Fired chief deputy testifies as trial of Johnson County Sheriff Adam King opens
Johnson County Sheriff Adam King thought the devil was after him, and asked then-chief deputy James Saulter multiple times to have his back, Saulter said in a marathon testimony Tuesday.
King is being tried this week in Cleburne on a charge of retaliating against the former chief deputy after Saulter reported King’s sexual harassment of a female employee last year, according to the indictment in the case.
The employee, Anna Goodloe, reported that King told her that she would need to disrobe before he would sign any documents, as well as commenting on her weight loss.
Goodloe was so affected by the harassment that there were days she would pull over on the side of the highway to vomit as she drove into work, she told WFAA-TV last year.
Judge John Wilson Weeks on Monday tasked a jury of seven men and five women with determining whether King retaliated against Saulter by threatening to take “adverse personnel action” against him after learning Saulter had reported his conduct to the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office, the Star-Telegram previously reported.
The case had originally been scheduled for trial in May, but was pushed back after prosecutors alleged King had violated the court order allowing him to remain on the job by firing Saulter after he was told not to have contact with witnesses in the case.
If convicted of the crime, King could face anywhere from two to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
The defense has said King will testify during the trial.
Case is all about timing, prosecutors argue
The case against King is about “what he knew and when he knew it,” Assistant District Attorney Jason Judd told the jury in his opening statement.
In addition to Saulter, Judd said, other chief deputies with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office will testify, as will the Texas Rangers who investigated the initial reports of sexual harassment against King.
The prosecution, Judd said, will prove that King “didn’t have a problem with Saulter until he needed one.”
Saulter’s world has been “turned upside down” in the aftermath of the upheaval at the sheriff’s office, Judd said, reminding the jury at the end of his brief statement that the case was strongly tied to the idea that no one is above the law.
Defense says allegations are manufactured
In delivering his opening statement, King’s attorney Mark Daniel characterized Goodloe’s accusations as “manufactured,” and said the defense would say “appalling” things about how the allegations came to be.
Judge Weeks warned Daniel to limit his statement only to what the defense intends to prove after Daniel spent a significant portion of the statement elaborating on King’s background as an Army policeman, and his work with then-governor George Bush.
Defense attorneys will also prove that the allegations against King were fabricated as part of a larger conspiracy to install Saulter as the county sheriff, Daniel said. That plot, which included the district attorney’s office, had been afoot for a while, and the 2025 incidents created the “perfect storm” for a “full-blown coup” against King, the defense attorney said.
Saulter was disciplined in 2025 not because of the harassment allegations he reported involving Goodloe but because he circulated rumors about King having sex with another former employee, Daniel said. The resulting administrative leave essentially amounted to “a paid vacation” for Saulter and did not meet the definition of adverse action, he continued.
The defense attorney characterized Goodloe’s allegations as “vaulted into the stratosphere” and said King merely made encouraging remarks after Goodloe had bariatric surgery
For King, the case has been an “incredible nightmare,” Daniel said.
Deputy describes day he was placed on leave
At the time that King asked Saulter to “have his back,” King was not aware that Saulter had been the one to report the misconduct to the authorities, Saulter testified. Saulter initially did not disclose that to King because he feared retaliation, a fear he said came from listening to the way King spoke about Anna Goodloe.
King remarked that he would like to handcuff Goodloe and take her across the street to the county jail, Saulter said.
At the end of July 2025, Saulter told King that he and the other chief deputies were cooperating with the Texas Rangers’ investigation, and advised King not to speak to him, he said. Saulter gave that advice because he foresaw a day that “someone was talking about it on a witness stand,” he continued.
Saulter described that conversation as the hardest thing he’s ever done.
On the day that Saulter was placed on administrative leave, he described seeing King visibly shaking from anger. When King gave him the option to either go to the sheriff’s office or leave the premises, Saulter opted to leave because he feared becoming “a hostage” in King’s office, he said.
What followed was one of the day’s most-contested points of Saulter’s testimony: an allegation that King left the chief deputy with no choice but to walk home in the heat of August, having revoked access to his service vehicle and barred him from asking another deputy for a ride.
On questioning from the defense, Saulter eventually admitted that it had been his choice to walk home from the office rather than accept a ride from King, mainly due to the hostility he sensed.
Saulter was eventually allowed to return to the office when Capt. Ben Arriola took over as acting sheriff after King placed himself on administrative leave, he said. Arriola later dropped the investigation into Saulter without further action.
Saulter broke down on the stand when asked about the effects of the case on his life.
“I can’t eat, I can’t sleep, and this is the last thing I wanted to do,” he said through tears. “But I’m bound by law, I took an oath.”
Testimony will continue at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
This story was originally published June 23, 2026 at 5:43 PM.
