Doug Thompson
Jean went into hiding in 1991 out of fear for her life and the lives of her informants. It’s really pathetic that Doug Thompson not only claims that he’s responsibility for “running Jean Duffey out of the state,” he says 6 years later that it’s his proudest accomplishment as a reporter. If Thompson’s goal is to be a mediocre reporter, he hasn’t gotten there yet. Thompson was interviewed in 1997 by freelance journalist, documentary filmmaker, and book author, Daniel Hopsicker, to whom Thompson proclaimed his fame, but Hopsicker was predictably not impressed. Thompson made it clear just how much contempt he had for Duffey with no regard for journalistic integrity. Immediately after leaving Thompson’s second floor cubical, Hopsicker recorded his recollection of the startling statements Thompson made. Later Hopsicker made the below video clip. Additionally, Hopsicker was so astonished of such behavior from a journalist, he tells about it on talk show appearances. Below the video is the partial transcript of Michael Reagan (President Reagan’s son) interviewing Daniel Hopsicker.
Michael Reagan Interviews Daniel Hopsicker
August 22, 1997
Excerpts from Michael Reagan’s interview with Daniel Hopsicker
Reagan: “The Secret Heartbeat of America” is the just completed two hour TV special that may never air in America because of its explosive contents – the courageous crusade of a mother who lost her child. Linda Ives lost her child, and Jean Duffey, an equally courageous prosecuting attorney who wouldn’t let their murders go unsolved.
Let me bring in Daniel Hopsicker. Daniel, tell me about your history because you are the producer-investigative reporter on this . What are your credentials?
Hopsicker: Mike, I’m in the television industry. I produce a business TV show called “Global Business” internationally and on NBC. It has been airing for about 18 months.
I went out to do a pilot for a half hour show called “Conspiracy.” I wanted to do an “In Search of the Paranoid 90s.” And, like In Search of, each show would have an appetizer, a main course and a dessert. The train death was going to be the main course, or the serious story on our pilot half hour episode.
Then I went down to Arkansas and met Mrs. Ives. But, the first thing that happened is that I met Jean Duffey in Houston.
Reagan: Jean Duffey who, I believe, is the deputy District Attorney.
Hopsicker: And she speaks very much as a lawyer speaks, you know what I mean?
Reagan: Yes.
Hopsicker: Very studied in her mannerisms and very deliberate in her speech. OK? So, I interviewed her and the next day I flew into Little Rock (Arkansas) and the first person I see in Little Rock is a reporter with the Arkansas Democrat who had followed the train deaths for seven years.
The first thing the reporter said to me is, looking me straight in the eyes is: “Jean Duffey is crazy. She belongs in an insane asylum.” It was one of the shocking moments of my life. He didn’t know that I had already talked with Jean Duffey when he told me that.
It was one of the most shocking moments of my life, because I realized someone was deliberately lying to me. This was misinformation coming from a reporter who had been friendly to me when I had approached him asking questions.
Reagan: Yeah.
Doug Thompson Proves His Continued Loyalty To Dan Harmon
Dan Harmon won Gary Arnold’s position as prosecutor and took office January 1, 1991. Harmon wasted no time orchestrating a smear campaign against Duffey, using Doug Thompson, who was already an experienced member of Team Harmon. The Arkansas Democrat article below was Doug Thompson’s first opportunity to show his continued loyalty to Harmon. Duffey was never contacted to respond to that article, nor any of the nearly 50 other slanderous articles that followed that continued to churn out from Thompson and Lynda Hollenbeck.
Jean Duffey Responds to Doug Thompson for the First Time
The above article is the first of more than 50 others that Doug Thompson wrote for the purpose of smearing and discrediting me. I chose to respond to this article because it clearly establishes himself on Team Harmon. I was never contacted by Doug Thompson to respond to any of his articles and I’m not interested in spending time responding now to all of his outright lies. With that said, here’s my response to this one article, which is typical of all the others.
Doug Thompson reports that Harmon said, “There is no room in my administration for Jean Duffey.” Doug Thompson wrote that Harmon said there has not been much prosecution in the district for years, but he couldn’t have been talking about me, because the convictions rates in the courts where I prosecuted increased by almost 30%. Harmon says that I prefer to prosecute animal abuse cases, when in fact of the more than 200 DWI cases I prosecuted with a 90% conviction rate, I only had the opportunity to prosecute 2 animal abuse cases.
Doug Thompson reported that I wasted task force money on automatic rifles and surveillance equipment, when in fact I bought no weapons of any kind and only bought very basic surveillance equipment.
Doug Thompson wrote, “Harmon and Duffey, publicly and often held each other in mutual disdain.” Certainly not true. I had a low stress job prosecuting primarily in municipal and juvenile court and never had reason to get worked up over Harmon, although he touted a puppy mill abuse case I attempted to prosecute. Harmon claims that I had to return all the animals. Again, not true. Municipal Court Judge Pete Lancaster made it clear in a pretrial hearing that he was not going to allow me to try the case and ordered me to return all the dogs. I told him I would not return the puppies and dogs that were critically ill. Lancaster repeated himself, banged his gavel, and said to follow his order by the following Monday or show up in court with my toothbrush. Come Monday, I showed up with my toothbrush and a news reporter who had filmed the raid and the condition of the dogs. Lancaster revised his order for me to “keep the dogs and return the cages to Harmon. That, I did.
Interesting note: When I was finally called to testify before the federal grand jury who were investigating public official corruption in Saline County, U.S. Attorney Chuck Banks only asked me about the animosity I had for Harmon because I had to return the dogs. I was stunned. Did Chuck Banks read Doug Thompson’s article and actually try to impeach me over the puppy mill incident? A grand juror raised his hand and wanted to ask me about things my task force reported. Banks cut him off and told the jurors that I would return for that. I was never called to return.