DALLAS — A Dallas County grand jury indicted a clerk for a justice of the peace on a misdemeanor forgery complaint for allegedly faking a hearing notice letter in a Mesquite woman’s eviction case.
Lutishia Williams, the chief clerk for Justice of the Peace Margaret O’Brien, is accused of fabricating an eviction hearing notice letter in 2022, according to court records. The notice was allegedly used as a basis to evict Chantel Hardaway of Mesquite, who alleged in a lawsuit that she never received the notice.
The hearing notice alleged to be fake is a document dated June 14 and signed by Williams, according to court documents. Mark Melton, an attorney for Hardaway, alleged in court records that someone in O’Brien’s office falsified the notice after he asked to see a copy of it.
"I was shocked. My first thought was 'why?'" Melton said. "Mistakes are okay, they’re not great, we don’t want people to not get due process. But trying to cover up a mistake with a forged, alleged official court document. That’s not okay."
O’Brien has denied any wrongdoing by anyone in her court, per media reports. O’Brien nor Williams have responded to WFAA’s request for comment.
Melton and his Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center helped Hardaway find a new place for her family to live. "She's doing really well now," he said.
He said she wasn't surprised to hear the clerk in the case was facing criminal action.
"As I recall she said 'I know! I told you it was fake. I never got that,'" he recounted.
This is a developing story. We’ll update this post as additional information becomes available.