Author Topic: State commission warns Judge Strother for picking detective as grand jury foreman (Waco)  (Read 503 times)

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Offline Elderberry

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WacoTrib by Tommy Witherspoon 2/22/2019

A Waco judge received a public warning Wednesday after a state commission determined he showed bias favoring law enforcement by appointing a Waco police detective as foreman of a McLennan County grand jury in July 2015.

Judge Ralph Strother of 19th State District Court was issued a public warning by the 13-member State Commission on Judicial Conduct, which investigated the judge after a complaint was lodged by Austin attorney Millie Thompson, who was representing three bikers arrested in the deadly May 2015 Twin Peaks shootout.

Strother, McLennan County’s senior state district judge, declined comment on the warning Friday.

“I complained of several issues of bias related to the Twin Peaks cases, and this seemed to be the most minor one that they decided to warn him on,” Thompson said. “It is something. It is not what I hoped for, but it is something in the right direction.”

The warning does not require action by the judge, such as additional continuing education courses.

“The commission has taken this action with the intent of assisting Judge Strother in his continued judicial service, as well as in a continuing effort to protect public confidence in the judicial system and to assist the state’s judiciary in its efforts to embody the principles and values set forth in the Texas Constitution and the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct,” the warning states.

More: https://www.wacotrib.com/news/courts_and_trials/state-commission-warns-judge-strother-for-picking-detective-as-grand/article_e20c5f28-e289-5f54-a757-abe5a3db529e.html