Private Warning and Order of Additional Education of a Justice of the Peace. (2/24/10).
02/24/2010
The judge failed to comply with the law and failed to demonstrate professional competence in the law by (1) consolidating five separate Class C misdemeanor charges (bad checks) against a defendant into one criminal complaint; (2) issuing warrants for the defendant's arrest and assessing warrants in four additional cases even though the defendant was already incarcerated; (3) assessing fines in each of the cases filed against the defendant in excess of the $500.00 statutory maximum allowed for Class C misdemeanors; (4) adding the face value of the "bad checks" written by the defendant to his total judgment, rather than ordering the defendant to pay the merchants these amounts as restitution; (5) failing to follow the procedures set forth in Article 45.046 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure prior to incarcerating the defendant; (6) failing to enter final, written judgments and/or written commitment orders in any of the cases against the defendant; (7) imposing a ten-day jail sentence in the defendant's contempt case in excess of the three-day maximum sentenced authorized by law; and (8) failing to maintain adequate and complete court records and docket sheets in the defendant's cases. [Violation of Canons 2A and 3B(2) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct.] Private Warning and Order of Additional Education of a Justice of the Peace. (2/24/10).
