| Action |
Date Issued |
Summary |
| Private Admonition of a County Criminal Court at Law Judge (09/12/14) |
09/12/2014 |
The judge failed to maintain patience, courtesy and dignity about another attorney who had cases pending before the judge and made comments in a manner that demonstrated the judge harbored a personal bias or prejudice against him. [Violation of Canons 3B(4) and 3B(5) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct]. Private Admonition of a County Criminal Court at Law Judge. (09/12/14). |
| Private Admonition and Order of Additional Education of a Justice of the Peace (09/16/14) |
09/16/2014 |
The judge failed to provide parties with notice and an opportunity to be heard. The judge issued a clarified judgment making substantive changes to the original judgment, after his plenary power had expired and without any legal bases for doing so. [Violation of Canons 2A and 3B(8) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct]. Private Admonition & Order of Additional Education of a Justice of the Peace. (09/16/14). |
| Private Warning and Order of Additional Education of a Justice of the Peace (10-01-14) |
10/01/2014 |
The judge routinely engaged in out-of-court communications with individuals regarding cases that were pending or impending in his court. The Commission concluded the judge's conduct in this regard constituted a willful and persistent violation of Canon 6C(2) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct. In addition, the judge failed to treat a litigant in a patient, dignified and courteous manner. The Commission further concluded the judge failed to follow the law and improperly used the prestige of his office when he requested, obtained, and disclosed to the Commission the litigant's criminal history and reports from local law enforcement agencies. There was no indication the judge obtained a waiver from the named individual in order to obtain this information, it appears the judge was able to obtain this information solely due to his status as a judge in an attempt to discredit the litigant in furtherance of his own private interest in responding to the Commission's inquiry. [Violation of Canons 2A, 2B, 3B(4) and 6C(2) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct]. Private Warning & Order of Additional Education of a Justice of the Peace. (10-01-14). |
| Private Admonition of a District Court Judge (11/10/14) |
11/10/2014 |
The judge failed to follow the law when she served in a fiduciary capacity as an independent executor of the will and estate of her friend. [Violation of Canon 4E(1) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct]. Private Admonition of a District Court Judge. (11/10/14). |
| Private Admonition and Order of Additional Education of a Justice of the Peace (11/18/14) |
11/18/2014 |
The judge failed to comply with the law and demonstrated a lack of professional competence in the law when she attempted to mediate a private dispute between two individuals neither of whom had filed any criminal and/or civil proceedings in her court. The judge exceeded her authority when she me with both individuals, discussed the allegations; reviewed "evidence" submitted by the individuals; reached a decision resolving the individuals' dispute. Thereafter, the judge made attempts to enforce her decision in favor of one of the individuals. The Commission concluded the judge's efforts to assist one of the individuals constituted an improper use of the prestige of her judicial office to advance the individual's private interests. [Violation of Canons 2A, 2B and 3B(2) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct]. Private Admonition & Order of Additional Education of a Justice of the Peace. (11/18/14). |
| Private Admonition of County Court at Law Judge (12/12/14) |
12/12/2014 |
The judge failed to comply with the law and acted improperly when he failed to provide notice to an attorney or to the litigants involved in a pending CPS case that the judge was meeting and observing the children in the hospital. The Commission determined the comments made by the judge to the media that the hospital visit provided the judge with evidence from an extrajudicial source, depriving the litigants of their right to have a fair, neutral and detached arbiter decide their case. [Violation of Canon 2A]. Private Admonition of County Court at Law Judge. (12/12/14). |
| Private Reprimand of a Senior Judge (12/12/14) |
12/12/2014 |
The judge failed in his duty to be patient, dignified and courteous to the jurors when he chastised them for their verdict and accused them of ignoring the law and violating their oath. The Commission concluded the incident itself was sufficient to case public discredit upon the Texas judiciary regardless of the media's embellishments. [Violation of Canon 3B(4) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct]. Private Reprimand of a Senior Judge. (12/12/14). |
| Private Reprimand and Order of Additional Education of a County Court at Law Judge (12/18/14) |
12/18/2014 |
The judge failed to treat the County Clerk and her staff in a patient, dignified, and courteous manner. The judge exerted his judicial authority over the elected County Clerk and her staff resulting in the filing and prosecution of criminal charges against the County Clerk. Based on the record before the Commission, the evidence demonstrated the judge became personally affronted by the County Clerk's conduct toward him, and confused an offense to his sensibilities with obstruction to the administration of justice. The evidence demonstrate the judge's decision to charge the County Clerk with criminal contempt of court was not made in a good faith effort to safeguard the orderly proceedings of the court. The evidence before the Commission also supports the conclusion the judge demonstrated a lack of competence in the matter in which he performed his judicial duties by marking up and altering original judgments, orders, and exhibits, and interjecting himself in the prosecution of criminal proceedings and in plea negotiations. [Violation of Canons 2A, 3B(2) and 3B(4) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct]. Private Reprimand & Order of Additional Education of a County Court at Law Judge. (12/18/14). |
| Private Admonition of a Justice of the Peace (12/22/14) |
12/22/2014 |
The judge failed to follow the law and demonstrated a lack of professional competence in the law by releasing a criminal defendant on a PR bond while an aggravated sexual assault of a child case remained pending. [Violation of 2A and 3B(2) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct]. Private Admonition of a Justice of the Peace. (12/22/14). |
| Private Reprimand of a Municipal Court Judge (02/08/15) |
02/08/2015 |
The judge engaged in numerous conversations with subordinates in which she used profanity, vulgar language, and made sexual references. Although the judge's belief and intent that these conversations were private, it is without a dispute that all of the conversations took place at the courthouse during regular business hours. The judge was responsible for creating and/or perpetuating a work-place environment where these types of conversations were allowed to take place and made no effort to stop the offending conduct when requested by an employee. [Violations of Canons 3B(4) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct]. Private Reprimand of a Municipal Court Judge. (02/08/15). |
| Private Reprimand of a Justice of the Peace (03/02/2015) |
03/02/2015 |
The judge failed to comply with the law and failed to maintain professional competence in the law when she issued multiple 72-hour waiting period waivers over a four month period without any legal authority, and apparently collected a fee in some cases for issuing the waiver. The Commission concluded the conduct was willful and persistent. [Violation of Canons 2A and 3B(2) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct and Article V, §1-a(6)A of the Texas Constitution]. Private Reprimand of a Justice of the Peace. 03/02/2015. |
| Private Reprimand of a District Court Judge (01/08/2015) |
01/08/2015 |
The judge failed to comply with the law when she removed defense attorney's original recusal motion from the court's file in violation of Rule 75 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. [Violation of Canon 2A of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct]. Private Reprimand of a District Court Judge. (01/08/2015) |
| Private Reprimand of a District Court Judge (03/02/2015) |
03/02/2015 |
The judge failed to comply with the law and failed to maintain professional competence in the law by directing a sheriff's deputy to attach a local attorney and bring him to her courtroom in handcuffs for a short hearing on an unopposed motion. The judge should have known by the method of securing the attorney's appearance would be perceived by the attorney and the public as extreme and punitive and would cast public discredit upon the judiciary and the administration of justice. While recognizing that judges have discretion in how and when they may exercise the powers of the court, the Commission also notes that issuing an order to detain an attorney and bring him to before the court in handcuffs is an extraordinary power that should be exercised rarely and with great caution, particularly when that individual's liberty is at stake. Depriving the attorney of his liberty and forcing him to be paraded in handcuffs through the courthouse in front of colleagues, family and others under circumstances presented in this case constituted egregious legal error, which the courts have recognized to be one of the exceptions to the rule against sanctioning a judge for mere legal error. [Violation of Canons 2A and 3B(2) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct]. Private Reprimand of a District Court Judge. 03/02/2015. |
| Private Admonition and Order of Additional Education of a Justice of the Peace (03/13/2015) |
03/13/2015 |
The judge's actions placed the judge, a motorist and other motorists in danger, and created an appearance that the judge was acting as an arm of the police which is inconsistent with his duties as a neutral and detached judicial officer. The judge's conduct and the perception of bias and impropriety that flowed from it occurred on more than one occasion and result of negative media attention, cast public discredit upon the judiciary and/or the administration of justice. [Violation of Article V, §1-a(6)A of the Texas Constitution]. Private Admonition & Order of Additional Education of a Justice of the Peace. 03/13/2015. |
| Private Warning and Order of Additional Education of a Justice of the Peace 03/20/2015 |
03/20/2015 |
The judge's close, personal relationship with a defendant/victim and her children and his failure to disclose the nature of the relationship to the defendant, cast a reasonable doubt on his ability to act impartially as a judge during the magistration of the defendant. [Violation of Canon 4A(1) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct]. Private Warning & Order of Additional Education of a Justice of the Peace. 03/20/2015. |
| Private Reprimand of a Justice of the Peace (03/25/2015) |
03/25/2015 |
The judge failed to comply with the law and demonstrated a lack of professional competence in the law by: 1) entering an order of eviction that allowed the violating tenant an additional 90 days to come into compliance with the terms of the lease agreement; 2) failing to set and hear eviction matters within the time periods set forth in the applicable procedural rules; 3) failing to afford the Housing Authority the right to be heard on its motion to change venue; 4) granting a motion for a new trial in an eviction proceeding, and 5) exceeding his authority by appointing a temporary judge. [Violation of 2A, 2B, 3B(2), 3B(5) and 3B(8) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct]. Private Reprimand of a Justice of the Peace. 03/25/2015. |
| Private Admonition and Order of Additional Education of a Municipal Court Judge (07/29/2015) |
07/29/2015 |
The judge failed to follow the law and demonstrated a lack of professional competence in the law by magistrating defendants and accepting payment of fines without requiring defendants to enter a written plea or waiver of jury trial prior to accepting payment, and in the absence of a written judgment upon which to base any payment plan or the enforcement thereof. [Violation of Canons 2A and 3B(2) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct.] Private Admonition & Order of Additional Education of a Municipal Court Judge. 07/29/2015. |
| Private Admonition and Order of Additional Education 07/29/2015 |
07/29/2015 |
The judge failed to comply with the law and demonstrated a lack of professional competence in the law when the judge visited a mobile home park and spoke to its tenants while the misdemeanor cases against the landlord were pending in the court. The Commission concluded the judge's actions amounted to her performing her own independent investigation of the merits of the pending cases outside the presences of the parties and without their knowledge or consent. [Violation of Canons 2A, 3B(2) and 6C(2) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct.] Private Admonition & Order of Additional Education. 07/29/2015. |
| Private Warning of a District Court Judge. 08/24/2015. |
08/24/2015 |
The judge failed to maintain order and decorum in the courtroom when she took no action to appropriately and timely address contemptuous conduct in the courtroom during court proceedings. The judge should have known there was miscommunication to the bailiff, from the unusual and surprising in-chambers interactions with various defense attorneys and Assistant District Attorney sent to handle a contempt charge and that she needed to take immediate action to correct the misapprehension that resulted in an hour-long detention. [Violation of Canons 3B(3) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct and Article V, §1-a(6)A of the Texas Constitution.] Private Warning of a District Court Judge. 08/24/2015. |
| Private Admonition and Order of Additional Education of a Justice of the Peace (08/31/2015) |
08/31/2015 |
The judge failed to comply with the law and failed to maintain professional competence in the law when the judge deprived a litigant of his right to a hearing on the Sworn Statement of Inability to Pay and incorrectly advised him that there was "not time for a hearing." Courts have held that denying a party any of his core constitutional rights, such as the right to be heard constitutes egregious legal error. [Violation of Canons 2A and 3B(2) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct.] Private Admonition & Order of Additional Education of a Justice of the Peace. 08/31/2015. |
