Hood County constable faces complaint over records related to library books investigation
A free speech organization has filed a complaint with the Hood County district attorney, alleging that Precinct 4 constable Chad Jordan — who conducted a felony criminal investigation after a book review committee member alleged that district employees were providing pornography to students — did not turn over requested documents under the Public Information Act.
The complaint from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression was filed Thursday with Hood County District Attorney Ryan Sinclair’s office.
Sinclair’s office did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Jordan did not respond to voicemail and email messages seeking comment.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression alleges that Jordan received a letter from the Open Records Division of the Attorney General’s office in July, “compelling” him to release the requested documents related to the criminal investigation, but Jordan claimed an exception to releasing them.
Texas law is clear that when the Attorney General renders a determination: the governmental body must bring a lawsuit contesting the decision within 30 days or it “shall comply with the decision of the attorney general,” Adam Steinbaugh, an attorney for the the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said in his letter to Sinclair.
According to the Texas Tribune, Monica Brown, who home schools her children, was appointed to serve on a school district book review committee and advocated that Granbury ban books in its libraries with LGBTQ themes or descriptions of sex.
When the committee voted to remove a handful of titles, Brown and another committee member filed a criminal complaint in which she accused school district employees of providing pornography to children.
The three books that were removed from the library were “This Book Is Gay,” by Juno Dawson, “Out of Darkness,” by Ashley Hope Perez and “We are the Ants,” by Shaun David Hutchinson.
The books contained explicit sexual language, a rape scene and other mature content.
The committee returned other books to the library shelves after finding that some did not contain sexual content and others that had sexual content that was age-appropriate when read in their entire context.
Brown has continued her advocacy, calling for the books to be removed.
According to the complaint, Jordan asked the attorney general to reconsider the decision, but the free speech group said that does not prevent the constable from promptly releasing the documents.
“This defiance of Texas law and contempt for the people’s right to know cannot stand,” Steinbaugh wrote.
The letter to Sinclair also stated that the First Amendment and Texas law limit the “range of speech that may properly be criminalized as obscene.”