IN PROTEST OF Freestone county attorney Chris Martin, the mother of Teague Police Sgt. Shawn Solly, Pat Whittington of Lufkin, marched in front of the Freestone county courthouse Monday. Carrying a protest sign, the mother of a disciplined Teague police officer marched in front of the Freestone county courthouse Monday to protest recent actions by County Attorney Chris Martin.

The actions are a refusal by Martin, who functions as county and district attorney, to accept criminal cases from Sgt. Shawn Solly, and bringing a complaint against the officer to the grand jury last month.

Sgt. Solly was no-billed by the grand jury on complaints of tampering with, or fabricating, physical evidence and tampering with a governmental record.

After the grand jury declined to indict the officer, Martin met with her and Teague Police Chief Dennis Cox to inform them that he would not accept any cases in which Solley was involved.

Sgt. Shawn Solly Monday evening, the sergeant aired a grievance she filed with the City of Teague. Aldermen listened to the officer, asked questions and met for more than two hours in executive session before voting to table any action.

Recently, the county attorney dismissed a dozen criminal cases in which the officer was involved.

“This office has made a decision that it will not accept cases from Sgt. Shawn Solly,” Martin says.

The decision by the county attorney comes down to whether he can trust the officer, and he says he can’t.

“My job as district attorney is not just to get prosecutions, it’s to seek justice,” Martin says. “I will stand by my decision.”

The prosecutor explains that his decision is based on information contending that Sgt. Solly tampered with evidence in an investigation, and falsehoods by the officer in an affidavit filed to secure a search warrant.

In one instance, Martin says that a drug informant was found to be in possession of illegal drugs and was told by the officer to destroy the drugs before executing a controlled “buy” from a suspected drug dealer.

Properly, the county attorney points out, the informant should have been arrested on a drug possession charge.

Martin says the incident was witnessed by another officer who gave a statement about the alleged incident.

“I am following my oath . . . to protect all the citizens of this county and our system of justice,” he declares.

Sgt. Solly’s mother, Pat Whittington of Lufkin, sees things differently and believes that the county attorney is bullying her daughter.

The officer has been a member of the Teague police force for about four years and works drug cases with a canine partner, “Bella.”

The dog was bought for the City of Teague with donations, and the city provided a special vehicle for the officer and canine.

However, Sgt. Solly and Bella have been confined to desk duty since Martin raised questions last September about the officer’s cases.

The drug detection dog may be reassigned for training with a new handler.

“We want to get Bella back to her trainer and for her to be able to do her job,” Mrs. Whittington says.

The mother believes that her daughter, and canine partner, should have been returned to full duty after the grand jury declined to indict.

“Officer Solly wants to be able to do her job and fight the war on drugs,” Mrs. Whittington declares.

Along with the courthouse protest, a petitition is being passed around seeking to return Sgt. Solly and Bella to their jobs.

In the city council session, the officer said that she had done nothing wrong and that the grand jury bore that out by declining to return a criminal indictment against her.

The officer says that she was improperly demoted by Police Chief Dennis Cox, noting that demotions can only be made by the mayor or city administrator, and that she should have received additional pay under federal wage guidelines for her work with Bella.

Alderman James Monks points out that the sergeant has retained her rank and not been demoted, but has simply been assigned to desk duties.

Alderman Mark Hargis says that Sgt. Solly turned down additional pay on more than one occasion.

“I asked you. I wanted to give you more money,” Hargis says.

The officer requests that she be returned to her regular duties and that she be allowed to file cases with the county attorney, even though he has said that he will refuse them.

“Let me present my own cases. Let me do my job,” Sgt. Solly says.

Teague city attorney Charlie Buenger notes that the city did not start this standoff, the county attorney did, and there may be no way to fix it short of the ballot box.

“Even if you took cases to the grand jury, he still could decline to prosecute. I don’t know how we could fix that,” Buenger says. “Your remedy, I think is going to be at the ballot box.”

He also points out that the city’s problem is that it has two assets, the officer and canine, that are not effective.

Mayor Jacquline Utsey interprets the officer’s wish is for the city to stand behind her in the impass with Martin.

“He has killed her career in Freestone county by saying he will not take her cases,” the mayor says. “If she works the cases and he opts not to take them, it’s on his back.”

The officer also reports that she has contacted the office of Texas Attorney General to see what it would take to get an investigation started into the possibility of a crime being committed by the county attorney during the grand jury session, but that Cox would not consider pursuing such a course.

Although the sergeant stated her own case before the Teague council, she was represented by Richard L. Aman of Houston, an attorney with Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas who offered his opinions.

“I think this is a political thing,” Aman says. “I think the pressure should be on the district attorney to right this thing. I think she should continue to work cases and let him tell the newspapers why he won’t take them.

“If he has something against Shawn, he needs to take some action. If you keep hammering on him, he’s going to collapse.”

Along with hearing the grievance, the council agenda contained an item to consider selling Bella to the officer. Sale of the canine officer was not addressed at the meeting.

A potential problem with selling Bella to Sgt. Solly would be that the city would have to take bids to dispose of property.

Aldermen cannot address the items again until its regular meeting April 12 because two vacancies on the council have depleted their number to the point that a special meeting cannot be called.

The Teague council will not have a full contingent until after a May election.