PAPER PUBLISHES EXPLOSIVE CHARGES AGAINST DALLAS JUDGE

The Dallas Morning News today published a lengthy article filled with explosive charges against a civil court judge. The newspaper accuses the 44-year-old jurist of violent crimes, including domestic violence and sexual assault, as well as alleging that he used illegal drugs and frequented prostitutes.

It should be noted, however, that the judge has not been convicted of a crime and currently faces no criminal charges, though he is apparently being investigated on a charge of raping a woman late last year.

He was arrested on a felony domestic violence charge in December, the report states, but a grand jury declined to issue an indictment in the case.

After that arrest and the ensuing media coverage, the judge lost his re-election bid last month. In the wake of the defeat, he laid the blame for his loss on television news reports of the accusations against him.

Perhaps the most explosive charge against the judge comes from a 25-year-old woman who was 8 years old when her mother lived with the jurist. When her mother was out of the house, the now-25-year-old says, the judge repeatedly committed oral sexual assault upon her over a period of about two years.

In 1999, he was arrested on a child sexual assault charge that was never prosecuted. Though his name was expunged from court records in the case, the newspaper found a Richardson police document from the time listing the judge’s name and a warrant for his arrest on a charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child.

The girl later recanted her accusations against him, though she now says she did so to try to undo damage done to her mother’s relationship with her then-boyfriend.

While the charges made against the man are explosive, the reality is that he was not prosecuted and was not convicted. Fortunately for him and others accused of criminal activity, cases are not settled in the court of public opinion, but rather in the judicial system with the assistance of criminal defense attorneys.

Source: Dallas Morning News, “Files detail allegations that Dallas judge used coke, bought sex, raped young girl,” Brooks Egerton and Matthew Watkins, April 17, 2014