Jose “Chille” DeCastro encouraged his 287,000 YouTube subscribers on Wednesday to rise up en masse to file a complaint against Oklahoma District Judge Thad Balkman, who held a preliminary hearing for Jason Dollarhide’s numerous charges earlier on Wednesday.
DeCastro was enraged by the stories given to him by both Heather and Jason Dollarhide, who claimed that the judge refused to hear Heather’s filing of a writ of habeas corpus on Jason’s behalf and Jason’s request for a bail reduction hearing. According to court records and reaffirmed by the Judge’s statement, neither were on the docket for the hearing.
While DeCastro and the Dollarhides raised concerns that Judge Balkman had acted improperly in declining to address their motions, there seems to have been legitimate problems with how Jason Dollarhide was scheduled for his preliminary hearings on Wednesday.
According to court records, Jason Dollarhide was scheduled for a preliminary hearing conference with Judge Balkman on charges of assault & battery with a dangerous weapon from May 2023, domestic assault and battery in the presence of a minor from July 2022, and Aggravated eluding police officer and assault and battery on a police officer from July of 2023.
Dollarhide was also scheduled for a status conference at the same time with Judge Scott Brockman for charges from October 2022 of assault and battery and threaten to perform an act of violence.
Adding to the confusion, Dollarhide was also scheduled for a preliminary hearing at the same time with Judge Kim Conyers for charges of Assault on a police officer and obstructing an officer from October 2021.
There was nothing on the posted docket to indicate a hearing for Heather’s writ of habeas corpus nor a dedicated bail reduction hearing for Jason Dollarhide. One explanation for the lack of a hearing for Heather’s filing came as it has been revealed that she filed the writ in her own name on her own behalf instead of her husband’s, therefore it would not be on the docket in relationship to Dollarhide.
Dollarhide was represented by his attorney, Douglas Smith, and an unnamed public defender. According to the Dollarhides, the public defender threatened to quit Dollarhide’s cases during the hearing as Dollarhide had paid legal council and Heather had been filing on Jason’s behalf without consulting either attorney.
Heather Dollarhide also complained to DeCastro that she had been removed from the courtroom as she was mouthing instructions to Jason after being instructed not to communicate with her husband during the hearing.
Ultimately, according to Jason Dollarhide, his next preliminary hearings to address the three sets of charges will be held with two judges on August 29 and August 30 respectively. No hearings are currently scheduled for his bond reduction request or to address Heather’s writ of habeas corpus.
Upon hearing of the confusion, DeCastro declared the Judge’s actions to be illegal and pulled up a Judicial Complaint form from the Oklahoma’s Judges Association, a group which Judge Balkman serves as the president. DeCastro encouraged the roughly 400 viewers watching out of his 287,000 subscribers to fill out the same form and mass report the Judge for his alleged indiscretions. DeCastro made an error in the process, listing the Judge’s last name as Bachman.
Dollarhide remains in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, jail after having his bond revoked for multiple charges. Heather Dollarhide has been allowed limited supervised visits with the Dollarhide’s six-year-old daughter, who was removed from their custody by Oklahoma’s Child Protection Services agency and is currently being housed with family friends.
Jose “Chille” DeCastro announced that he will be holding a live stream at 10PM ET on Thursday in order to mass flood the Institute for Justice with requests to intervene on behalf of the Dollarhides. The Institute for Justice is a non-profit public interest law firm devoted to ending widespread abuse of government power. For more information about the institute, visit https://ij.org/
