Cheerleader assault case leads to federal lawsuit

KFDM News has learned the parents of a Silsbee High School cheerleader filed a federal lawsuit late Friday afternoon against Hardin County District Attorney David Sheffield and the Silsbee school district as well as four other people.

The federal civil lawsuit, a copy of which KFDM News obtained Friday afternoon, stems from the case of three football players at the school who were accused of sexually assaulting a cheerleader last October during a house party in Silsbee.

The girl says she was pushed into a room and the door was locked while she was sexually assaulted.

The three students were arrested and charged and District Attorney David Sheffield presented the case to a grand jury in January. The grand jury chose not to indict the teens.

They returned to Silsbee High School where the cheerleader continues to attend classes.

Houston area attorney Larry Watts filed a federal lawsuit Friday afternoon in the Eastern District of Texas, naming Hardin County District Attorney David Sheffield, Silsbee ISD Superintendent Richard Bain, two other school employees and the two older teens who weren't indicted.

Among other contentions in the lawsuit, Watts says in a meeting with the girl's father prior to the grand jury convening, Sheffield told the father "that although the evidence.. was strong and exceeded the requisite requirement for probable cause, the Grand Jury was racially divided and that the black Grand Jurors would not vote to return an indictment.. because of the race factor. Sheffield said, nevertheless, he would take the matter to the Grand Jury to 'see what happens.'"

The girl is white and the teens are black.

Watts says after the grand jury no-billed the teens, Sheffield spoke with the girl's father and "even laughed during his discussion of the case.. and made light of the assault."

The lawsuit also alleges some political supporters who backed Sheffield in the election for Hardin County District Attorney were against an indictment and might have influenced how the case was handled.

David Sheffield strongly denies the allegations and others contained in the lawsuit. He sent a response to KFDM News:

"This is simply an attempt to bully me into a manipulation of the grand jury process. The grand jury was presented with 3 hours of evidence and testimony. The Grand Jury deliberated and returned with their decision to no-bill the indictments. By law I am required to present evidence to a Grand Jury before I can proceed with a criminal prosecution and I am bound by their decision. I am sorry that they were disappointed with the outcome, however, I will not be bullied or intimidated by.. Mr. Watts or anyone else into doing anything other than following the law and the evidence in a criminal case."

Watts claims school administrators treated the girl unfairly and temporarily excluded her from cheerleading when she refused to cheer for one of the teens who had been charged with attacking her.  The lawsuit states the district denied the girl "equal protection of policies and law, deprived her of her protected liberty interests without due process of law, and retaliated against her for her non-violent or disruptive speech in protest of her having been assaulted."

Silsbee ISD Superintendent Richard Bain told KFDM News he would be "reluctant to comment on the lawsuit without consulting with the school district's attorney."

In his lawsuit, Watts states he's seeking a jury trial and declaratory judgment that Sheffield has violated the plaintiffs' constitutional rights.  Plaintiffs are seeking monetary compensation for what they call the harm the defendants have inflicted on the girl.  The lawsuit also seeks punitive or exemplary damages and attorneys' fees.

Stay with KFDM News for the latest on the lawsuit.