Senior Assistant City Attorney Robert Carroll dies at 34

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Odessa Senior Assistant City Attorney Robert Owen Carroll died on Thursday, January 21 after a short illness. The Midland resident was 34-years-old, according to an obituary notice by Nalley-Pickle & Welch Funeral Home.

His family will hold a private service. No memorial events are currently scheduled.

“The loss of senior assistant city attorney Robert Carroll is one that leaves a huge void within the City of Odessa,” city attorney Natasha Brooks said. “Robert was a passionate attorney, who’s joyful disposition will be missed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Carroll family during this difficult time.”

Carroll is survived by his wife, Kayla; son, Kamden; father and mother, Amy and James Carroll; sister, Megan Carroll; twin brother, Sean Carroll; and dogs, Wilbur and Judge Carroll.

Carroll served as the City of Odessa’s Assistant City Attorney from August 2018 to July 2019, before being promoted to Senior Assistant City Attorney in July 2019, according to his bio information. He earned a Juris Doctorate in energy, environment, natural resources law and litigation from Texas A&M University School of Law in 2015.

A native of Jacksonville, N.C., he graduated from Texas Wesleyan University with honors before attending law school. In July 2020, he married Kayla Agan-Carroll.

Lawsuit filed on Rev. Fu’s behalf

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MIDLAND Attorneys representing ChinaAid President Bob Fu have filed suit against a Chinese emigre living in New York City whom they accuse of fomenting a months-long campaign of harassment that saw scores of demonstrators shouting threats and holding up placards outside Fu’s home.

Seeking unspecified damages in U.S. District Court here, the lawyers accuse reputed billionaire Guo Wengui, also known as Miles Kwok, of stalking, defamation of character, invasion of privacy, assault and conspiracy.

Lead attorney Lawrence Wilson of the Lanier Firm in Houston said Fu “is an internationally recognized spokesperson for Christian ministry and religious freedom and this abuse of his reputation and encouragement of violence must stop.

“Dr. Fu’s decades of dedicated promotion of human rights and democracy in his homeland of China and around the world must not be subjected to these assaults,” Wilson said.

“This lawsuit will now shine a bright light on the motivations of Mr. Guo,” he said, adding that the suit seeks unspecified total damages and a court injunction ordering Guo to stop.

Wilson said Steve Bannon, a former chief strategist at the White House, was arrested in August aboard a $35-million yacht owned by Guo and that Bannon was charged with fraud in regard to his alleged dealings with donors in the “We Build the Wall” campaign. Bannon pleaded not guilty.

Wilson said Guo, owner of a company called Beijing Zenith Holdings, in September was “offering tens of thousands of dollars in cash and securities for anyone who succeeded in ‘getting rid of’ Fu.

“On Sept. 28, 2020, Guo appealed to his followers to converge on Midland, Texas, find Bob Fu and kill him,” the lawyer said, noting that the Midland Police Department put the family in a safe house. “As a result of defendant Guo’s utterly false, maliciously defamatory and physically threatening attacks, Dr. Fu and his family are no longer able to live in their home.”

The demonstrators accused Fu, an associate pastor at Mid-Cities Community Church, of being “a fake pastor, a religious quack, a pro-democracy imposter, a disguised Chinese Community Party spy, a human trafficker, a money launderer, a piece of trash and a bully,” among other accusations.

The suit said Guo could be served a summons at 781 Fifth Ave., 18th Floor, in New York City and it listed the names and addresses of co-defendants in Wilmington, Del., Tucson, Ariz., and San Francisco, Calif.

Fu’s attorneys said Guo “has been accused by dozens of individuals in the Chinese-American community of maintaining a close relationship with the Chinese Ministry of State Security.

“After entering the United States in 2014, Guo pledged allegiance to the regime of People’s Republic of China President Xi Jinping,” the suit says. “The continual protests, which ultimately swelled in number to approximately 100 individuals, were carried on outside the home of Dr. Fu and his wife Heidi, the most private of spaces recognized under the Constitution and laws of the United States.

“The numerous signs and shouts were deeply disturbing to the entire Fu family, especially the children.”

Emergency Stay: Supreme Court Halts in-Person Jury Trial in Houston

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