Charge dropped, but judge is still suspended
Just four days after being indicted and arrested, Harris County misdemeanor court Judge Darrell Jordan saw an official oppression charge against him dropped.
Fort Bend County prosecutors on Friday announced they were dropping the misdemeanor charge against the judge.
Fort Bend County District Attorney Brian Middleton said that while Jordan was indicted by a grand jury, he did not believe his office could prove a crime was committed beyond a reasonable doubt.
“It is important to present cases implicating public integrity to the grand jury, particularly when there is some evidence to support the allegation, because they are representatives of the public,” Middleton said in a statement released after 6 p.m. Friday. “Moreover, it provides due process to the accused and transparency to the public.”
Jordan presides over Harris County Criminal Court at Law No. 16. On Monday, Jordan was indicted on misdemeanor official oppression charges in connection to a 2020 incident where he held Wayne Dolcefino, a private media consultant and former TV journalist, in contempt of court.
The indictment accused Jordan of wrongfully holding Dolcefino in contempt or subjecting him to summary punishment and jail without a hearing.
Middleton said prosecutors needed to meet a higher standard when moving a case forward.
“If we believe we cannot prove a charge beyond a reasonable doubt, we have an ethical obligation to dismiss the prosecution,” Middleton said.
His office on Friday filed a motion to dismiss the case in Harris County , he said.
Jordan’s attorney, Marc Carter, on Friday evening called Middleton an “honorable man” and said he always believed the charge would be dismissed.
“Contempt is an inherent power judges have to maintain order and decorum in the court,” Carter said. “I would advise citizens and officers of the court to abide by the rules of court and maintain decorum to avoid being held in contempt.”
Jordan is currently deployed with the Texas National Guard, Carter said.
Middlleton's office was handling Jordan's prosecution because Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg recused herself from the case.
Harris County court records on Friday afternoon still listed case against Jordan as active. Still, the dismissal request seems to bring an end to the matter in under a week.
After being indicted, arrested and released Monday, Jordan on Thursday was suspended from his position by the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct. In a letter explaining the discipline, the commission wrote the suspension would be lifted if Jordan was acquitted or if the charges were dismissed.
The charges were related to a June 30, 2020 incident when Jordan alleged that Dolcefino interrupted proceedings in Harris County Court at Law No. 16 despite repeated warnings to stop.
The two exchanged words, and Jordan eventually ordered Dolcefino to sit down and stop talking, according to a video of the encounter posted by Dolcefino on his company's Facebook page. When Dolcefino kept talking, Jordan ordered him arrested for contempt.
Dolcefino was found guilty and sentenced to three days in Harris County Jail, six months of probation and a $500 fine. The case was eventually overturned on appeal. Monday’s indictment accuses Jordan of wrongfully holding Dolcefino in contempt or subjecting him to summary punishment and jail without a hearing.
Before news of Jordan’s suspension broke, Dolcefino called for Jordan to be removed from the bench.
“This guy has no business on the bench,” Dolcefino said. “He doesn’t have the temperament.”
State law requires judges to be suspended if they are indicted on official misconduct charges, Carter said.
Jordan in 2016 was elected as a misdemeanor judge. Before his election, he was a criminal attorney and was among a group of special prosecutors appointed to investigate Sandra Bland's arrest and 2015 death inWaller County. As a judge, he has taken a stance against the use of cash bail for defendants too poor to afford it.
But there have been other controversies apart from the incident with Dolcefino. In May, Jordan was admonished by the judicial commission over confrontations he had with Harris County prosecutors.
The commission found that Jordan threatened to charge at least one assistant district attorney with contempt of court for “failing to show him the proper respect” and that during an October 2018 meeting with prosecutors Jordan referred to himself as the “king” of his court and the state’s attorneys as “hang-’emhigh prosecutors.” He was ordered to undergo two days of extra training.
That incident was separate from the one involving Dolcefino.
That confrontation was secretly recorded by Dolcefino. The recording shows him in a mostly empty courtroom, first chatting with court administrators and receiving a hello from the judge. Then he attempted to ask for the status of public corruption complaints he made about multiple Houston and Harris County officials – including Harris County Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis, a friend of Jordan’s.
Jordan told Dolcefino he couldn’t ask questions, told him to sit down and warned him to stop interrupting proceedings.
Carter this week denied the contempt order had anything to do with Dolcefino's investigative efforts. Dolcefino set a confrontational tone in his prior dealings with the judge, and he sought Jordan out in court with a disruptive result, Carter said.
The judicial commission received a complaint about Jordan's confrontation with Dolcefino and dismissed it, Carter said.
For his part, Dolcefino denied he interrupted the hearing and said his years in journalism taught him proper courtroom etiquette.
“I would have never interrupted a hearing,” he said. “I may be wild and crazy, but I’ve never done that.”