Civil suit dismissed against DA McAfee
The U.S. Federal Courthouse in Austin, where the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas Austin Division presides. INSET: District Attorney Wiley “Sonny” McAfee of the 33rd and 424th judicial districts which include Burnet, Llano, San Saba, and Blanco counties.
One of two civil lawsuits filed in Blanco County against District Attorney Wiley “Sonny” McAfee was dismissed without prejudice on Dec. 28, 2023, by U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman.
“Dismissal was the proper thing to do,” McAfee said in a statement to DailyTrib.com. “As is my usual custom, I don’t talk about facts or circumstances of cases, but the dismissal speaks for itself.”
The case of Jarrett Jay Bous, plaintiff v. Wiley B. McAfee, Jack Schumacher, and Adam Acosta, defendants, was scheduled for a jury trial at 9:30 a.m. Dec. 9, 2024. Schumacher is an investigator for the District Attorney’s office in the 424th and 33rd Judicial District, which includes Burnet, Llano, San Saba, and Blanco counties. Acosta is a sergeant with the Blanco County Sheriff’s Office.
A motion for summary judgment on the second suit was filed by the defendants on Dec. 12, 2023. The case of Zachary P. Hudler, plaintiff, v. Wiley McAfee, Jack Schumacher, James Loving, Adam Acosta, and Blanco County, Texas, defendants, is set for a jury trial on July 8, 2024. The plaintiffs have until Jan. 12 to respond to the motion, which counters Hudler’s charges of false arrest and use of excessive force. Loving is a detective sergeant with the Blanco County Sheriff’s Office.
Both cases are related to the 2020 killing of James Robert Poole in Blanco County. Bous was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and held in the Blanco County Jail for eight months on a $3 million bond. Murder charges against Bous were eventually dismissed. He filed suit in July 2022 charging defendants with presenting false testimony and evidence and with false arrest and imprisonment.
Hudler, who was serving as the attorney for Bous in the murder case, filed his lawsuit in August 2022, claiming false arrest on a charge of evading a search warrant. Hudler claims he was not shown a search warrant before being thrown to the ground in the parking lot of a Johnson City eatery in front of his wife, who was filming the exchange.
Attorney Tanner Franklin of Hightower, Franklin, and James PLLC served as legal representative in both cases. Franklin filed a motion to withdraw as the attorney for Bous in September 2023. The motion was quickly granted by Judge Pitman. Franklin remains the attorney in the Hudler case, while Hudler served as attorney in the Bous case.
Claims against Blanco County in both cases were dismissed with prejudice in February and March 2023 by District Judge Lee Yeakel, who retired last May. Judge Pitman was then assigned to both the Bous and Hudler cases.