By Loyd Cook
Navarro County law enforcement officials have issued an arrest warrant for Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace Donna Murray, who did not show up at her Justice Center offices on Monday or Tuesday.
The warrant, officially issued late Monday afternoon, lists possession of a controlled substance under one gram, methamphetamine, as the charge.
“We’d just like to get her in and let it work through the court system,” said Mike Cox, Navarro County Sheriff’s Office chief deputy. “We hope she’ll turn herself in so the charges can work their way through the judicial system.”
Attached to the warrant, a probable cause affidavit states what lead up to a search and discovery last Friday of what was believed to be, at the time, a residue of methamphetamine.
Stan Farmer, a NCSO detective, “requested and received verbal consent” to search Murray’s personal vehicle, a 2005 Chevrolet Tahoe.
During the search of the vehicle, detectives found a black makeup case in the center console that “contained residue of a crystal-like substance believed to be methamphetamine,” the affidavit continues.
A search warrant associated with the investigation reveals more about the reasons NCSO officials instigated the investigation.
The document, provided by Chief Deputy Cox about 3 p.m. Tuesday, states “an unidentified citizen informant” saw Murray in the storage area of the private offices in the Justice Center with the door partially closed.
“The informant smelled a suspicious smoke odor in the area,” the search warrant states. “Justice of the Peace Murray exited the storage area and when an inquiry was made regarding the smoke smell, Justice of the Peace Murray vehemently denied that she had been smoking. Justice of the Peace Murray completed paperwork in her office and then left to complete work in the jail facility.”
“The informant entered the private office of Donna Murray and saw her purse under the desk belonging to Justice Murray,” the search warrant continues. “The purse was open and a black plastic case with the word ‘Alpine’ on the case was sitting on the top of the purse. The informant opened the case and found inside what the informant believed to be a glass pipe with a bowl on the end that is used for the smoking of methamphetamine and other drugs.”
“The glass pipe had burn marks on the pipe and appeared to have been recently used. The unnamed citizen informant closed the case and left it on top of the purse belonging to Justice of the Peace Murray,” the warrant’s main information concluded.
There has been no indication that a glass pipe was recovered during the NCSO search.
The amount of the substance found was small enough that law enforcement officials were afraid a simple field test kit would not give a good result on what the substance was, while at the same time destroying it, law enforcement officials said.
Officials had to wait until Monday in order to send the substance to the Department of Public Safety Crime Lab in Waco for more sophisticated testing. NCSO officials have yet to provide the Daily Sun with a written copy of the results, but did say they were looking for Murray in order to make an arrest.
Possession of a controlled substance under one gram is classified as a state jail felony. The maximum penalty for a conviction on the charge is two years in a state jail facility.
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Loyd Cook may be contacted via e-mail at lcook@corsicanadailysun.com
