Stand With Big Bend Times Against Corruption
A video recorded in October 2023 shows Big Bend Times publisher David Flash calmly and lawfully photographing a public notice at the Jeff Davis County Courthouse — an interaction that now forms part of the basis for a criminal harassment charge filed months later. The video directly contradicts key claims made by county officials. According to Flash, the remainder of the charge relies on equally false and misleading statements, carefully crafted to portray him in a negative light while omitting misconduct by those in power.
The October visit followed a series of phone calls Flash made to the Justice of the Peace office earlier that day. On those calls, Flash says he was simply trying to learn the content of a newly posted sign about courthouse recording policies. The assistant repeatedly interrupted him, accused him of trying to argue about the policy, and ultimately hung up without providing the information.
“I wasn’t trying to debate her policy,” Flash said. “I was trying to find out what it actually was. If she had just told me what the sign said, I wouldn’t have had to go photograph it myself.”
Instead, Flash went in person to photograph the sign for reporting purposes. As he approached the office, the assistant abruptly shut the door in his face. Flash remained in the public hallway, silently photographing the sign. Moments later, she reopened the door. From her desk inside, the Justice of the Peace began speaking to Flash and falsely claimed that photographing her without consent was a criminal offense.
“You’re taking pictures without my consent.”
“Is that a crime?” Flash asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“What’s the crime, ma’am? Please articulate the crime.”
“You’re fixing to go to jail.”
The judge also labeled Flash’s lawful behavior as “citation legal” — a term she never explained but appeared to use as a vague justification for calling law enforcement. When asked to specify the law allegedly being broken, she could not.
Throughout the video, Flash calmly recounts the earlier phone calls — offering viewers a transparent timeline of events. His tone remains measured and professional, in stark contrast to the assistant’s later written narrative, which falsely accuses Flash of being verbally abusive over the phone.
“The video tells a completely different story than the one they tried to write after the fact,” Flash said. “You can hear me explain the calls calmly and respectfully. Their narrative doesn’t hold up.”
The full encounter, streamed live, shows Flash never entered the office, never raised his voice, and never made any threat. The judge was not in court and was seated at her desk wearing a hat — confirming the space was an office, not a courtroom. Texas law permits the public to photograph public officials in public spaces.
Despite this, officials later cobbled together a criminal case by compiling prose-based narratives about the October event and other unrelated interactions. These statements — produced well after the incident — contain conflicting and demonstrably false claims. A sheriff’s deputy, for example, inaccurately claimed Flash opened the office door. The video — and the assistant’s own account — confirms she reopened it.
Officials also briefly explored a charge of “evading arrest or detention,” despite the fact that a Justice of the Peace has no legal authority to detain anyone under Texas law. That effort was abandoned.
In April 2024, Flash was charged with harassment and, briefly, with terroristic threat — a Class B misdemeanor. Only the harassment charge is being pursued. The October visit forms part of that charge, while the rest is based on emotionally charged, vague, and unsupported claims — many of which omit key facts, such as the judge falsely threatening jail or misrepresenting the law.
“They tried to cobble a case together from misstatements, omissions, and fiction,” Flash said. “The video contradicting their claims is typical. The rest of the statements are equally spurious — and what they leave out is just as revealing.”
Flash has not yet filed a lawsuit but has submitted formal notices of claim against multiple county officials — a required legal step before pursuing certain civil actions in Texas. Jeff Davis County has hired an El Paso-based defense firm in response, suggesting the county views the matter as a significant liability.
Big Bend Times has requested public records and continues to investigate what appears to be a pattern of misusing law enforcement and judicial authority to intimidate members of the press and stifle accountability.
The public can judge for themselves. The video is available — and it tells a very different story than the one county officials tried to construct on paper.
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