Llano County faces 4 pending federal civil suits
Llano County is involved in four civil suits before Judge Robert Pitman in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division. The latest includes Llano County in an election dispute with the Texas Secretary of State.
Another lawsuit that includes Llano County was recently filed in federal district court, adding a fourth to a list of lawsuits on the Executive Session agenda for a special meeting of the Llano County Commissioners Court on Monday, April 1.
The court meets at 9 a.m. in the Justice of the Peace Precinct 4 courtroom, 2001 North Texas 16, in Llano. (For other agenda items, see Government Meetings for the week of April 1.)
The latest suit includes one local person, Madelon Highsmith, in a list of five plaintiffs versus the Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson, Director of the Elections Division of the Texas Secretary of State Christina Adkins, and the election administrators of three counties: Llano, Williamson, and Bell. Andrea Wilson is the Llano County elections administrator.
The suit is referred to in short as Pressley et al. v. Nelson et al. It was filed on March 26 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division, and assigned to District Judge Robert Pitman, no stranger to Llano County lawsuits. The very next day, Pitman denied the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order and temporary injunction.
As registered voters in either Llano, Williamson, or Bell counties, plaintiffs Laura Pressley, Robert Bagwell, Teresa Soll, Thomas L. Korkmas, and Highsmith ask for “injunctive relief to protect the integrity and secrecy of their in-person ballots and, indeed, the in-person ballots of all Texas voters using the Secretary (of State)’s wrongful authorization for ballot number tracking through voting system software provided by Tex. Sec. of State Election Advisory 2019-23, Section 13.”
Plaintiffs claim that it is possible to use election records subject to the Public Information Act to match the unique identifier/ballot tracker on the voting system equipment in Llano, Williamson, and Bell counties to reveal individual voter identities.
The injunction request seeks to restrain defendant counties from numbering electronic ballots with computerized random unique identifier/ballot trackers.
Pitman ruled that the plaintiffs did not meet either of two requirements of the rules for a TRO, including not notifying defendants in writing that a TRO application was being filed.
“More substantively, plaintiffs have not shown why their alleged injury requires a highly accelerated form of relief,” Pitman wrote in his order. “Plaintiffs’ request for an order prohibiting the manipulation of ballot data is more backward-looking, in that it relates to the potential misuse of existing voting data. However, that alleged injury still lacks any threat of immediate harm.”
Baker vs. Llano County
The second most recent civil lawsuit filed against Llano County involves former Kingsland head librarian Suzette Baker. The suit was filed on March 4 and claims Baker was fired in March 2022 for refusing to remove books about racial minorities and LGBTQ+ individuals from its collection.
It, too, was filed in the U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas, and assigned to Judge Pitman. Defendants are listed as Llano County, Llano County Commissioners Court, Llano County Judge Ron Cunningham, Llano County Library Director Amber Milum, Precinct 4 Commissioner Jerry Don Moss, and Library Advisory Board members Bonnie Wallace, Rochelle Wells, Rhonda Schneider, and Gay Baskin.
The defendants have been served and have until April 1 for some and April 2 for others to answer. No attorneys for the defendants have been listed on court papers as of Friday, March 29.
Little vs. Llano County
Little et al. v. Llano County et al. involves the same defendants as the Baker suit. It was filed in April 2022 in the same court and assigned to the same judge.
Defendants’ attorney Jonathan Mitchell appealed a temporary injunction issued by Judge Pitman to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans. The injunction ordered the return of 17 books to library shelves and the digital catalog. The books were returned, but all other actions, including a jury trial originally set for October 2023, are on hold pending the appeal court’s ruling.
Mirelez vs. Llano County
Adam Mirelez v. Llano County, Williamson County, Llano County Sheriff’s Department, Williamson County Sheriff’s Department, Officer John Doe #1, and Officer John Doe #2 was filed on Sept. 11, 2023, by Mirelez, who is serving a 40-year sentence in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for unlawful possession of two firearms.
Mirelez was found guilty of the charges by a Llano County jury on Aug. 24, 2022. As a convicted felon on parole at the time, Mirelez could not legally have possession of firearms.
In his handwritten complaint, Mirelez says he was surrendering peacefully and complying with all orders of the arresting officers when he was assaulted by those same officers.
“In a premeditated and malicious assault that caused bodily injury, two unknown SWAT officers, herein named as Officer John Doe Numbers One and Two, shot the Plaintiff twice in the leg with non-lethal rounds at close range,” Mirelez wrote in his complaint.
He suffered a broken femur that required surgery and caused him permanent disability, he said.
This case is also before Judge Pitman in the Western District of Texas. Pitman denied appointed counsel in the case. Mirelez has a legal right to a defense counsel in a criminal case but not as a plaintiff in a civil case. Currently, Mirelez is representing himself. Llano County is represented by Michael A. Shaunessy of McGinnis Lochridge LLP in Austin.
On Feb. 6, Pitman granted defendants’ request to re-file a summary judgment motion.