Winkler County Attorney Scott Tidwell faces six charges in connection with the Winkler County nurses’ whistleblower scandal, two counts each of felony misuse of official information and retaliation and misdemeanor official oppression. He is the second to face trial in the scandal, after former sheriff Robert Roberts was found guilty in June of all six charges, and sentenced to four years probation and 100 days in county jail. Former hospital administrator Stan Wiley turned state’s evidence in exchange for a misdemeanor conviction and 30 days in jail. Dr. Rolando Arafiles is awaiting trial on similar charges as well as felony perjury for his false testimony in the trial of one of the nurses, Anne Mitchell.

The prosecution rested late Thursday afternoon in the criminal trial of Winkler County Attorney Scott Tidwell after a day of sometimes contentious testimony. The Executive Director of the Texas Medical Board, Mari Robinson, made the case for the prosecution.

When prosecuting attorney David Glickler asked Robinson if the Medical Board would have sent a copy of the complaint to Sheriff Roberts when he requested it, if they knew he was going to use it to investigate Anne Mitchell and Vicki Galle, Robinson replied, “No that would have been illegal.”

Upon his request, which stated he was conducting an investigation into the matter, the Medical Board sent a copy of the nurses’ complaint attached with a cover letter to Roberts. The letter outlines that the information sent to Roberts must be used only in the criminal investigation of a license holder, meaning in this case, Dr. Arafiles. “If you are using it to try to prosecute the complainants themselves, that’s a misuse of this information… like in this case,” Robinson said. Which means Tidwell is GUILTY of misuse of official information.

When Robinson became aware of the prosecution of the nurses for filing a complaint, she says she made phone calls to D.A. Mike Fostel and County Attorney Scott Tidwell, because she was concerned the nurses were being criminally investigated for making a complaint with a governmental agency. Robinson said her phone call with Fostel was very brief and he refused to give her any information. She then called Scott Tidwell, who basically told her to shove it. “He told me that he did not need me to explain the law to him, that he knew exactly what he was doing … and that I sounded like defense counsel for the nurses.”

After the phone calls Robinson proceeded to write a four-page letter outlining her concerns and mailed it to Tidwell and Fostel on June 17, 2009.  Read both the letter Roberts sent to the Board and the warning letters the Board sent to both the sheriff and the district attorney below! (As always Law Med is the place to go for the full story, including actual documents, in the Winkler County saga. Be sure to visit our dedicated Winkler County page for all of our coverage.) All of the warnings, and the letters, from the Board were ignored. 

“My goal was to go on record and make sure elected officials understand what is going on… I’ve never had to write a letter like this,” Robinson said. 

Robinson wasn’t done. On cross examination she spanked Tidwell defense attorney David Zavoda, when he incorrectly stated the law, trying to claim that anonymous complaints to the medical Board were prohibited by law at the time the nurses filed theirs against Dr. Rolando Arafiles. It was then that the Medical Board Director took the defense attorney to school, educating him on the law, as she provided the court with the correct law regarding anonymous complaints which stated that they were, in fact, legal and proper. She ended her educational session by stating that those who are charged with enforcing the law ought to know the law. None of this sat well with the defense attorney who at times was clearly not in control of his temper.

“I thought you cooperated with law enforcement?” said Zavoda. “We do when they’re following the law,” Robinson replied. 

Over the past 3 days the prosecution called the two infamous Winkler County Nurses, Anne Mitchell and Vicki Galle, various law enforcement representatives including the former Winkler Sheriff Robert Roberts and his deputy, along with Dr. Pham, the former chief of medical staff at Winkler Memorial and Stan Wiley, the former administrator at the hospital. Basically, any time a witness was speaking, Scott Tidwell was one foot closer to jail. The defense, relying on what has already proved to be a failed strategy in the Anne Mitchell and Sheriff Roberts trials,  attempted to paint the nurses, each employed ~ 2 decades at the hospital and highly respected, as difficult to get along with, argumentative with physicians and vindictive. The defense hopes that the jury will believe that the two nurses, in charge of quality assurance, risk management and medical staff qualifications, reported Dr. Arafiles sub-standard care of his patients because of some sort of personal desire to ‘get him’.

The state Medical Board issued a scathing rebuke of Arafiles medical practices, placing his license on probation for the second time, as a result of the complaint.

Current Winkler County Sheriff George Keeley, a deputy during the investigation into nurses Anne Mitchell and Vicki Galle took the stand and said that he disagreed with former sheriff Robert Roberts’ opinion that Tidwell was a breath of fresh air in the county. Keeley said, “That would be Robert Roberts’ opinion.” Prosecuting Attorney David Glickler asked again, “Did you agree with it?” Keeley replied, “No sir.” 

The prosecution, outside the presence of the jury, asked the court to allow evidence that Scott Tidwell tried to make an agreement with then district attorney Mike Fostel to dismiss his own trial, in exchange for which Tidwell would dismiss a suit against Fostel to step down from office. The evidence was ultimately not allowed. Fostel resigned from office which ended the lawsuit seeking his removal from office for not showing up to work and completing his duties.

Today the defense began their case in chief. 

 http://lawmedconsultant.com/tidwell1.flv 

http://lawmedconsultant.com/tidwell2.flv 

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