Texas Senate Candidate In President’s District Jailed — Will Habeas Corpus Be Tested In Central Texas?

Will Habeas Corpus Be Tested In Central Texas?

WAXAHACHIE While most candidates for public office are knocking on doors, attending “meet the candidates'” events, debating, and speaking to constituents, the Libertarian candidate for State Senate, District 22 which includes the President’s ranch has for nearly three weeks been virtually incommunicado in a jail in Ellis County, the northern segment of the 10-county district that includes Bosque, Coryell, Ellis, Falls, Hill, Hood, Johnson, McLennan, Navarro, and Somervell.

Late Monday, following inquiries by the press and pressure from his daughter, mother, and girl friend, Phil Smart was released.

Smart, 49, of Palmer, a Certified Public Accountant, was arrested on Oct. 10 on charges of assault causing bodily injury, a probation violation, and running a stop sign, an official at the Wayne McCollum Detention Center in Waxahachie told The Iconoclast on Saturday. At that time, Smart had not been arraigned and bond had not been set, nor had his attorney visited with him during the extended incarceration.

On Saturday, detention center personnel denied The Iconoclast access to Smart to discuss with him his stance on pertinent issues regarding his campaign, but his girl friend, Donna Watson, was able to visit with him that evening and asked Smart a few questions on behalf of the newspaper.

Watson said that she had been concerned for Smart’s well-being, since he takes prescription drugs for health conditions, such as high blood pressure, and had been denied them for several days during his incarceration.

Michelle Shinghal, a journalist for Hammer of Truth, who on Sunday contacted the detention center housing Smart, was told by officials there that Smart was arrested on Oct. 10, but the charge of running the stop sign was listed as occurring on Oct. 19, while Smart was in jail. After having her inquiry transferred to the booking department, Shinghal said that officials could not confirm the dates for the assault charge or the stop sign violation, but said that the assault charge was actually a probation violation and a misdemeanor charge, but that Smart could not be released until seen by a judge. Shinghal said she was told that it could take a month or more for Smart to see a judge.

But things changed Monday, when his daughter picked him up at the detention center.

In an interview with The Iconoclast, Smart said that there was actually only one charge, running a stop sign, which he says he did not do. He claims the stop is just another in a series of strange events that happen when he runs for political office, which he did in 2004, for county commissioner of Precinct 1 and was likewise arrested during the waning weeks of the campaign and was let out after the election was over.

On Monday night, Smart told The Iconoclast that on the day of his arrest he knew he was being followed by a traffic cop and was driving carefully.

“It’s not all that unusual to have a cop behind you, but, like most people, I exercised extra caution. When I came to the stop sign, he was right behind me. I turned on my right turn signal and let a car pass that I needed to let pass, then waited for a second car to pass. It did.

“I made the turn and then after he (the cop) turned, he stopped me.”

Smart continued, “He claimed that I failed to stop at the stop sign, which is absolutely false.

“I’ve got a cop riding my bu