Paxton: Court should reject judges’ bail suit

State AG wants case by three hearing officers over conduct violations to be tried elsewhere

The state attorney general Monday asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit by three Harris County hearing officers who are fighting sanctions by Texas’ judicial ethics commission earlier this year over unfair bail practices.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also requested that the case brought by three admonished magistrates be transferred from Harris County, where the judges sit, to Travis County, where the State Commission on Judicial Conduct is based. Paxton asserted that the state watchdog agency has “sovereign immunity” from being sued.

The lawsuit, filed in May by three local magistrates, challenges the commission’s finding that they violated the state code of conduct for judges during probable cause hearings for newly arrested defendants. The hearing officers, Eric Hagstette, Jill Wallace and Joseph Licata III, initially challenged the commission’s findings through a more straightforward appeal to the state’s Special Court of Review. However, they later withdrew that appeal and sued the commission to have their records be cleared of the findings of misconduct.

Mike Stafford, who is representing the magistrates free of charge in this lawsuit, said the sanctions should be eliminated because the watchdog commission surpassed its authority in telling magistrates they can’t refer bond matters to the judges assigned to the cases.

“This case presents an important and rare opportunity to affirm that the Commission may not interpret Texas law and to ensure that the Commission is not allowed to exceed its mandate,” Stafford argued in district court filings.

The complaint to the judicial commission, initiated by state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, was prompted by videos of bail hearings that were included as evidence in the landmark civil rights case against Harris County’s criminal justice system for unequal treatment of poor defendants at bail hearings.

Whitmire claimed that judicial officers on the videolink hearings appeared to ignore pleas from defendants who asked for bond with no cash up front. Others set high bonds because a person didn’t call them “sir” or they didn't like the demeanor of the defendant.

In three similar rulings, the commission found Jan. 10 that Hagstette, Wallace and Licata failed to comply with the law, maintain professional competence and adhered too strictly to elected judges’ directives not to issue personal bonds. They had constitutional and statutory obligation to consider all legally available bonds, including personal recognizance bonds, the commission said.

The magistrates’ lawsuit remains pending before Harris County state District Judge Randy Wilson in the 157th court.