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Chaplain and his wife allege misconduct by Wilson County law enforcement during public comments
Summary
During the public-comment period at a Wilson County Commissioners Court meeting, Chaplain Billy Martin accused local law enforcement and the district attorney's office of concealing a felony-level incident involving a firearm; his wife, Lisa Martin, said the family was not told of a deferred adjudication. No formal action was taken by the court.
Chaplain Billy Martin used the court's public-comment period to accuse members of Wilson County law enforcement and the district attorney's office of a cover-up involving an incident in which a man allegedly pulled a pistol on his wife.
Martin, introduced at the podium as Chaplain Billy Martin, told the commissioners he reported the incident to the sheriff's office and was told the case was sent to the district attorney's office as a felony but later learned it had been processed as a misdemeanor. "They didn't even bring charges against this man for pulling a gun on my wife. They brought it against him for misdemeanor assault on me," Martin said.
Martin said deputies and supervisors, including Detective Small and a lieutenant he identified as Dubs (also referenced later in the transcript as Dobbs), failed to properly document or pursue felony-level charges; he also alleged a county assistant prosecutor was involved in a deal that kept him from being informed. "They had a coordinated effort with not the county attorney because the county attorney wasn't corrupt," Martin said.
Lisa Martin, introduced from the audience as the wife of Billy Martin, said the family repeatedly visited the sheriff's office and were not told that the suspect had been placed on deferred adjudication. "We didn't even know until after it happened," she said.
The allegations were made during the public-comment portion of the meeting. The transcript records no formal response from Sheriff Jim Stewart or from a representative of the district attorney's office during the meeting, and no court action or investigation was announced at the session.
The statements in this article reflect allegations made by commenters in the meeting transcript and are reported as such; the court record included the comments but did not show any immediate follow-up action by commissioners. The speakers offered to provide evidence to the court and outside media, and Martin said he would go public with the material he said he had gathered.
