Johnson County Confidential

This has been the talk of the courthouse lately, an “expose” of the Johnson County criminal justice system in Fort Worth Weekly by a former editor of High Times Magazine. Among its startling revelations:

1) Johnson County does not have a juvenile detention facility. What a scoop! It’s only been closed for seven years now.

2) If you shoot your wife, and then are too stupid to take the plea bargain offer, there’s a very good chance the jury will jack you up. Who knew?

3) The County Commissioner’s Court is cheap. Fortunately, this parsimonious attitude exists ONLY in Johnson County and not in any of the other 253 counties in Texas.

4) Dale Hanna is not, all appearances to the contrary, a cuddly, bleeding-heart liberal teddy bear. This is a severe shock to those of us who have to deal with him on a daily basis.

There are plenty of legitimate complaints that could be made about how the criminal justice system works (or doesn’t work) in this county. Sadly, none of them made it into this rambling, disjointed, poorly written article.