Judge Removes Himself From Hearing Beatrice Homeowners Association Case
![Entrance to Wildwood Estates, in southeast Beatrice](https://NCN.images.worldnow.com/images/19890613_G.png?auto=webp&disable=upscale&height=560&fit=bounds&lastEditedDate=1600090569000)
BEATRICE – A Gage County District Judge has removed himself from hearing a request for an injunction filed by a Beatrice homeowners’ association, seeking to prevent a convicted sex offender from residing in their neighborhood.
Judge Ricky Schreiner was set to hear arguments on the case Monday morning, but learned of a past professional relationship with a local lawyer who has ties to the case brought by the Wildwood Estates Homeowners Association.
The association names Jeff Hawks and Thayer Farmland LLC as defendants in its complaint. The judge apologized to legal counsel involved and said efforts would be made to appoint a new judge to hear the case, as quickly as possible.
Schreiner said although he believes he can hear the case fairly, the potential appearance of impropriety prompted him to remove himself from the case. One of the parties to the proceeding is the president of the local bar association.
None of the attorneys involved in representing the plaintiffs and defendants had raised an issue over the discovery.
Schreiner said he consulted with other district judges, the state court administrator’s office and Nebraska Supreme Court….and said the proper step was to not hear the case.
The Wildwood Estates Homeowners Association is seeking temporary and permanent injunctions to prevent 39-year-old Jeff Hawks from continuing to reside at 109 Wildwood Court. The property is owned by Thayer Farmland LLC.
The association says one of the covenants it established prohibits sex offenders or sexual predators from owning, leasing or visiting the property or commons area of Wildwood Estates….which is located in southeast Beatrice.
Hawks is a convicted sex offender, required to register with the State of Nebraska for a 25-year-period. He was convicted in 2016 in Lancaster County of third-degree sexual assault of a child. Hawks was sentenced to a nine-to-ten-year prison sentence in March of 2016.
He was paroled this past August 10th.