Justice of the Peace Pct. 8 candidate Joseph Guillory II is charging that his opponent, incumbent Tom Gillam III, was derelict in his duties when he was out of town at a time he was supposed to be on call last year.

But Gillam, who was in Houston that night and was the victim of a shooting, wonders why this is being brought up now, more than a year after the incident.

Gillam was scheduled to be on call Jan. 31, 2017 and had alerted Justice of the Peace Pct. 6 Ransom “Duce” Jones to cover the shift, he said.

That night, around 10:40 p.m., Gillam was in the 7000 block of Martin Luther King Boulevard when he said he pulled over to use his phone. While there, a woman asking for money approached him. He refused and she came back at least twice more repeating the request and he declined again, he said.

He told Houston Police that as he was leaving the parking lot he saw a man walking quickly toward his vehicle, a 2006 Mercedes Benz, reaching under his hooded coat to produce a pistol from his waistband.

 

Gillam grabbed his own gun to defend himself as the suspect began shooting. He was struck in the neck and “felt like he was losing consciousness and waited at the location for any assistance a passerby might render,” according to information provided by HPD in a story that ran in February 2017. Gillam was brought to a Houston hospital for treatment and spent several days recovering there.

Gillam contends he had missed the funeral of a relative of two of his congregation members and drove to Houston for them in his role as a pastor. He had pulled over to use the phone when the attack occurred.

“How in the heck do I have derelict of duty? We have a system in south county,” Gillam said.

Justice of the Peace Brad Burnett, along with Gillam and Marc DeRouen, make up the three judge justice of the peace court for the Mid and South Jefferson County areas. It’s customary for a JP to call another one to take his shift if something comes up.

Gillam wondered how his job performance could be considered derelict; adding that the JP job description is for them to serve countywide.

“And I have had more calls outside my precinct in 2017 then I had in my precinct,” he said. “More calls out of any JP in January 2017. Where is the dereliction of duty when I was covering for others?”

Guillory’s claim stems from Gillam being unable to be reached for a JP call the next morning — by that time Gillam was in the hospital and it’s possible that dispatch did not know who to call.

“It’s dereliction of duty,” Guillory said. “He was supposed to be on duty that night.”

He also wonders why Gillam had stopped to use his phone in a crime-ridden area and not just used his Bluetooth.

Early voting in the Democratic primary runoff election runs continues from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at five locations throughout the county. Since there is no Republican candidate, whoever wins the runoff wins the seat.

Voting locations for Friday include:

• Beaumont Courthouse-main location, 1085 Pearl St., Beaumont
• Rogers Park Recreation Center, 6540 Gladys, Beaumont
• Theodore Johns Library, 4255 Fannett Road, Beaumont
• Marion & Ed Hughes Public Library, 2712 Nederland Ave., Nederland
• Port Arthur sub-courthouse, 525 Lakeshore Drive, Port Arthur

The runoff election will be held May 22.