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Declining to overturn circuit precedent, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Thursday upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit against a Texas county over its employment of a prosecutor who held a moonlighting job as a judicial law clerk. In the lawsuit, Erma Wilson alleges that Midland County violated her due process rights by employing Ralph Petty as a prosecutor at the same time that, unbeknownst to her, he worked as a law clerk for the county judge who handled Wilson's drug-possession case. She was convicted and served an eight-year suspended prison sentence before learning about Petty's dual-employment arrangement through news reports.
Government
December 14, 2023, 5:26 PM