| October 21, 2009: Second civil suit filed by cheerleader family |
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Posted: Thursday, December 3, 2009 3:11 pm
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ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED OCT. 21, 2009
By GERRY L. DICKERT
The Bee
Another civil suit has been filed in the case of the Silsbee cheerleader who has accused three athletes of sexual assault in October 2008.
This suit, filed in state district court, focuses on two of the three young men who have been accused of sexually assaulting the girl during a house party on Oct. 19, 2008, when the girl was 16 years old.
An earlier civil suit against the older of the three boys was dismissed less than a week ago. That suit also pointed blame at the Silsbee school district and Hardin County District Attorney’s Office. The suit claimed the DA’s office mishandled the case involving the young woman and accusations of sexual assault.
Judge Thad Heartfield dismissed the civil suit against DA David Sheffield and administrators and employees of Silsbee ISD, stating in the court’s opinion that “the original complaint failed to clearly and concisely state factual allegations that supported the elements of the asserted causes of action.”
In addition, Heartfield’s opinion stated that after allowing the plaintiffs to re-file a new complaint, the updated information was “rife with the irrelevant and often snide remarks that characterized the original complaint.”
The civil suits stem from a case involving three Silsbee High School football players who were accused by a young woman, who was a cheerleader at the school, of sexually assaulting her during a house party in October 2008. The girl claimed that she was pushed into a room, the door locked and sexually assaulted.
After an investigation into the crime, the three boys were arrested, one of whom was a minor, and placed into custody. After making bond, the three young men were restricted to taking classes in the school district’s alternative school facility.
In January, the case went before a Hardin County grand jury but the jury refused to indict, citing a lack of evidence to dictate an indictment.
Another grand jury has since asked to re-hear the case, but before the District Attorney’s office could become involved, Houston attorney Larry Watts filed a civil suit against Sheffield and several members of the Silsbee ISD administration and staff.
Because of that civil suit, Sheffield recused himself from the case and a special prosecutor was assigned to the case by a district judge.
Beaumont attorney David Barlow appeared ready to present the case to the grand jury in the past several weeks, but as the proposed hearing date approached, plans were changed to allow for more investigation into the facts of the case.
When the civil lawsuit was filed, Sheffield said the suit was an attempt to intimidate him into manipulating the grand jury process.
“The grand jury was presented with three hours of evidence and testimony,” said Sheffield. “The grand jury deliberated and returned with their decision to no-bill the indictments. By law I am required to present evidence to a grand jury before I can proceed with a criminal prosecution and I am bound by their decision. I am sorry that they were disappointed with the outcome, however, I will not be bullied or intimidated by Mr. Watts or anyone else into doing anything other than following the law and the evidence in a criminal case.”
Since the initial incident, one of the young men involved in the case has graduated and the other two have are still students at the school.
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