Shadwick Law, PLLC

05/02/2026

Texas passed SB 22 to support rural sheriff’s offices and improve deputy pay. The law even says counties should not reduce sheriff’s office funding just because state grant money was provided. But in Polk County, Judge Sydney Murphy used that state support as an opportunity to shortchange law enforcement.

🚨 SB 22 WAS MEANT TO HELP DEPUTIES, NOT HELP JUDGE MURPHY PLAY BUDGET GAMES 🚨

Texas passed SB 22 to support rural sheriff’s offices and improve deputy pay. The law even says counties should not reduce sheriff’s office funding just because state grant money was provided.

But in Polk County, Judge Sydney Murphy used that state support as an opportunity to shortchange law enforcement.

While deputies were left fighting for the pay support SB 22 was designed to provide, Murphy’s circle saw salaries climb, including her own and her assistant’s.

That tells Polk County everything it needs to know.

When state money comes in for law enforcement, it should strengthen law enforcement, not become an excuse to pay deputies less while county leadership takes care of itself.

Polk County deputies deserve better. Polk County taxpayers deserve better. Judge Murphy is not good for Polk County.

05/02/2026

Did You Know? 🚔

Making a false report to law enforcement is a criminal offense.

Providing false information wastes valuable resources and can delay help for real emergencies.

Be honest. Be responsible.

📞 Trinity County Sheriff’s Office: 936-642-1424

04/28/2026

The Polk County Sheriff's Office says they are addressing a social video showing a male jailer taking a female who was being booked into the jail to go out to eat. MORE BELOW ⬇️

04/28/2026

04/28/2026

🚨 POLK COUNTY, THIS LOOKS UNETHICAL 🚨

The Polk County Clerk, Schelana Myers Hock, who is tied to election administration, has publicly endorsed Polk County Sydney Brown Murphy County Judge.

That raises a serious question:

How can an individual publicly endorse someone who oversees their budget?

When an official connected to elections backs the county’s top elected position, it creates major ethical red flags and damages public trust.

Add in the deputy pay issue, the courthouse controversy, and the public defender’s office questions…

This looks like a pattern.

Polk County deserves transparency.
Deputies deserve support.
Voters deserve confidence.

Does this look ethical to you?

👇 Drop your thoughts.

04/27/2026

https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/26/us/prison-air-conditioning-trial-texas?fbclid=IwY2xjawRceBpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe6veQTZahDqG23wLfKXrEe2q9GszdmWWTchlw92l5v-TwZgyTXtIaYMDAMj8_aem_3TmR-qgbKLbNLo8SO5O7qw

A decision whether to mandate air conditioning inside Texas prisons is in the hands of a federal judge, as advocacy organizations try to force the state to address what they allege are dangerous, deadly temperatures inmates endure.

04/27/2026

A 41-year-old inmate died at the Ellis Unit in Huntsville on April 26, according to a custodial death report filed by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

TDCJ identified the inmate as Dewayne McKinley Byrd. According to the report, correctional staff found him unresponsive in his cell and initiated life-saving measures before he was transported to the unit infirmary, where EMS later pronounced him deceased. An autopsy is pending.

Byrd was serving a 99-year sentence out of Jefferson County for injury to a child and would have been eligible for parole in 2041.

According to court documents, Byrd beat two-year-old Kaleb Walton inside an apartment on Concord Road in Beaumont in January 2011, causing severe injuries including brain trauma, a lacerated liver and an eye injury. The child was later found unresponsive and survived but was left permanently disabled and is now unable to walk or talk.

04/27/2026

Death of two Polk County inmates reported: