This year Peter Churchman has been arrested twice — even though he’s apparently the victim, and not the perpetrator, of a crime. In addition to spending five nights in jail in two different counties, the 23-year-old Southwest Texas State business major had to repeat two classes and delay his graduation from April to August 2003, and will have to have his criminal record expunged.
Churchman says he understands that mistakes happen everywhere — including the Hays Co. District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted him after a burglar stole his checkbook last October and used it to write a slew of hot checks. But he’d still like them to apologize for screwing up at his expense. Furthermore, he’s shocked by how much effort Hays Co. invested in going after him for an estimated $1,200 — “It seems they went overboard” — and how little concern they’ve shown for the hassle he had to endure.
Churchman’s legal troubles began this spring, several months after a burglar pried open the window of his Ford pickup and stole several items, including his checkbook. To protect his savings, Churchman notified his bank; he also reported the incident to the San Marcos Police Dept. Meanwhile, the burglar — who apparently suffers from addictions to Mexican food and packaged snacks (many of the checks were written at a Sac-N-Pac) — went on a spending spree.
Eventually, Churchman’s bank dishonored the hot checks, but a warrant was issued for his arrest. During the middle of finals week last spring, the police visited Churchman, told him they were taking him to “see the judge,” and carted him off to the Hays Co. Jail.
Though he’s no conspiracy theorist, Churchman believes the timing was suspect. Why didn’t they arrest him before finals week, or after, he asks? “They didn’t issue a summons or anything,” he laments. “I would have gone to them — I was innocent.” Besides the fact that Churchman had his police report in hand, the burglar didn’t even use the right name when writing the hot checks, signing the checks “Paul.”
Initially, Churchman’s bail was set at $20,000, later reduced to $6,000. After he spent two days and three nights in jail, his father helped him pay bail, and he was freed. In May, he appeared in the Hays Co. Courthouse on the hot check charges. Hays Co. Assistant District Attorney Karen Meinke, who handled his case, asked how he wanted to pay for the checks, he says. Churchman explained that he hadn’t written them, but Meinke called for additional investigation, and Churchman submitted to a handwriting analysis.
“It sucked,” he says bluntly. “I wanted Hays County to say, ‘We made a mistake. Let him go.’ But they didn’t.”
With the case pushed back until September, the county kept his $6,000 bond. Then, in June, police stopped Churchman for doing 39mph in a 35-mile zone in Martindale, discovered an outstanding warrant against him, and took him to the Caldwell Co. Jail in Lockhart. (Meinke acknowledged in a June 28 memo that her office had erred in not canceling the warrant.) Since Churchman was arrested on a Saturday, he says, Caldwell Co. officials couldn’t verify his innocence with the Hays Co. DA Office, which was closed for the weekend. He spent two more nights in the pokey before being let go on personal recognizance.
In September, Meinke called Churchman to say that all charges against him finally had been dismissed; earlier this month, he reclaimed his bond money. Yet Austin attorney Laura Winter, who is helping Churchman resolve his legal troubles and get his record expunged, hasn’t entirely ruled out another blunder on the DA’s part. “We’re not sure that there won’t be another warrant out there in the future,” she said.
Throughout his ordeal, Churchman says, Meinke was dismissive and none too helpful. “She treats me as though whether [I’m] guilty or not guilty, it makes no difference,” he said. Neither Meinke nor Hays Co. District Attorney Michael Wenk responded to the Chronicle‘s requests for comment.
Prior to this year, the extent of Churchman’s criminal record was a DWI charge when he was 18 years old. Now, Winter says, “He’s got an arrest record that looks like [that of] a habitual criminal, and all he did was have his checkbook stolen.” Aside from expunction of his record, which Churchman plans to initiate next month, no legal remedies are available to him, Winter notes. According to legal precedent, the state is protected by sovereign immunity for failing to cancel the outstanding warrants as long as there was no malicious intent. “This case appears to be simple negligence,” she said.
Churchman says that even if the law permitted him to sue the county for his troubles, he wouldn’t do it for the money. He’d just like them to apologize — and try harder to avoid making the same mistake in the future. “If it happened to me, it’s bound to happen somewhat often,” he said.
This article appears in November 1 • 2002.