Former Hockley County Sheriff Fights to Get Job Back

Former Hockley County Sheriff David Kinney was in a court room in Levelland today trying to get his job back.  Kinney was removed from his position after two of his deputies were arrested in July in connection with a meth trafficking ring.  Both have since plead guilty.

The day began with testimony from Gary Moran.  Moran is a state narcotics investigator with intimate knowledge of Operation Flatland.  That's the operation that resulted in 28 arrests in a meth trafficking ring in July.

For two hours County Attorney Chris Dennis set the stage for Judge Blair Cherry out of Lubbock.  He made former Chief Deputy Gordon Bohannon out to be clearly in the wrong, a man who bragged about his association with motorcycle gangs and threatened others with his connections.  He made it seem as if Bohannon's shady behavior was so obvious that Sheriff Kinney must have known about it, or, if he was not aware of Bohannon's involvement, then he was incompetent, and so unfit to be the sheriff of Hockley County.

Kinney's lawyer, Lubbock defense attorney Rod Hobson, countered by noting that Bohannon had used ring leader Bobby Froman as an informant to make drug busts in the past.  So Kinney had no reason to believe that there was anything illegal going on between Bohannon and Froman.

Then things got really interesting.

The former sheriff himself took the stand and answered hours of questions from County Attorney Chris Dennis.

He did not do himself any favors as he proved unable to recall names, dates, conversations, and even the specifics of certain laws.

At one point, Kinney admitted to having a conversation with a member of the sheriff's office despite being served with an order forbidding him to do exactly that just two days before.  When asked why he did so, he said he was unaware that the man was a reserve deputy.  You'd certainly expect the sheriff to know who is affiliated with his office.

This hearing is expected to wrap up tomorrow.  When it does, we'll know whether or not David Kinney is once again the sheriff of Hockley County.