could tell the time of day was to count food trays for a period and try to find out what was on them, so you could tell if this was lunch and this was dinner. With the lights always on, I think I stayed awake at least three days or four days when I got there, till I couldn't do it any longer," he explained.<br><br>"I wasn't physically abused, other than to say that I was in solitary confinement. You can't look outside, you don't know what day it is. Eventually, anyone is going to lose their mind in that environment. I said, when I get out, I'm not going to forget about the people in here. I wasn't the only prisoner down there. There are people who have been there so long and they don't even know what they've been charged with. They say, 'I'm charged. I don't know why. I'll get out when they tell me.’<br><br>"It's all a matter of keeping the jail full. In other words, if they didn't have anyone coming in, they wouldn't let anybody out. If they had people coming in, they could say, well, you can get rid of two of yours and you can get rid of one or two of yours, whatever. People say they get $300 a piece for every inmate from the state. For every day they have you they get $300, so that's a money thing there."<br><br>Regarding his campaign, Smart said, "I didn't know if I would be out of jail before Nov. 7. What I was doing before was going out and talking to strangers and asking them, ‘What's important to you? What are you concerned about? And the reception I got was very good, overwhelming. It was so positive, unbelievable. So that gave me a lot of encouragement."<br><br>Smart says that a big issue in this district is eminent domain and the Trans-Texas Corridor. He noted that his opponent, Republican Kip Averitt, will support the Trans-Texas Corridor if he gets re-elected, "for the party." <br><br>"I've talked to a lot of people and everyone is against it. I don't want it. This might die on its own, but the trouble is there would be a lot of damage done, people losing their property, their houses, and their land. But when you think about it, why would anybody be for it?"<br><br>Joey Dauben, a former investigative reporter for The Ellis County Press who now works as a coordinator for the Republican Party of Ellis County and publishes <elliscountyobserver.com> online, described Smart as a conscientious individual who dislikes corruption and is fast to voice his opinion against it. He noted that in 2004, Smart had run for county commissioner of Ellis County, only to be jailed then, too, a few weeks prior to the election and released after the election.<br><br>Dauben said that Ellis County is well known for governmental corruption and that Smart has been quick to criticize it.<br><br>Dauben noted that Smart’s home has been ransacked, he’s been accused of being a terrorist since he collects antique guns, and he has been harassed by law enforcement personnel who regularly follow him. Smart also collects antique cars, explained Dauben.<br><br>The former reporter appeared on a BBSRadio.com program, The Spiritual Politician, hosted by Melinda Pillsbury-Foster Friday night where he was interviewed from Republican headquarters in Ellis County. (right-click here and choose Save Target As to download Friday’s program)<br><br>Said Dauben during the interview, "Philip Smart noticed graft and corruption and wanted to take a vital part in exposing it."<br><br>Dauben explained that in 1999 the county had constructed a $7 million three-story government center building in downtown Waxahachie after the initiative had been turned down twice by voters. Later, deemed shoddily built, it was torn down.<br><br>"That's just one of the things that Phil Smart got really big on," said Dauben.<br><br>"His downside was that he came out against what everyone knew was the truth, that Ellis County is corrupt," continued Dauben. "He came out against the very powers that have a stranglehold on what goes on in this county."<br><br>Dauben added, "For all the bad things that people say about him, being a loose cannon, he's an accountant, and, honestly, he doesn't strike you as the type of guy that would go to SMU and graduate as an accountant, but the guy's brilliant. He really is a smart guy. He's very involved with the church, being an accountant, helping people with their taxes, but he wants things running smooth, and the right way."<br><br>The former Press reporter said that Smart often comes across as "bombastic" and some say he’s offensive, very blunt. <br><br>"He's the type of guy who is brutally honest and would say, yeah, it's a crock. We've got to change it. Right now,"said Dauben.<br><br>The Republican coordinator noted that the current State Senator, Kip Averitt, has only a 30-40 percent conservative rating on conservative organization report cards that have been put out, where Smart is near 100 percent. "Phil Smart's message was get back to the Constitution."<br><br>Dauben said to the people of Dallas-Fort Worth, "Yeah, Phil Smart was arrested, but at the same time, there’s a huge story behind the headline."<br><br>He explained that Smart is a disciple of the Constitution, and is for clean government, no matter what it costs him and "that is a high understatement."<br><br>Members of the Libertarian Party at the national level are concerned that their candidate was jailed for nearly three weeks without arraignment during an important campaign timeframe and feared that the county would attempt to use the cancellation of habeas corpus to justify holding him without due process, perhaps making Smart’s case a test for whether Americans still have the protection of the Fourth Amendment and if the tenure of his prolonged confinement could constitutes his being a political prisoner.<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.lonestaricon.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=698&z=40">www.lonestaricon.com/abso...a=698&z=40</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br> <p></p><i></i>
rain
 
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If this is true.

Postby slimmouse » Thu Nov 02, 2006 10:28 pm

<br><br> If this is true, then we have truly arrived at a point of no return.<br><br> Can anyone confirm this ?<br><br> If so, then as we say round this neck of the woods, its time to "shit, or get off the pot". <p></p><i></i>
slimmouse
 
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