Chances are when your child gets in a fight with a bunch of kids, everyone is sent home with a scolding. But then you’re not Ron Haddock, president and CEO of FINA Oil and Chemical. When his sons Rick and Mark got into a scuffle summer before lasl with some Highland Park High School boys, the senior Haddock hired former first Assistant District Attorney Jerry Banks, who arranged a meeting with District Attorney John Vance. University Park police chose not to file charges, but the case was taken to a grand jury, which indicted Shannon Faulk, a 1992 Highland Park High School graduate, on charges of assault and terroristic threats.
In the trial that ended last July, Faulk was defended by Dallas attorney Steve Sumner, known for his part in the successful defense of Cullen Davis. Sumner introduced evidence showing that Rick Haddock had struck the first blow in the fight and sought to convince the jury that the Haddocks had received preferential treatment. In the end, the jury bought Sumner’s argument that Faulk was actually moving his car when the incident occurred and found him innocent of the charges. A civil suit filed by the Haddocks, seeking damages in excess of $500,000, is being settled (Faulk has paid nothing). Sumner is “evaluating” prospects for a civil suit against the Haddocks.
’This whole matter should have been resolved by parents sitting down together,” Sumner says. “But the system is so dramatically influenced by money, as I experienced with Cullen Davis. I had a basis to know that Shannon Faulk was being steamrolled by a system that was out of control.”
Jerry Banks, for his part, says he doesn’t believe Ron Haddock’s position in the community had anything to do with the case.
“The grand jury looked at the case and returned the indictments as they saw fit, and then a jury looked at the facts and made a decision,” Banks says.
Shannon Faulk, who says he lost a chance at college scholarships because of the criminal case, sees the process somewhat differently: “I was sitting there for a whole year, and these people were messing with my life.”
Related Articles
Hockey
What We Saw, What It Felt Like: Stars-Golden Knights, Game 3
A close final score masks a dominant performance.
