Federal judge sets deadlines in Texas City man's wrongful imprisonment lawsuit

HOUSTON - A U.S. District Court judge has set a few key deadlines in a Texas City man's malicious prosecution lawsuit.

Judge Lynn N. Hughes issued a management order May 13 indicating dates up to which Joshua Bledsoe and Galveston County have to perform certain actions.

Bledsoe sued the Galveston County District Attorney's Office, the Texas City Police Department and former county prosecutor Jon Hall in the Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas nearly three months ago on allegations he was jailed for a long time for a crime he did not commit.

Bledsoe's lawsuit shows the plaintiff served 10 months behind bars for aggravated robbery until on or around June 17, 2011, when Galveston County 212th District Court Judge Susan Criss issued a direct verdict in Bledsoe’s favor.

The plaintiff’s acquittal was ordered on the grounds then-Assistant District Attorney Hall and the district attorney’s office withheld exculpatory evidence, the suit says.

A 911 tape with an eyewitness's call secured by the plaintiff's defense attorney and submitted to the court revealed the woman told a dispatcher that the perpetrators were wearing ski masks.

According to the original petition, the eyewitness said she identified Bledsoe in a photographic lineup, however, the suit argues that TCPD and the district attorney’s office coerced her into doing so.

Hall resigned from his post late last year in light of the events which are the focus of Bledsoe’s suit.

Judge Hughes instructed the complainant to identify specific cases where Hall, a practicing criminal attorney, was accused of misconduct by May 31 and to enter a summary judgment by June 14.

She ordered the county to provide Bledsoe information about any case he identifies within a ten-day period.

The defendant has until June 28 to enter a summary judgment and offer a response to that of the plaintiff's.

TCPD and one of its detectives were dismissed from the litigation.

Case No. 4:13-CV-469