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Texas County judge sued for allegedly violating rights of group in his courtroom

Texas County Associate Circuit Judge Douglas Gaston is being sued for allegedly “conspiring” to imprison a couple in his courtroom, thus violating their rights, according to a recent lawsuit. 

Arthur and Norma Rogers of neighboring Wright County, along with son-in-law William Hale, were seated in Gaston’s courtroom in June 2017 for a custody hearing regarding the Rogers’ granddaughter, the lawsuit said. 

The three were not parties to the case, but the suit alleged Gaston “conspired” with officers in the court to have the three taken into custody, tested for drugs, and detained. The suit said Hale, who suffers from diabetes, was restrained around the ankle. He developed an ulcer and had to have a partial amputation of his foot — an ailment he had experienced before, the lawsuit said. 

The Rogers and Hale are represented by Anthony Rothert and Gillian Wilcox of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Missouri. Gaston was not able to respond to the allegations when reached by The Missouri Times, citing the “Canons of Judicial Ethics.” 

Multiple John and Jane Does, who “are bailiffs, sheriff or deputy sheriffs, and/or jail employees of the Texas County Sheriff’s Office” are also named in the suit. It was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

“These actions — including arresting and drug testing Plaintiffs without a warrant, detaining them without probable cause, and restraining them in an objectively unreasonable way — violated Plaintiffs’ rights under the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments,” the lawsuit said. “Further, Defendant Gaston, who is prone to losing his temper, has since ordered the arrest, drug testing, and detention without probable cause of an unrelated nonparty in an unrelated matter, which the other Defendants carried out.” 

According to the lawsuit, Norma Rogers and Hale were released that same day. Arthur Rogers was detained overnight and released the following day. 

“Mr. Rogers repeatedly ignores commands of the Court and uses inappropriate language after repeated warnings,” Gaston said in his contempt order, according to the lawsuit. 

The suit also said Hale had previously suffered an ulcer on the same foot that required a partial amputation and required a prescription insert in his foot. The lawsuit said Hale suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and hypertension as well as diabetes and uses an implantable stimulator to relieve pain; he activated it multiple times while in custody because of pain in the restrained leg, the lawsuit said. 

A new ulcer on the same foot formed while Hale was detained, and a portion of his foot was amputated again in October 2017, according to the suit. 

“No judge is above the law,” Rothert said in a statement. “Judge Gaston, of all people, should know this.”

The custody case regarding the Rogers’ granddaughter is ongoing, but they are afraid to return to court, the lawsuit said. 

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