District Judge Stephen Ellis officially dismissed the case of Alfonso Campos (Erath County Judge) v. County Treasurer Kimberly Barrier on a state recommendation after hearing from the defense and prosecution on Nov. 17.
The hearing followed three days of testimony in June after Campos filed the case seeking Barrier’s removal, claiming incompetence. At that time, Ellis ruled that he didn’t believe Barrier was incompetent but said she acted in a manner that gave him “grave concern.” He also said the trial had revealed several problems throughout the county and that there was “plenty of blame to go around.”
Ellis ruled in June that Barrier was to remain in her position as long as two conditions were met. The first condition was that Barrier and Campos meet in-person along with a chosen County Commissioner, the county auditor, county attorney and attorneys from both sides by July 31 to settle all issues. The second condition was for Barrier to resolve all of her main duties in a timely manner including managing bank depository accounts, insurance billings, investments and any delinquent payments authorized by the Commissioners Court
District Attorney Alan Nash, representing Campos, filed a 14-omnibus motion on Nov. 2 asking for dismissal, stating he had done so because he believed the “issues have been remedied” and there was no reason to remove the “confident” and “capable” Barrier from office.
The state in reviewing the brief, agreed there was cause to dismiss the case
Barrier’s attorneys, James Elliott and Ryan Taylor, were asking for a continuance in the Nov. 17 hearing and took contention that both sides would be handling legal fees. Taylor called the case “frivolous” and characterized it as harassment of Barrier without cause.
Nash countered that he took issue with those accusations, stating that he believed there had been issues in May when the case was filed as the county was six month behind on reconciliations but that those issues were no longer present.
Taylor reported he had a witness in Richard Baker, who wanted to report in discoveries he had made after being hired on temporarily to assist in getting budgets for the county reconciled. Taylor said Baker had called the case ‘a waste of time and tax payer money.’ Baker was reportedly facing health issues so he was not able to attend the Nov. 17 hearing.
Elliott added that the defense had tried to attend a meeting between Baker and county officials but were denied the ability to attend. Nash reported that the defense was not invited based on a previous desire from Baker to not have defense present in a meeting.
Ellis briefly reviewed the court costs, with Taylor asking court fees to be taken into consideration.
Ellis also pointed that the original sanction request and counter claims of harassment were denied following three days of testimony.
Ellis said the only argument following the state decision would be a claim under the Texas Citizens Participation Act, under which the defense said it had no claims.
Ellis asked if the defense thought the court should follow through with the state’s recommendation to non-suit the case and Elliott said the order should be followed.
Taylor contended that it was improper to end the case without hearing Baker’s testimony before Ellis ruled that the case be dismissed.