Private Order of Additional Education of a Justice of the Peace. (3/10/10)
03/10/2010
The judge acted improperly in a truancy case when she (a) engaged in various ex parte communications with individuals regarding the merits of the pending case; (b) directed family members to meet in her office to try to resolve family conflicts; (c) conducted her own independent investigation to determine compliance with her order; and (d) "closed" the case based on her conversation with a third party/extra-judicial source. Additionally, in a separate case, the judge (a) failed to order a defendant in an MIP case to perform community service as a condition of his deferred disposition; (b) failed to order DPS to suspend the driver's licenses of two defendants convicted of MIP offenses; and (c) dismissed two citations that were pending in her court without a written motion from the prosecution. [Violation of Canons 2A, 3B(2), and 6C(2) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct.] Private Order of Additional Education of a Justice of the Peace. (3/10/10)
