There’s only one source so far saying this, but former Ferris councilman and Democratic county commissioner nominee Victor Burnett, who was sentenced to seven years in prison for altering an inspection sticker, is reportedly “out early.”
Anyone know any definitive information on this? Waxahachie attorney Cindy Ermatinger was his defense attorney, which might explain Burnett’s early release.
Burnett is an interesting character. He blew the whistle on years worth of corruption in the Ferris Police Department, and he’s been in run-ins with law enforcement ever since. He’s a former deputy (or was it investigator?) with the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office. He ran for county commissioner against Hallie Joe Robinson, D-Palmer, in the Democratic primary, but barely lost. Robinson, the predecessor to nephew and current Republican Commissioner Dennis Robinson, R-Palmer, held the seat for two terms before handing the baton off to Dennis.
Victor, for all of his faults, never deserved the inspection sticker sentence. It’s pretty much insane, but I know why our prosecutors had to do it: because they weren’t about to indict legitimate public officials involved in corruption. Joe Grubbs‘ office hasn’t prosecuted public corruption in a while.
Anyway, I doubt Burnett will want to get into politics again, but if he does, he’s got one supporter right here.
2 Comments
November 14, 2007 at 7:06 am
I know the cops had it in for Burnett but seven years for an inspection sticker charge?
Seems to me there was more to it than just this one charge. It had to be enhanced by other infractions. I don’t recall what these were but as he had a running battle with law enforcement for a while it is easy for them to load on particularly to a guy who wore a badge and turned on the thin blue line. Does anyone know the actual charge, sentence and circumstances?
Harry
November 14, 2007 at 9:11 am
The Texas Rangers as well as University in dalls arrested him for Impersonating a Peace Officer, He was attempting to pull over people by flashing a badge at them. He also had a aggravated assault case out of Dallas PD. They just lumped all the cases into one.