The criminal case against a man arrested for clapping at a Tarrant County Commissioners Court meeting has been dropped.
Charles Hermes was arrested on Jan. 28 when he clapped for a speaker, after County Judge Tim O’Hare warned him not to clap. He fell to the floor as sheriff’s deputies moved in on him, and they carried him out by his wrists and ankles.
Hermes was charged with hindering proceedings by disorderly conduct, a high-level misdemeanor that can be punished with up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine. The case was dismissed in July, but Hermes’ attorney, Mark Streiff, said in an interview Thursday he's still concerned about free speech at county meetings.
“Tim O'Hare and some of the commissioners, they don't like being called out for what they're doing by their constituents,” he said.
The court was debating new rules of decorum at the Jan. 28 meeting where Hermes was arrested. The new rules came after meetings full of expulsions and arrests. O’Hare — who is in charge of enforcing commissioners court rules — has said he’s trying to run fair, civil meetings.
Prosecutors agreed to drop Hermes' case in exchange for Hermes taking an online class about impulse control and making a charitable donation, Streiff said.
"It's what we call a conditional dismissal,” he said. “It's when the state is of the opinion it doesn't really need to go to trial. It's not, like, such a heinous case that there needs to be a strong prosecution of it.”
KERA News reached out to Hermes and the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office for comment and will update the story if they respond.
Carolyn “Carolina” Rodriguez, a local YouTuber who films interactions with police, was also arrested at the Jan. 28 meeting, after she cussed and shouted.
Her case went to trial, where Tarrant County prosecutor Lloyd Whelchel argued the commissioners court is allowed to enforce rules of decorum, and that Rodriguez is a sensationalist who wants views. Streiff – who also represented Rodriguez – said his client was being penalized for cussing, a free speech issue.
Judge Brian Bolton ruled Rodriguez's case didn't involve free speech. The jury convicted her and sentenced her to probation.
CJ Grisham, an attorney and Second Amendment activist, was also thrown out of the January 28 meeting for cussing, but he was not arrested. He filed a lawsuit against county officials for that expulsion and another one on Jan. 14.
Hermes has been arrested twice for disruptions at Tarrant County Commissioners Court meetings. He was also arrested at a pro-Palestine protest at the University of Texas at Arlington, where he taught for years. UTA placed him on administrative leave in March, citing student complaints, but Hermes refuted that, sharing a positive employee review with the Fort Worth Report.
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