ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wednesday, May 21, 2003

A federal judge has dismissed seven of the 14 lawsuits alleging
sexual abuse in the suburban Haltom City Jail, ruling that the women
couldn't prove that the abuse was the city's fault.
U.S. District Judge John McBryde threw out three of the suits Friday
and four more Monday. One woman agreed to withdraw her suit in April,
a city official said.
The lawsuits say an organized ring of uniformed police officers and
detention officers targeted the women, who were arrested on suspicion
of minor traffic offenses and misdemeanors.
Once in jail, the lawsuits contend, jailers verbally harassed female
inmates and videotaped them in the showers.
Most of the women suing Haltom City over jail conditions had named
former jailer Clint Wade Weaver in their lawsuits.
But he was dropped from the suits, and the plaintiffs instead sought
damages from the city.