2 more state judges accused of favoritism

Complaint alleges most cases go to private lawyers, not public defenders

Civil rights groups have formally filed complaints against two more state district judges in Harris County, adding to the list of jurists accused of violating state law in their case appointment practices.

The Texas Fair Defense Project and Texas Civil Rights Project now contend that four judges favor certain private defense attorneys and overlook Harris County public defenders when appointing lawyers to indigent defendants’ cases.

The groups on Thursday filed the new complaints against district Judges Frank Aguilar and Randy Roll, just one week after submitting two similar grievances against Judges Robert Johnson and Amy Martin.

“This conduct harms indigent people charged with crimes and creates the appearance of cronyism, further undermining public faith in the courts,” the groups’ leaders wrote in the complaints to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct.

This year to date, Aguilar and Roll have each appointed only 0.99 percent and 1.61 percent of their cases, respectively, to the Harris County Public Defender’s Office, according to the filing. The office’s leaders say they can reasonably take on 20 percent of case appointments in each district court.

Neither Aguilar nor Roll responded to requests for comment Monday evening. Judges do not typically speak publicly about complaints, citing judicial rules that prevent them from doing so.

The complaint largely stems from the Sixth Amendment, which guarantees indigent peoples’ right to a quality defense. The Fair Defense Act in 2001 strengthened that right, and the state code was later amended to require that courts give priority appointments to public defenders, who already receive a budget from the county.

Each criminal district court makes more than 1,600 appointments a year, so the defender’s office should average 320 case appointments from each of the 22 district courts, ac

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And it only took a few orbits of conflicting orders from Houston and Moscow before Shepherd gave both control centers a pointed reminder.

“Look, we’re the International Space Station,” he recalled saying. “You guys have to coordinate.”

They’ve worked as a team ever since. On Monday, the International Space Station will mark 20 years of continuous human occupation. It has been home to 241 people from 19 countries.