You may have heard by now that body cameras are on their way to becoming a required accessory for process servers. Though the most current bill, working its way through the Illinois legislature, only requires body cameras on process servers working in counties with a population higher than three million people, this trend is likely to become an accepted way of being over the next few years. This is especially true considering the newfound prevalence of body cameras in use by law enforcement officers.
All of this makes Steve Hartman’s story that much more significant and indicative of the changing times. It was May of 2013 when Hartman, a process server, walked into Judge Walker’s Texas courtroom to serve the judge with a federal summons relating to a complaint accusing the judge of mistreating a civil rights leader and local criminal defense attorney. According to Hartman, he followed the same procedure he would have with any process serving recipient, but he was quickly arrested for allegedly hindering a proceeding with disorderly conduct.
Signed affidavits from various courtroom employees, including an attorney, deputy, and sergeant, state that Hartman shoved papers in the deputy’s face, attempted to push past a police sergeant, and other actions. However, Hartman claimed at the time that the affidavits were falsified and accused him of criminal actions that he did not commit.
A deeper look into this entire situation revealed that Judge Walker had been under investigation for allegations of corruption, including misusing money from the Texas Indigent Defense Fund, and process server Hartman had been in charge of serving Judge Walker for multiple matters. Hartman had previously filed a complaint against Judge Walker for pulling a gun out during a process serving at the judge’s home. All of this put Hartman’s 2013 arrest into deep suspicion.
Hartman finally had the last laugh when the video from his pen camera was released and used to prove that he had done nothing wrong while trying to serve Judge Walker. In response, he has filed civil suits against more than 24 people involved in the incident, since their lies and deceit would have landed Hartman with a criminal record if his pen camera hadn’t bailed him out.
