For several years, 296th District Judge John L. Roach of Collin County had planned to engage in a mock hostile takeover of his courtroom with county sheriff’s deputies so he would be prepared for such an emergency if it ever occurred, says Roach's court coordinator Laura Thompson. But during a June 27 mock event in his courtroom, Roach, the son of Collin County District Attorney John R. Roach, got a little more realism than he expected. The judge was shot in the eye with a blank that still had gunpowder on it, Thompson says. Roach went to the hospital, had surgery to remove debris from his eye and now is recovering at home -- in some pain but expecting to regain his full eyesight, Thompson says. Roach did not return a telephone call seeking comment. Before the accident Roach had scheduled a week of vacation, Thompson says, so he hasn’t had to cancel hearings. Who shot the judge? Thompson says Judge Roach asked her not to tell reporters that information. “The person already feels bad enough,” she says. But Lt. John Norton in the Collin County Sheriff's Office identifies Bill Jouette as the accidental shooter. Jouette is the son of McKinney solo Barbara Lindsay Jouette. Bill Jouette as well as officers from the McKinney Police Department and members of the Collin County Citizens Academy, a volunteer organization trained by the Collin County Sheriff's Office, all participated in last Saturday's mock hostile takeover, Norton says. Barbara Lindsay Jouette says her son has been advised not to talk to the press; he did not return a telephone call seeking comment.
-- Miriam Rozen
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