BREAKING: Kelly says Belew faces serious charges, potential removal

Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said Precinct 1 Commissioner Harley David Belew faces serious allegations that could result in the removal from the commissioners’ court after the county learned Belew is a convicted felon.

In his first comments on the matter, Kelly said the county received copies of Belew’s criminal records from a 1973 burglary conviction when he was 17 in Tarrant County. Belew received 10 years probation for the series of burglaries in the winter of 1973, committed with two teenage accomplices.

“The charges against Commissioner Belew are serious and could result in his removal from office,” Kelly said. “To date we have received copies of some of his criminal records from 50 years ago. However, they are not complete. Law enforcement authorities are continuing to try and obtain a more complete set of the records in question.”

Belew had defiantly attacked others over the controversy, including The Lead, Kerrville City Councilmembers Brenda Hughes and Joe Herring Jr., but has admitted he did something dumb as a teenager.

In 1973, the burglary of a business was a class 2 felony. It’s not necessarily severe today — a state jail felony. It’s unclear if Belew faced other charges related to the burglaries. Newspaper accounts from the time said the Texas Rangers and other law enforcement officers found approximately $7,000 worth of merchandise taken from Leonard’s department store in Hurst and a Montgomery Ward in Richland Hill.

The problem for the county is the age of the offense, incomplete records and potential vagaries of Texas judicial oversight during a time when the courts and legal system were undergoing modernization. In late 1973, Texas enacted several penal code reforms, but it came after Belew faced his conviction.

“Belew claims that his successful completion of probation restored any the rights forfeited by convicted felons,” Kelly said. “The documents obtained to date do not confirm that claim, but the search continues. I feel confident all of this will be clarified soon. This is a very serious matter and it is being given the careful and thorough attention it deserves.”

In Texas, convicted felons can earn their voting rights back. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton squashed any idea that felons could serve in an elected office without a pardon or some other expungement of a criminal record. Belew’s criminal record is still in the Texas Department of Public Safety’s searchable database and is visible on other background check mechanisms. It’s generally the offender’s responsibility to clear their record if they have a pardon or expungement.

Sources told The Lead, the county posseses a final felony conviction in its document haul from Tarrant County, where Belew was convicted. In Texas, 17-year-olds are automatically tried as adults — a law that has been on the books since 1918.