Hal and Connie Bynums' Murder-Suicide - Unanswered Questions

Even though the Texas Rangers quickly closed their investigations of the violent deaths of Hal Bynum and his wife Connie, concluding that he brutally murdered her with a knife then shot himself with a shotgun, someone thought it was a good idea to have a double memorial service for them. Three hundred people came out to the Junction High School football stadium to pay their respects. 

There were the usual statements by locals that no one would have expected anything like this to happen, that they were the perfect couple, in love, even “lovey-dovey.” Roy Cooper, publisher and editor of the Junction Eagle, said the Bynums were well respected in the community for years. “He was strictly a law man through and through – and a good man. And she was a fine lady.”

Rumors started almost immediately after news of the deaths spread. Ron Sutton, the Kimble County District Attorney, even felt compelled to deny that he was a suspect. He and Bynum had just flown into Junction from Del Rio the night Connie Bynum was killed. Sutton told a reporter “some people in Kerrville apparently heard an interview I did (on a San Antonio radio station) and didn’t listen closely enough and think I’m being investigated in this case…. I’m not and I didn’t kill O.J. Simpson’s wife either.” 

Sutton added, in what turned out to be an understatement, a large part of the investigation would reveal that there was a “tremendous difference” between the public and private lives of the Bynums. 

Separate grand juries investigated their deaths and concluded that Bynum killed his wife by stabbing her twice in the vagina on May 28, 1994 then killed himself with a shotgun blast to the heart the next morning. And some truly bizarre things came in during the investigation. 

Bynum was 51 when he died; Connie was only 43. They lived in Muleshoe, in the Texas Panhandle, before coming to Junction. He was a sheriff’s deputy and she was a confidential informant who assisted him with drug investigations. There were rumors they had to leave Muleshoe because Bynum was under investigation for sexually molesting a juvenile girl. Bynum also apparently had a penchant for bringing female trustees home from the jail. 

After coming to Junction, Connie had an affair with a local pilot. He and Bynum had words and almost came to blows, and at the time of his death Bynum was investigating him. Connie told Hal that her ex boyfriend “could and would get a hitman to take care of him.” Although the affair was over, Bynum couldn’t let it go, and would beat Connie and hold a pistol to her head and threaten to kill her. 

Connie was also sort of a freethinker for a rural Texas county – her religion was Wicca, the white magic, not black magic kind. 

Unanswered questions

The Rangers discussed searching the Bynums’ house but decided it would be a waste of time and resources since they already knew what happened. If this had been a CSI episode or Grisham novel, investigators would have gone into the house, taken fingerprints, found drugs and other evidence of criminal activities. None of that happened. This writer wonders how could a middle aged couple in a county of about 3,000 people have been so bizarre – the sheriff claiming his wife had sex with Rottweilers, the wife a self professed witch, the sheriff investigating her old boyfriend, who had the contacts to hire a hitman – and there not be serious drug abuse or some other pathology involved? 

And how did the shell get half ejected from Bynum’s pump shotgun when he shot himself? 

It could be the base for a mystery best seller!

I'd like to change the name of the blog but ....

I've been blogging using the name Judges and Lawyers Hall of Shame for about 10 years. I'd like to change the title to something like Texas Hill Country Crime Blog and actually tried a few weeks ago. It got no hits for two days, then I realized that the old name had been around long enough and enough people read it that the big search engines had recognized it. So I changed it back and the readership went up again.

The reason I'd like to change it is that the criminal bar in our area, and I'm including prosecutors, are honorable, decent professionals. I don't always agree with our local district attorneys, Scott Monroe and Lucy Wilke, but they are honest and fair and dedicated to protecting the community. If they tell you they'll do something they do it.

We are also blessed with good judges. I won't get specific because I don't want anyone to think I'm trying to toady up.

We have a good defense bar too. The bad apples - Perry Cortese and Kevin Fine come to mind - get weeded out.

I also do federal criminal defense, mostly in San Antonio, and the same comments apply. Good judges, prosecutors and defense lawyers.

Most of our law enforcement agencies and officers in the Hill Country are also good people. Overall, I can't think of any place that I would be as happy as I am being a lawyer in Kerrville and the Hill Country.

So, I'd like to change the blog's name but it would knock it off the search engines so it will stay Judges and Lawyers Hall of Shame.

....................

I haven't blogged much the last month but will get after it again this weekend. I'll wrap up the Hal and Connie Bynum story, then write about the Perry Cortese federal conviction for wire fraud and money laundering, Jamie Baligia's federal indictment for trying to rip off the head of one of the most violent Columbian cartels, and other crimes of local interest. 

The Hal and Connie Bynum Murder/Suicide - or was it? Part 4

WARNING - some of this is extremely graphic and bloody. Not for the feint of heart. 

If the timeline from the official records are accurate the investigators were working on a schedule that would make the writers and actors of CSI proud. Bynum called the sheriff’s office dispatcher at 4:50 a.m. on Saturday morning, May 28, 1994 to report finding his wife Connie dead in their yard at the Junction airport. The autopsy was performed at the Bexar County Forensic Science Center in San Antonio at 11:00 a.m. the same morning – about seven hours later. 

Jan C. Garavaglia, the medical examiner who did he autopsy, noted “the body is that of a well developed, well nourished white female, measuring 63 ½ inches in length, weighing 137 pounds and whose appearance is consistent with the given age of 43 years.” There were apparent ligature marks on her wrists and bruises on her legs from her ankles to her groin and a bite mark on one breast. The cause of death was two penetrating horizontally oriented stab wounds to the dome (upper region) of the vaginal vault, one extending through the pelvic wall into the abdominal cavity for approximately three inches. In plain English, Connie Bynum probably suffered the indignity of being tied up naked and being stabbed in the vagina. 

When the Rangers told Garavaglia that the sheriff claimed his wife died of a heart attack, she said “sticking a knife up her vagina and she has a heart attack to me that still is a homicide.” 

As previously discussed in an earlier installment of this horrifying story, the three Rangers investigating the case interviewed Hal Bynum later that day – staring at about 8:30 p.m. – and told him they thought he killed her. When they asked him how she got the internal stab wounds he bizarrely claimed she was probably having sex with the Rottweiler and he did it. They told him they were going to have the examiner inspect the body again the next morning and let him go. 

The following morning, Sunday May 29, Ranger Buckalew went to the M.E.’s office in San Antonio for part two of the autopsy. They saw more signs of trauma, including marks at the base of the neck, more bruising on the legs, and the bite mark on the breast was more visible. The M.E. thought the bruises on the legs were consistent with rape. Buckalew called Ranger Cummings, who informed him that Sheriff Bynum had contacted the Kimble County Shieriff’s Office at approximately 9:00 a.m. and requested that Deputies Chapman and John Cary meet him at a remote airstrip on Strube Place Ranch about 17 miles out of town. 

When the deputies arrived they found Sheriff Bynum’s dead with a self inflicted shotgun wound to the chest. Bynum was lying on his back. A department issued twelve gauge pump shotgun was laying on his chest/stomach area. The end of the barrel was still inside a circular hole in the shirt in the mid-chest, slightly offset to the left. A green, expended shotshell was half ejected from the barrel, but still fully in the loading chamber. The expended shotshell appears to be triple 0 buck. 

Maybe someone with more knowledge of firearms than I have can explain how a shotgun shell was half ejected from a pump shotgun if its operator was dead.

Coming up – the suicide notes, and more questions about Hal and Connie Bynum’s past. 

Part 3 of The Strange Deaths of Hal and Connie Bynum in Junction, TX

Warning - graphic content that may be disturbing

Recap of Prior Installments

Hal Bynum, the sheriff of Kimble County, Texas called 9-1-1 at 4:50 a.m. on Saturday, May 28, 1994 and reported he found his wife Connie naked and dead outside their home. He claimed she died from a heart attack, but there were signs of trauma including bruising, ligature marks and an apparent bite mark on her breast. The Texas Rangers were called in to investigate. Even though they suspected foul play, the scene was not secured and Bynum was not detained. 

                                      Hal Bynum and Mike Chapman in happier days.

Rangers to Junction

Texas Rangers Clete Buckalew, Fred Cummings and Jim Denman went to Junction and were briefed on what the locals knew at that point. DA Ron Sutton told them that Bynum and his wife had been having trouble over an affair she’d had three years earlier with a pilot named Joe Burkholder. Bynum had become obsessed with Burkholder and wanted to get something on him so he could arrest him. Mike Chapman, Bynum’s chief deputy, related how when he arrived at the scene Bynum told him that he and Connie had been arguing, that she went outside naked except for a necklace, some rings and her house shoes, then Bynum found her dead body by the kennel where they kept a Rottweiler. 

Meanwhile, the medical examiner told the Rangers that there were two knife wounds deep inside Connie’s vagina that caused or contributed to causing her death. Still no effort was made to secure the crime scene or restrict Bynum’s movements. 

Finally, at 8:30 p.m. Saturday night, 12 hours after Bynum made his 9-1-1 call, Bynum came into Ron Sutton’s office to talk to the Rangers. In their official report they stated:

Perhaps one of the most notable aspects to the Bynum interview concerned his dress and actions. When he arrived at Sutton’s office he was not wearing his usual straw cowboy hat, had no badge of office and no weapon. He appeared to be in full submission, offering no appearance either physically or verbally of anything but “caught in the act.” One could surmise Bynum believed he was going to be arrested on the spot for the murder of his wife. This attitude continued throughout the interview  statement process. 

One can picture the scene – three big Texas Rangers with their hats, pistols, big belt buckles and badges, surrounding the pathetic Hal Bynum. Even at his most robust he was not anyone’s idea of a manly man. He was average height, weighed about 145, wore thick glasses and a full set of dentures, chain smoked and had diabetes. 

Bynum chain smoked and guzzled black coffee and told a very strange story of the events of the previous night. He and Connie had been drinking and arguing about her affair. She tried to make up by trying to make love but he couldn’t do that in the best of circumstances because of his diabetes. She got mad and left the bedroom, still naked except for some jewelry and her house shoes. He dozed off. 

A little while later he woke up and couldn’t find her inside the house. He put on some tennis shoes and an old bathrobe and went outside where he found her lying in front of the open gate to the kennel. Their male Rottweiler was sitting just inside. Bynum tried to wake her up by slapping her then realized she was dead. He didn’t want emergency personnel to see her lying naked by the dog pen so he tried to drag her into the house but was took weak. He got a sheet and tied it around her upper torso and dragged her. That took quite a while and her head bounced on the steps a couple of times. He finally got her inside, placed her on a couch and covered her. Only then did he call 9-1-1. 

The Rangers were incredulous and ratcheted up the pressure. TRIGGER WARNING - They told him that the M.E. found stab wounds in her vagina and asked how he explained that. He had an answer – she liked to have sex with the Rottweiler and maybe he got a little tough rough. The interview ended when they told him that he had admitted he had admitted that he and his wife were there alone so he had to be the one who killed her. Bynum said “I’ve already said too much.” Even though they had just told him they believed he was a murderer they let him leave. 

Coming up – the second autopsy

Why Did a Texas Sheriff murder his wife - or did he? Part 2

Estimated Time Line for Sat. & Sun. 05/28-29/1994

From the time that Kimble County Sheriff Hal Bynum called 9-1-1 to report finding his wife dead from what he claimed was a heart attack, to her autopsy the same day, to Bynum being questioned by Texas Rangers, then allegedly shooting himself the next day - just over 24 hours elapsed. 

Saturday 05/28/95

4:50 a.m. - Hal Bynum calls 9-1-1 and tells sheriff dispatcher

        wife Connie had heart attack; 

-        Dispatcher calls Chief Deputy Mike Chapman

-       Chapman arrives at Bynums’ home at airport -

      Bynum claims found wife naked and dead by dog pens,

      dragged her inside and put on couch.

-       body removed; Bynum resists calling Texas Rangers

      to investigate, finally consents

11:00 a.m. Autopsy by Bexar Co. Medical Examiners

       conclude homicide by two stab wounds deep inside vagina

12:20 p.m. -      Ranger Clete Buckalew dispatched to meet Rangers Fred                                     

                                       Cummings and Jim Denman in Junction

4:00 p.m. -      Rangers arrive at DA Ron Sutton’s office; Sutton says Bynum and wife

                                       lived in trailer house at airport which they also oversaw; Bynum obsessed over 

                                       affair she had 3 years earlier with a pilot named Joe Burkholder                                         

4:30 p.m. - Deputy Chapman arrives at Sutton’s - repeats Sutton’s story, adds that 

                                       Bynum told him he and Connie argued, she went outside naked, he found

                                       her dead by dog pens

5:10 p.m. - Rangers and JP Ragsdale view Connie’s body at local funeral home. 

                                       Observe multiple injuries including possible ligature markings on wrists, bite

                                       on one breast 

                                              

8:30 p.m. Bynum comes to DA Sutton's office voluntarily; answers questions, signs statement

                                       Rangers tell him they think he murdered wife, but don’t arrest him; Tell Bynum the M.E.                would reexamine body following morning at 9:00 a.m.

Sunday 05/29/94

09:00 a.m.        Ranger Dedman observes Med. Examiner do second exam of body; ME finds more

                                      signs of trauma; concludes death was homicide caused by two deep stab wounds inside

                                     vagina

       09:00 a.m.             While second exam being conducted by M.E., Bynum calls Sheriff’s Office 

                                     and asks tha Deputies Chapman and John Cary meet him at remote airstrip on a ranch. 

                                     On arrival they discover Bynum’s body, apparently killed with self inflicted shotgun blast

Why did a Texas sheriff murder his wife - or did he?

A lot of people in Junction in Kimble County, Texas still don't believe that Sheriff Hal Bynum brutally murdered his wife Connie then killed himself the following morning. The investigation was closed almost as quickly as it was opened and a lot of unanswered questions were left hanging. 

According to the official report of the Texas Rangers, on Saturday, May 28, 1994 at four-fifty in the morning a call came into the Kimble County Sheriff’s Office by a distraught husband reporting that he had found his wife dead from a heart attack. What was most unusual was that the caller was Hal Bynum, the sheriff himself. The dispatcher called Chief Deputy Mike Chapman at home. 

When Chapman arrived and asked his boss what had happened he got a rambling non-responsive answer. The sheriff explained, “We were having a good night. We had a few beers, we went walking, we had been arguing about Burkholder.” Burkholder was a pilot the sheriff thought his wife was having an affair with.

He continued, “I may have passed out in the bed. When i woke up she was gone and I found her at the dog pens.” The Bynums had Rottweilers. The sheriff added that Connie was naked and he thought that was degrading so he “drug her inside, placed her on the couch,” so first responders wouldn’t see that way. He added, “I knew she was dead, but I didn’t want to accept it, Mike.” 

The justice of the peace, Peggy Ragsdale, arrived and pronounced Connie Bynum  dead. Her body was taken to the local funeral home. There were already doubts that the  cause of death of the forty-three year old woman was a heart attack. Chapman knew that the couple had been having problems, and the sheriff had told him that they were arguing the night of their death. He also believed that as Bynum’s subordinate he was too close to the situation to investigate it. But when he told Bynum that and that he thought the Texas Rangers should be called in Bynum didn’t like that idea at all. Bynum finally acceded at the persuasion of a state trooper with the Highway Patrol, Delbert Roberts. 

                                                       Texas Ranger Clete Buckalew

Texas Rangers Clete Buckalew, Fred Cummings and Jim Denman responded to the call for assistance in the investigation. They arrived at the residence of the Kimble County District Attorney Ron Sutton at about 4:00 p.m. Sutton briefed them on what was known so far. He told them that Sheriff Bynum and his wife Connie lived in a trailer house located at the airport, which they oversaw or managed. During the last week of May Sheriff Bynum had become obsessed with an individual named Joe Burkholder, who was a pilot and had an affair with Connie three years earlier. Bynum had admitted to Sutton that he and Connie had argued briefly over the Burkholder affair prior to his finding his wife dead in the backyard next to the dog pens. Sutton further advised that Bynum stated that, not able to let medical and law enforcement personnel view his wife’s dead and naked body out in the open, had dragged her into the trailer house and laid her on the couch. This was done prior to law enforcement and medical personnel being contacted. 

About 4:30, Trooper Roberts and Mike Chapman arrived at Sutton’s, and Chapman related what Bynum had told him about finding his wife naked and dead at the dog pens and dragging her body into the house. Buckalew’s report doesn’t say if anyone asked Bynum why he didn’t just cover her with a sheet. 

Around 5:10 p.m. the three Rangers met justice of the peace Peggy Ragsdale at the funeral home in Junction to view Connie’s body on which they noted numerous injuries. “The following were noted, but in themselves are not the complete list of notable injuries: 

1. What appeared to be a recent bite mark on Connie Bynum’s left breast across the area of the nipple. 
2. Red markings on both wrists which were consistent with some type of ligature restraint possibly.
3. Bruising ... that extended from the ankle area all the way up to the vaginal area.
4. what appeared to be a carpet burn in the middle of her back....

Buckalew noted that they were also aware that Medical Examiner Jan Garavaglia of the Bexar County Forensic Science Center had located a stab wound in the upper wall of the vagina that proceeded into the intestine. According to Garavaglia, this stab wound covered a total of approximately five inches with as much as three inches protruding into the intestine. 

The records are not clear as to how the body was transported to the medical examiner in San Antonio, autopsied and returned to Junction all in less than a day. In any event, it was plain to see that Connie Bynum had not died of natural causes. The Rangers reported their observations of injuires and trauma to Garavaglia, who had somehow missed seeing them. She requested the body be returned to her for further inspection. 

Coming up in Part 2 - Sheriff Bynum’s Interrogation

Super Lawyer Mark Lanier gets blasted by Fifth Circuit

When I was a young lawyer I looked up to the big time plaintiffs lawyers in awe - men like Joe Jamail and Gerry Spence were my heroes. I was very naive and misguided. There are no colorful bigger than life lawyers now like there were then. There ares still lawyers who get the huge verdicts, but they just aren’t as entertaining and colorful but they are just as devious.

One of the current big time lawyers is Mark Lanier of Houston, who has won some huge verdicts, although he seems to have trouble hanging onto them. He loves to tell juries how he is an ordained Baptist preacher and quote scripture to them. In my humble opinion, that is grounds enough to be skeptical of anything else he says. 

Case in point - in the recent Fifth Circuit opinion, Depuy Orthopaedics et al., 888 F.3d 753 (2018) Lanier had a $502 million dollar judgment snatched away for his various ethically dubious actions during the trial - comparing the defendants to Saddam Hussein, for starters. Then he implied that the defendants were racists against blacks. The 5th Circuit referred to plaintiffs’ lawyers as “Lanier and crew.” That’s not phraseology you will often see from a appeals court describing a team of lawyers - sounds more like a gang of mafia thugs. 

Allison Frankel wrote on Reuters.com - 5th Circuit mounts searing attack on lawyer Mark Lanier 

The 5th Circuit panel – Judges Jerry Smith, Rhesa Barksdale and Stephen Higginson – reamed Lanier repeatedly and by name, accusing him of inflammatory tactics and outright deception. Lanier ran afoul of the Rules of Civil Procedure at least twice in his closing arguments, the 5th Circuit said. The appeals court said those violations, on their own, would have warranted a new trial. But that’s not all the famed trial lawyer did wrong, according to Judge Smith’s outrage-fueled opinion.

Lanier told jurors several times that two key medical witnesses for his side were unpaid, drawing a contrast with DePuy’s expert witnesses. But Lanier’s witnesses, in fact, had either received or expected to receive compensation. Lanier had “manufactured” a “false” choice for jurors between his side’s unpaid experts and the other side’s hired guns, the 5th Circuit said.

The truth was that Lanier paid his experts about $30k each. 

Kennedy Cousin gets away with Murder ?

Another Kennedy Skates a Murder
Writing for Friday’s majority, Justice Richard N. Palmer concluded that the defense of Skakel mounted by Greenwich celebrity attorney Michael Sherman - he represented Skakel through investigation, trial and conviction in 2002 - was so far beneath the accepted standard of professional competence that the jury’s guilty verdict cannot be relied upon. The majority affirmed a a lower court decision in a habeas corpus action five years ago.

“The sole issue now before us in this appeal by the respondent, the Commissioner of Correction, is whether the habeas court properly concluded that the petitioner, Michael Skakel, is entitled to a new trial because counsel in his murder case, Michael Sherman, rendered ineffective assistance by failing to obtain certain readily available evidence that Sherman should have known was potentially critical to the petitioner’s alibi defense, that is, the testimony of a disinterested alibi witness whom the habeas court found to be highly credible,” the majority wrote. “Because we agree with the habeas court both that Sherman’s failure to secure that evidence was constitutionally inexcusable and that that deficiency undermines confidence in the reliability of the petitioner’s conviction — a conviction founded on a case, aptly characterized by the habeas court as far from overwhelming, that was devoid of any forensic evidence or eyewitness testimony linking the petitioner to the crime — we affirm the judgment of the habeas court ordering a new trial.”

Crocodile Tears - Kerrville Good Ol' Boys Can Dish It Out but Can't Take It

It appears that the developers, liberals, democrats, financiers and leaches on the government tit need a safe room so they don't get their feelings hurt too bad.

The local paper published a guest opinion piece last week by TJ McDonald, a developer who wants more taxpayer money poured into the Callioux Foundation projects on Holdsworth. He titled it 'Same swamp, different alligators,' leaving no doubt he meant Mayor Bonnie White and other conservatives.

But when some of Blackburn's backers saw a photoshopped picture of Blackburn with his former mayor supporters with crocodilian heads the snowflakes melted down! According to Aaron Yates at KerrvilleUnited.com, it's ugly, dirty, nasty campaigning.  Wahwahwah!!! Boohoohoo!!

Let's get real people. Mr. Yates and the crybabies posting on his website are crying crocodile tears - they are delighted to think they have something to inflame the voters. They're no different from the agitators at Black Lives Matter or the titty babies on college campuses who cried for days when their idol Hillary lost to Trump.

Former Fisher & Phillips partner is convicted of felony murder in wife's death
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/former_fisher_phillips_partner_is_convicted_of_felony_murder_in_wifes_death

An Atlanta jury found Claud “Tex” McIver guilty of felony murder on Monday in the fatal shooting of his wife, Diane McIver, while they were riding in an SUV in 2016.

McIver is a former Fisher & Phillips partner.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: “Known as ‘The Fixer’ because of his ability to grease the wheels of bureaucracy and get things done, McIver appeared stunned as he was handcuffed by a Fulton County sheriff’s deputy and led from the courtroom following the verdict. McIver had lived a mostly charmed existence until the evening of September 25, 2016, when he shot his wife Diane in the back as they were being driven near Piedmont Park. He claimed it was an accident. Jurors didn’t buy it.”

The sentence carries a mandatory life sentence for the 75-year-old defendant.

Judge Groped, Kissed Women Who Sought Help With Charges, DOJ Claims
Bobby Joe Smith, who's charged with bribery and civil-rights violations, allegedly solicited sexual favors from three women who had asked him for help with their traffic offenses.
from Daily Beast

Bill Blackburn Announces NOT Evangelical Christian

Before he decided to run for Kerrville mayor Bill Blackburn posted some political commentary on Facebook he probably regrets. He announced he's never been a Republican, and then there's this gem:

Did Blackburn Supporters Commit Voter Fraud/Bribery ??

From Zeke MacCormack's article in SA Express News

KERRVILLE — Reflecting the intensity of local election campaigning, a criminal complaint has been lodged over rent rebates of $20 that were offered to tenants of four apartment complexes to reward them if they vote May 5.

The apartments had meet-and-greet events for the candidate slate led by Bill Blackburn, who is challenging incumbent Mayor Bonnie White. Three council seats are at stake.

An attorney for the MacDonald Companies, which owns the complexes, insisted the rebates were perfectly legal, but confirmed that the offer advertised in apartment newsletters has been rescinded.

District Attorney Lucy Wilke on Wednesday said she referred to the state attorney genercode provisions on bribery.al’s office a complaint she received from an unspecified source that alleged the rebate offer violated state penal

The statute cited states, “A person commits an offense if he intentionally or knowingly offers, confers, or agrees to confer on another, or solicits, accepts or agrees to accept from another: any benefit as consideration for the recipient’s decision, opinion, recommendation, vote or other exercise of discretion as a public servant, party official or voter.”

....................................

The MacDonald Companies build and manage federally subsidized housing projects - four of them in Kerrville. It's understandable why they would downplay the seriousness of their conduct. But look at it this way - let's say the liberals/Democrats made a similar offer to low income voters in Houston or San Antonio - it might be worth $20 to go vote - or just a bottle of Thunderbird Wine. 

S.A. defense attorney accused of drunkenly rear-ending car with infants inside

Drunk Lawyers
A San Antonio-based criminal defense attorney was arrested over the weekend after police said he drunkenly rear-ended another vehicle with two infants inside on the Northwest Side.

Jesse Hernandez, 39, was booked into the Bexar County Jail Saturday on a charge of DWI and posted bail later that day.

Bankrupt Kerrville company accuses ex-president of fraud
The Kerrville consulting company that sought bankruptcy protection amid possible financial wrongdoing has accused its former president of fraud.
The HJH Consulting Group Inc., which does business as The Salt Group, also accused Stephen Canty of breaching his of fiduciary duty, according to a filing in bankruptcy court Monday.
The company said it also has a claim against Kerrville accounting firm Pressler, Thompson & Co. for “committing malpractice in regards to conducting audits for the debtor for a number of years,” according to the filing.
HJH sought bankruptcy protection “due to the fact that one of its employees manipulated (its) accounting records” to its “detriment,” it said in an April 9 court filing.

The Perils of Lust and Greed: Kerrville Conman; Uresti Surrenders Law License

Convicted state Sen. Carlos Uresti surrenders law license

State Sen. Carlos Uresti, convicted less than two months ago by a federal jury on 11 felony charges, has surrendered his license to practice law in lieu of facing disciplinary action from the State Bar of Texas.

Without a license, Uresti will be prohibited from practicing law in the state where he has worked as an attorney for more than 25 years.

Uresti, 54, would have been disbarred after he’s sentenced June 28, anyway, but he opted to voluntarily submit his resignation March 23. His resignation was accepted by the Bar’s Office of the Chief Disciplinary Counsel the same day and then by the Supreme Court of Texas on Tuesday.

FBI investigating possible wrongdoing at Kerrville company

FBI agents are investigating possible financial malfeasance at a Kerrville consulting company that filed for bankruptcy last week, three people familiar with the probe said.

The HJH Consulting Group Inc., which does business as The Salt Group, disclosed in a Monday court filing that it sought bankruptcy protection “due to the fact that one of its employees manipulated the accounting records of the Debtor to the Debtor’s detriment.”

Stephen A. Canty, who has served as Salt Group’s president, declined to comment when reached by phone Wednesday but said he was represented by San Antonio criminal defense lawyer Gerald “Gerry” Goldstein. The attorney declined to comment. Canty was replaced as HJH Consulting’s registered agent on April 2, state corporate records show.

A person familiar with the bankruptcy case said a company official had overstated its receivables for years to obtain funding on a bank loan. The official recently confessed, triggering a criminal investigation, this person said.

Gee, I wonder who the culprit is. 

Candidate Bill Blackburn - Not Republican, Not Evangelical Christian

Kerrville is one of the most conservative cities in a very conservative state. So it puzzles me that the best challenger the opponents of Mayor Bonnie White could come up is Bill Blackburn, who has written comments on his Facebook page where he disavows being a Republican, or an evangelical Christian because so many of them voted for Donald Trump. Hells' bells, the Republicans always get 80 percent of the votes in Kerr County!

Dallas lawyer who exposed himself at office staffed with teenage girls gets 8 years
Dallas Morning News

A Dallas defense attorney with a penchant for masturbating in front of the teenage girls he hired to work in his law office has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Rayan Ganesh, 34, was convicted Wednesday by a Dallas County jury on two counts of felony indecency with a child by exposure. State District Judge Amber Givens-Davis decided his sentence Thursday.

Ganesh was also a serial offender of the barratry laws, roaming the halls of the criminal courts and stalking defendants. About 30 lawyers showed up for his sentencing, and not as character witnesses for the defense. The prosecutor told Texas Lawyer “I had all of the lawyers in the courtroom stand up. And I said ‘Each of you are victims of this,’” Michael Snipes said, referring to Ganesh’s unethical behavior. “Because you make us look like the worst nightmare of the public as to what lawyers are all about.’”

“He preyed upon defendants when they were at their weakest moment and took advantage. And then he used them to take advantage of these little girls,” Snipes said. “The barratry part is problematic. But him using that to feed his salacious desires is really what made it bad.”

Corrupt Texas sheriff soon to be released from prison

Scumbag Ex-Sheriff/Drug Dealer Soon to be Released from Prison

• Scumbag Lawyer Mark Benavides gets 80 years for coercing clients into having sex

  from San Antonio Express

  FLORESVILLE — A Wilson County jury on Friday sentenced a former San Antonio attorney to 80 years in prison on each of the six counts he faced for coercing clients into sex.

  Mark Henry Benavides will have to serve at least 30 years before he is eligible for parole.
  
  

Expert: Guilty ex-S.A. attorney PERVERT Mark Benavides displayed arousal to violent sex

FLORESVILLE — A clinical and forensic psychologist who reviewed sex videos and commercial pornography seized from a former San Antonio attorney said the defendant showed patterns of control and an arousal to violent sex, the expert told jurors Thursday.

Aaron Pierce was the last witness to testify before the state rested in the sentencing phase of the trial of Mark Henry Benavides, convicted Tuesday of continuous trafficking of persons. Twelve women testified that he coerced them into having sex to keep them out of jail or lessen their legal troubles.

Prosecutor Meredith Chacon asked Pierce for his expert opinion on video evidence he observed.

“Most concerning were two videos where women had to engage in anal sex,” he said. “It was very painful, they asked him to stop, they were crying.”

When Chacon asked if he noticed a pattern in the videos and evidence, Pierce said Benavides “consistently was the one in control, directing what was happening.”

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Expert-Ex-S-A-attorney-displayed-arousal-to-12809411.php?ipid=brkbar
Suffolk County PERVERT district judge apologizes, admits he's serial underwear stealer
A Long Island judge who police say repeatedly broke into his neighbor's home to steal her underwear has confessed to snatching panties on multiple occasions, even though he has pleaded not guilty.

Still, Suffolk County District Judge Robert Cicale has been removed from the bench and is facing up to 15 years in prison.

Cicale was arrested on burglary charges and appeared in court Friday morning.

Houston pastor indicted on charges of defrauding investors
HOUSTON (Reuters) - A prominent Houston megachurch pastor who counseled presidents and top executives was charged on Friday with selling investors more than $1 million in worthless Chinese bonds and using proceeds for his own benefit, federal authorities said.

Kirbyjon Caldwell, 64, senior pastor at the Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston, one of the nation's largest Protestant churches with about 17,000 members, faces wire fraud and money laundering charges in connection with the sale of historical bonds to mostly elderly investors.

The bonds were issued by the former Republic of China before 1949 - when the communists won that country's civil war and took power - are not recognized by the current Chinese government and have no investment value, said U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Another Pervert Lawyer

Juror faints watching sex video between ex-San Antonio attorney, client from SA Express
FLORESVILLE — A juror hearing a sex case against a former San Antonio attorney fainted after seeing video of a sexual encounter involving the man as his trial opened Tuesday.
Mark Benavides, 48, is charged with continuous trafficking of persons, accused of having sex with clients in prostitution cases in exchange for legal services. Benavides is being tried in Wilson County on a change of venue from Bexar County because of intense media coverage there.
A 29-year-old woman who testified for the state that Benavides forced her to have anal sex and recorded the encounters sat with her hands over her face and cried as the jury heard her plead on video for Benavides to stop


from dailybeast.com 
Texas Judge Tortured Defendant With Stun Belt to Show ‘Power,’ Court Rules
‘Never before have we seen any behavior like this, nor do we hope to ever see such behavior again,’ said the court, ruling that Judge George Gallagher violated a man’s rights.
A Texas judge who shocked a defendant three times with a stun belt to silence him during his own trial violated the man’s constitutional rights, an appeals court has ruled.

“Never before have we seen any behavior like this, nor do we hope to ever see such behavior again,” wrote Justice Yvonne T. Rodriguez, of the Texas Eighth Court of Appeals in El Paso.


Promoter of Failed Fyre Festival Pleads Guilty to Fraud, Faces Up to 10 Years in Prison

The Fyre music festival, planned for last spring, was to be an experience of unparalleled opulence. Held on a private island in the Bahamas, the festival would feature luxury suites, gourmet meals and a series of musical performances headlined by Blink-182.

But instead of the extravagant odyssey they had been promised, hundreds of concertgoers were greeted by a disorganized mess. Soggy tents. Cheese sandwiches in foam containers.

And not only did Blink-182 never perform; the band’s equipment ended up stuck in customs.

On Tuesday afternoon the festival’s main organizer, William McFarland, pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud related to the festival and to his media company that prosecutors said had cost investors $26 million in losses.

Ex-San Antonio attorney accused in sex crimes case is indicted again

A former San Antonio attorney slated to go on trial at the end of the month, on accusations of having sex with female clients, has been indicted again.
A Bexar County grand jury on Thursday indicted Mark H. Benavides on four counts of continuous trafficking of persons in connection with alleged incidents with four women that occurred between 2012 and 2015.

Benavides, 48, was arrested in November 2015 and charged with compelling prostitution from at least nine female clients. Since then, he has been named in multiple-count indictments that include having sex with a child under 17 and inducing a child under 18 to engage in a sexual performance.

Uresti’s wife files for divorce following salacious trial
A week after state Sen. Carlos Uresti’s conviction in a salacious trial that included vivid testimony about him carrying on an extramarital relationship, his wife has filed for divorce.

Lleanna Uresti filed a petition Friday in Bexar County District Court to end the couple’s nearly six-year union.

Lawsuit: SAPD detective strip searched woman in public area
A San Antonio police detective pulled down a woman’s shorts in a public area and inappropriately searched the woman for illegal contraband, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in federal court.

The 25-page lawsuit alleges that the detective, Mara Wilson, a 32-year veteran of the force, conducted an illegal vaginal cavity search on Natalie Simms, an action that was “a blatant violation of Ms. Simms’ constitutional rights and resulted in significant and lasting harm.”

State Commission on Judicial Conduct suspends Rio Grande Valley judge
McALLEN — The State Commission on Judicial Conduct has suspended state District Judge Rodolfo “Rudy” Delgado without pay following his indictment on bribery and violating the federal Travel Act.

Kerrville Slave Ranch Question

A reader from Florida contacted me last Fall and said he had a bag full of key chain trinkets from the Slave Ranch. We briefly discussed my buying some of them, then lost contact. If you're reading this, please contact me!