After hearing four hours of testimony, a Dallas County grand jury declined to indict Commissioner John Wiley Price or his political rival, ex-Dallas council member Dwaine Caraway, over their scuffle at a gospel radio station.
The grand jury called at least five witnesses: Robert Ashley, the host of KHVN-AM Heaven (970); George Nash, who alleged that Price choked him; Tiara Sims, who produced the show and filmed the February dust-up; and Micah Phillips and Cedric Davis, who were both running to unseat Price.
A special prosecutor, Larry Jarrett, was appointed to preside over the grand jury after District Attorney Susan Hawk's office recused itself. Jarrett said he found the whole debacle embarrassing, but he declined to say whether he recommended the jurors file criminal charges.
"They listened very diligently and that's all you can ask for," Jarrett said. "I'm glad to put it behind me. I'm glad to put it behind Dallas County."
Jarrett said the grand jury was considering two possible charges: assault causing bodily injury — which Price was accused of — and terroristic threat against a public servant, which another political candidate accused Caraway of.
Caraway said that he was unaware the grand jury was considering a charge against him, and he denied threatening Price. "I would've had lawyers all over it, smothered in it," he said. "It is a freaking setup. They just lump me in it."
Price said he didn't file a complaint against Caraway for making a threat, and he, too, learned that the grand jury considered charging Caraway. Phillips said he told police that Caraway threatened to kill Price, but he wasn't sure if his tip sparked the formal investigation.
"The whole damn thing is silly," Price said. "The whole damn thing was a waste of time. I didn't do anything. ... I'm trying to run a county. That was election revenge."
Price and Caraway, who lost to Price, were not subpoenaed to share their version of events. The tussle started with an argument over Sandbranch, a poor neighborhood that lacks running water. It ended with Caraway shouting that Price had ruined Caraway's first marriage by sleeping with his then-wife.
Nash, 28, said Price choked him and lifted him off the floor by the neck. A grainy cellphone video shows Price reaching for Nash's neck.
The witnesses all declined to talk about their testimony, citing grand jury secrecy rules. But Phillips, Davis and Sims each said there was no clear aggressor. Phillips, a businessman, said he saw Price defend himself against Nash, not attack him.
"What I saw him do is protect himself when some very antagonistic people attacked him," Phillips said, adding that Price "was clearing him out of his personal space."
But Nash said he was assaulted without provocation.
"I walked past him with my back towards him," Nash said. "The fact that he stopped me from walking and turned me around shows it was not self-defense."
This wasn't the first time Jarrett oversaw a case involving Price. In 1991, published reports show, Jarrett prosecuted Price for breaking a Plano woman's windshield during a protest outside KXAS-TV (NBC5) over the station's hiring practices and coverage of minority issues. A jury convicted Price of criminal mischief.
The latest grand jury investigation added to Price's legal worries. He faces a federal corruption trial set for February on charges that he evaded taxes and accepted nearly $1 million in bribes from businesses seeking county contracts or other approvals.
Nash has also filed a lawsuit against Price, which remains pending.
Davis, who has previously said he didn't believe any crimes were committed, called the fight an "altercation" between "angry gentlemen who had a history."
"I don't think anybody really was at fault," said Davis, a Garland ISD teacher and former Balch Springs mayor. "It was just a mutual situation."
All the witnesses said the fight was an embarrassment to the black community and its leaders.
"It puts a black eye on our people," Davis said. "Somehow we've got to get past it."
Sims, 26, said she wasn't sure who started the fight. She said she was fired from her producer job after the altercation and wasn't given a specific reason.
"I looked up to all of them," she said of the politicians. "I can't say who's to blame for it."
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