Is David Turner an incompetent attorney?

[Undecided]

The Judge in the 336th District Court found that he WAS--twice. The following information is a matter of public record in the District Clerk's office in Fannin County and not open to discussion or argument. It is a fact that David Turner was found to be ineffective in his representation of clients in the cases of Randall Gene Walsh, a murder defendant, Cause Number 20077, and Lyndon Hale, accused of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, Cause Number 19397-A. The dates on these cases were not 15 or 20 years ago, but in 2001 and 2005. His defense was cited by the judge in the Walsh case as being "wholly deficient", and resulted in the defendant being granted a new hearing which took place in January of 2008 and resulted in a reduced charge and sentence. Do we really want to elect a man who has been ineffective in a District Courtroom to sit in judgement of the proceedings of another district courtroom? Do we really want our family and friends and perhaps ourselves at the mercy of someone who has demonstrated such inattention to detail that he had a plea bargain reversed? This same man also had a judgement filed against him by a credit card company for not paying his bill just one month ago.(Again, a matter of public record) and has had two speeding tickets--one for his wife and one for himself--dismissed by virtue of his connections and backroom dealings. Is this a man you want to decide your families' fate and set policy for our district. This man had to leave Fannin County after many years of practicing law there because of the aforementioned cases. He relocated to Lamar County to establish a new identity and now has the audacity to represent himself as being quailfied to sit in judgement over other attorneys. I beg you to strongly consider all the evidence and in the secrecy of the ballot box--don't cast a vote for this man. Haven't we had enough incompetency in governance over the last 8 years? Please check out the truth of this post and do the right thing. And if you try to ref8061ute these facts, please respond to the substance of the facts alleged and don't respond by attacking me or the other candidates for the position. Thank you for your consideration.

[Razzle]

Interesting Mr. Hamilton

[Messy]

I would like to know more about the incompetence in government here in the last eight years. Who and what incompetence?

[Undecided]

Razzle wrote:

Interesting Mr. Hamilton

Not Mr. Hamilton, but how about a response to the facts as presented....

[Undecided]

Messy wrote:

I would like to know more about the incompetence in government here in the last eight years. Who and what incompetence?

The reference was mainly aimed at national level politics, specifically the Bush administration, but I bet we all know of instances locally where governance by "Good Ole Boy" has resulted in less than stellar performances....

[Former Parisian]

Undecided wrote:

<quoted text>Not Mr. Hamilton, but how about a response to the facts as presented....

If not Hamilton, then Mr. Lesher. Looks like more of the same stuff on your website.
Hamilton lies about his 'accredited' degree and makes money off it, Nickerson resigns as a judge after only 8 months because he wants his pay doubled, and Turner tries over 300 cases and has a couple of mistakes.
Turner is the one to attack because you think he's leading. I say just let the voters decide it without pointing at one of them and saying look at him! IMO none of the four, including Clifford, are the perfect candidate so we take the best of the lot.

[Hmmmmm]

I think you may be right that this was posted by either Hamilton or Lesher. I think I smell desperation in the air. Dr. (he has a PhD. you know) Hamilton has thrown everything he can dig up on both other candidates, but neither of them has thrown his very sordid past up for consideration. I can appreciate that from both of them because I am truly sick of negative campaigning.

[Undecided]

I am the one who wrote the original post and I have no dog in this fight....but I am the child of a World War II Vet who bore the scars of the Pearl Harbor attack his whole life and believed that protecting the american system of justice was worth the sacrifice....bringing up the qualifications or shortcomings of the other candidates for this office does not in any mitigate nor offset Mr. Turner's basic lack of qualifications and character for the high office he seeks....none of the negative responses have denied the original allegations, which are on their face disqualifying....I don't care who wins this race, I just know that Mr. Turner, in cahoots with the good ole boy system, thinks he can sweep his past under the rug, withhold information from the voters that they should have before they exercise the freedom that my dad and so many others fought for and get away with it....

[Hmmmmm]

Undecided wrote:

I am the one who wrote the original post and I have no dog in this fight....but I am the child of a World War II Vet who bore the scars of the Pearl Harbor attack his whole life and believed that protecting the american system of justice was worth the sacrifice....bringing up the qualifications or shortcomings of the other candidates for this office does not in any mitigate nor offset Mr. Turner's basic lack of qualifications and character for the high office he seeks....none of the negative responses have denied the original allegations, which are on their face disqualifying....I don't care who wins this race, I just know that Mr. Turner, in cahoots with the good ole boy system, thinks he can sweep his past under the rug, withhold information from the voters that they should have before they exercise the freedom that my dad and so many others fought for and get away with it....

Are you sure you don't have a dog in this hunt? If you were interested enough to attend some of the candidate forums, Turner explained the issues regarding the "incompetence" and would probably try to explain it to you in non-lawyer terms. There are lots of us who have parents who fought in the Big War, but I don't see how that has anything to do with the matter at hand. This particular forum was obviously started to sling some mud, and obviously was by a Hamilton insider. Turner and Nickerson both served their country in the military, proudly I'm sure. Mr. Hamilton, on the other hand, has been groomed by his wife for years to run for office. They both were instrumental in getting that very large grant for the probation dept that he says doesn't benefit him at all, but it certainly benefits his wife who gets all the referrals for counseling. There is another site on here all about Dr. Ondrovik, his wife. Maybe you should read there, too.

[Undecided]

PS...to Former Parisian--"A couple of mistakes" had dire consequences in the lives of the familiies impacted by his incompetence...

[Undecided]

I will not be bullied or diverted into becoming a Hamilton or Nickerson defender...the points made in the original post had to do with Mr. Turner's basic qualifications--or lack thereof to be considered for one of the highest offices this land has available....the fundamental issues of Mr. Turner's incompetent representation of TWO clients cannot be refuted successfully, otherwise he would not have been cited in a court of law and upheld by the Texas Court of Appeals...and the other character issues of the unpaid credit card bill and the ticket dismissals have yet to be addressed...this just supports the fundamental disregard of the Turner ilk for the "little people" who are expected to handle their credit cards and traffic tickets...and if you don't see the connection between what World War II and the right to vote, with a full knowledge of the candidates, then I can't help you...once again, a fundamental disconnect of this bunch and the original intention of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights....

[Bambi]

Does anyone know for sure if it's true about the credit card thing and the traffic tickets?? How would you go about finding out? That sort of pisses me off if it's true.

[questioning]

Former Parisian wrote:

<quoted text>
If not Hamilton, then Mr. Lesher. Looks like more of the same stuff on your website.
Hamilton lies about his 'accredited' degree and makes money off it, Nickerson resigns as a judge after only 8 months because he wants his pay doubled, and Turner tries over 300 cases and has a couple of mistakes.
Turner is the one to attack because you think he's leading. I say just let the voters decide it without pointing at one of them and saying look at him! IMO none of the four, including Clifford, are the perfect candidate so we take the best of the lot.

Is a plea bargain the same thing as a trial. I always assumed that when someone says that they have "tried" over 300 cases, that they actually set foot inside the courtroom and addressed a judge and/or jury and presented an entire case. If he is adding in the plea bargains...well that is a whole new ball of ugly wax

[Hmmmmm]

Plea bargains and trials are not the same thing. If he had only had 300 cases of pleas and trials in 30+ years, that would only be about ten cases per year. I don't think he would have made a living with only ten clients a year. Also, the plea bargain he was hit on ended up going back to trial, and the man is in prison again. How ineffective was it, really? I don't know how dire the circumstances were for the felon who ended up in prison again anyway, but who am I to know.

[Tucker]

Hmmmmm wrote:

I think you may be right that this was posted by either Hamilton or Lesher. I think I smell desperation in the air. Dr.(he has a PhD. you know) Hamilton has thrown everything he can dig up on both other candidates, but neither of them has thrown his very sordid past up for consideration. I can appreciate that from both of them because I am truly sick of negative campaigning.

If it's a matter of public record, then it's not negative, is it? I told y'all there was a good old boys system in the area. btw, that's not Hamilton posting, it's one of my fellow co-workers, I told about this site.

I wouldn't want all our hard work catching criminals, to go down the drain if Turner was Judge. A vote for Turner, is a nail in the coffin for Lamar, Fannin, and Red River counties' judicial system.

It seems common sense isn't that common anymore!

[Undecided]

Hmmmmmm, your inability to feel empathy for the families of the victim and the accused is striking. You are correct in that a plea bargain and a trial are not the same which makes the incident of Mr. Turner's ineptness all the more remarkable. A plea bargain in almost NEVER thrown out. This is a colossal mistake--very rarely happens. As for the outcome of the new trial, the defendant plead guilty to manslaughter-not capital murder and not murder-and received a 20 year sentence as opposed to the 35 year plea deal Mr. Turner recommended. He has already served seven and will likely be eligible for parole in another 3 years--quite a different outcome--35 years versus another 3--don't you think? Ask the family. So thanks to Mr. Turner's inattention to the details and basic laziness, the taxpayers were put to the expense of another trial and the defendant, the victim's family and the defendant's family were put through another grueling legal ordeal. Plus, you still haven't responded to the other allegations...what about the judgement on the credit card and the dismissed traffic tickets?...could these incidents not be considered "high-jacking of the courts by 'special interests'?" Turner and family suddenly moved from Fannin County to Lamar County following the findings of the above cases when their revenue stream began to dry up. With the help of their band of cronies, they thought they could pull off the perfect coup and that we, the voters, were too stupid to find out or too complacent to care, that the man can't even practice law effectively--let alone judge the merits of the cases of others....Again, I go back to the original question--would you want this man judging your case or the case of one of your family members? I implore you, please vote for anyone else--or don't vote at all...let's don't fall in line like a bunch of lemmings for this corrupt cabal and their plan for our justice system....it's too important to play games with...

[anonymous]

I used to live in Bonham and a long time ago turner was my brothers lawyer and he was horrible. I would not vote for him for dog catcher.

[sick and tired of phonies]

Susan Turner, AKA Laverne, mmmmmmmm, etc., are you really sure you want to make the candidates' wives personal and professional history part of the campaign?

[anon]

Check out the big donors to the Turner campaign on the Texas Ethics Commission website. Why did attorneys in Austin, Dallas and Houston contribute $30,000.00? What do they expect in return? Interesting reading. You owe it to yourself to look it up before you vote.

[Smiles]

Tucker wrote:

<quoted text>

I told y'all there was a good old boys system in the area. I wouldn't want all our hard work catching criminals,
It seems common sense isn't that common anymore!

Haven't you heard, Common Sense died several years ago and few people attended the funeral because they didn't know Common Sense had died.
There "IS" a good ol boy system in Paris and has been for decades. When cases can be discussed over glasses of "drinks" between the lawyers and judges, then something is definitely wrong with the picture. In many cases the decision has been made before going to court, it's that plain and simple.
Oh yes, the Paris judicial system has been corrupt for a long while. If it was possible, one could ask a fine Police Lt about it and some that is still there and they would definitely verify it.