A Rains County Justice of the Peace has been jailed in Van Zandt County. Tyler-based KLTV reports Robert Jenkins Franklin was booked into the Van Zandt County Detention Center last night. Franklin is facing two charges each of official oppression and tampering with a witness. County records indicate one charge on each count connected to an incident from February of this year, and two identical charges connected to an incident from October 2023.
Franklin is the defendant in a federal lawsuit related to the 2023 incident. A Rains County man, Cody Wiebe, alleges that he received a phone call from Franklin while Wiebe had a felony case in progress in the 8th District Court. Wiebe says Franklin threatened him in an effort to coerce Wiebe into taking a plea bargain. Weibe ended up leading no contest to his charge. However, the 8th District Judge’s office filed a motion this past April to drop the charge based on evidence that Weibe’s testimony had been coerced. Public records show the federal suit against Franklin was filed in the Texas Eastern District Court on May 1.
