Judge Tom Gossett gave no leniency to two suspected sex offenders of minors Wednesday morning in his court. In a series of many clean up actions before trial, Gossett considered the requests from two defendants to obtain new defense attorneys.
The first to approach the bench was Terry Lynn Freeman, the so-called Facebook salesman who was netted in a Texas Rangers sting where Rangers found adult men wanting to have sex with DPS investigators posing as minor girls over the Internet. A grand jury indicted Freeman for knowingly soliciting a minor over the Internet to meet for sex.
Freeman’s case has been languishing inside the court system for some time. The State claims Freeman committed the offense Dec. 8, 2014. A grand jury indicted him on Feb. 2, 2015. On Mar. 11, 2015, there was some back and forth over Freeman wanting the State of Texas to provide a defense counsel for him, and by Mar. 11, a defense attorney was appointed.
Freeman, through his attorney Kelly Ellis, and Assistant DA Jason Ferguson made a plea-bargain that was scheduled to be accepted July 14, 2015. The deal was, in return for Freeman’s guilty plea, he would be incarcerated for four years with the Texas Dept. of Criminal Justice. Freeman backed out of that deal at the plea hearing.
By Aug 7, 2015, Freeman was appointed a new counsel, Shawntell McKillop after Ellis moved away from San Angelo and Ellis’ former partner Justin Mock passed away suddenly.
Today, Freeman and McKillop appeared before Judge Gossett where Freeman asked for a new court-appointed attorney. “I don’t feel she is representing me, my side. I feel she is biased,” Freeman said to the judge.
Gossett pressed Freeman for a better reason, or more concrete examples, of why he wants a new attorney. Freeman appeared to have no answer, or at least he didn’t have an answer Gossett would accept.
McKillop told the judge that the entire discovery was completed for Freeman’s defense and that technically she was ready for trial that is scheduled to commence Mar. 21.
Gossett took it all under consideration and announced that he would decide the matter later in the session, after several other pre-trial hearings for other cases were heard.
Later in the morning, Gossett returned to Freeman’s request for a new attorney. Allison Palmer, 51st DA, approached the bench and informed the judge that Freeman’s case was “high on the list for us.”
With that, Gossett announced his decision to move forward with Freeman’s trial, deny the request for a new attorney, and had the grand jury indictment read to Freeman. He will be on trial for a Second Degree Felony with a sentence of 2-20 years and up to a $20,000 fine if found guilty.
When asked if he understood the charges and possible punishment, Freeman answered “yes.” The trial is set for Monday, Mar. 21.
Also appearing in Gossett’s court today requesting a new defense attorney was Jacob Mediano. He is accused of having sex with his 12-year-old niece and getting her pregnant.
The difference is, Mediano hired his attorney. The state didn’t appoint one.
By this time, Gossett wasn’t hearing any of it. “If you hire another attorney, he better be ready because your trial will happen Monday morning,” Gossett said.
“I don’t feel comfortable with going to trial yet,” Mediano replied.
“Most defendants don’t feel comfortable going to trial,” Gossett said.
Mediano’s hired attorney, James Millan from San Antonio had a list of people he subpoenaed for the trial, including the victim’s lawyer Carmen Dusek. The judge quashed the request.
Millan also requested the court to subpoena Judge Jay Weatherby to testify for the defense.
The defense counsel wants information about to whom the child victim made the outcry. There was also a discussion about destroyed evidence from the CPS trial where Weatherby was the judge. The evidence was something like Xeroxed copies of pages from a junior high school yearbook.
“Judges shouldn’t testify in court,” Judge Gossett said.
Gossett then proceeded to lecture Millan on the two issues, that the court cannot recreate something that was destroyed (the photocopied pages from the yearbook), and why judges cannot be witnesses in a trial.
“I’m not going to sign this,” Gossett said of the proposed subpoena of his colleague Judge Weatherby.
Mediano’s brother Jeremiah, the victim’s father, was in the courtroom in support of Jacob. After the hearing was over, Jeremiah approached Asst. DA Ashley Wright who will be prosecuting the case. Wright declined any exchange of words with him, however. The interesting twist in this case is that Texas DPS lists the victim’s father as a registered sex offender. He was convicted of sexual assault of a child with a 13-year-old girl in 2000.
The Mediano trial is scheduled to also begin Mar. 21 at 9 a.m.
Both defendants are free on bond awaiting their trials.
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