Hampton Named Prosecutor in South Bend Councilman Case
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Jordan Fouts-
Kosciusko County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Hampton has been named special prosecutor in the state police investigation of South Bend councilman Henry Davis Jr. Davis, representing the 2nd District on the South Bend Common Council since 2007, is the subject of at least eight complaints stemming from his posting of obscene material on his Facebook page Jan. 26. The council Rules Committee referred the matter to the council attorney Feb. 5, and the South Bend Police Department asked Indiana State Police to carry out the investigation, according to area news reports. The St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s Office filed a petition Wednesday requesting a special prosecuting attorney in the case. Hampton said he was available when contacted, according to news reports. Calls to Hampton’s office were not returned this morning. Official complaints were filed against Davis after he posted on Facebook an obscene photo of a man and his dog, accompanied by a link to a blog post titled “America Legalizes Sex with Animals for Military,” the South Bend Tribune reports. The complaints accuse him of violating city code requiring council members to observe high standards of propriety, though the code, which has not been updated since 1988, does not address social media. During a Feb. 3 news conference Davis apologized for the post, calling it “an unfortunate mistake” and “not an expression of my personal or political views,” according to the Tribune.
