Hood County DA says asking constable to release books records is a conflict of interest
The Hood County district attorney has declined a request from a free speech group to require a constable to release records concerning a criminal investigation after a book review committee member alleged Granbury school district employees were providing pornography to students.
Adam Steinbaugh, an attorney for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, posted a screenshot on Twitter of a letter he received Oct. 5 from district attorney Ryan Sinclair in which he cited a conflict of interest.
Sinclair stated that he “conditionally” supported the withholding of certain categories of information with his investigative file.
Sinclair wrote that if an investigation by Precinct 4 constable Chad Jordan leads to criminal charges, his office would be responsible for reviewing the case.
Asked whether the foundation intends to take legal action, Steinbaugh wrote to the Star-Telegram that it depends on what the Texas attorney general says.
Steinbaugh’s complaint against Jordan alleged that the Open Records Division of Attorney General’s office notified Jordan in July “compelling” him to release the requested documents related to the criminal investigation, but Jordan claimed an exception to releasing them.
Book review committee member’s complaint
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 the entire context.
Jordan has asked the attorney general to reconsider the decision to release the requested information.