How will judge’s conduct cookie crumble?

Bexar County Court-at-Law

No. 6 Judge Wayne Christian has a lot to lose if he ends up before the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct to answer for actions in the case of Allison Jacobs, a drunken driving probationer whose freedom he revoked.

In a ruling handed down in June, the 4th Court of Appeals found Christian abused his judicial power, violated Jacobs’ constitutional rights and denied her due process.

Sources say a column by my colleague Josh Brodesky about the Jacobs case and a subsequent editorial asking the Commission on Judicial Conduct to investigate have captured the judicial oversight agency’s attention. If so, it may not be the first time the outspoken jurist — who likes to wear a camouflage print judicial robe on the bench — has come under the agency’s scrutiny.

In August 2013, the commission issued a Texas county court-at-law judge a private reprimand for wearing a Halloween costume while presiding over a misdemeanor criminal docket. The panel found the behavior “demonstrated a failure to conduct court proceedings with the proper order and decorum, and a failure to treat the defendants, victims, and their families with the appropriate dignity,” in violation of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct and the Texas Constitution. Ten months earlier, on Oct. 31, 2012, a local judge appeared in court wearing a bright blue Cookie Monster costume and passing out cookies. The incident was posted on Twitter by former Express-News criminal justice editor Craig Kapitan @hearsaySA — and even became the focus of an online photo caption contest on the abovethelaw.com website. Christian is identified on Twitter and in the online photo caption contest as the person dressed up as Cookie Monster.

The commission does not identify judges by name when a private reprimand is issued, but sources close to Christian said he was the recipient of that reprimand. Christian declined my request to be interviewed on the subject. He asked that questions be submitted to him in writing through the county court judges’ administrative lawyer, but after receiving them, he declined to answer.

Those questions: Did he wear a Cookie Monster costume on the bench, and is that him in the picture attached? Would he care to comment on the commission’s action? Has he changed any procedures in response to the 4th Court’s ruling? And does he have any plans to retire?

Brooke McDavitt, staff attorney for the Bexar County courts, responded on his behalf: “Under the Canons of Judicial Conduct, we believe it would be improper for Judge Christian to respond to the questions you have proposed.”

The Texas Constitution requires all investigative activities of the commission remain confidential. That means the commissioners and their investigators are not at liberty to discuss their proceedings. But the Texas Constitution does not place any constraints on the complainant or the subject of an investigation. He could answer these questions.

Christian has been a county court judge for 19 years and is serving a term that expires in 2022. He has led his colleagues in the number of times he has revoked probation for defendants, even in instances when prosecutors have not agreed with going forward.

When he first ran for office in 1996, Christian’s political challenger raised questions about his judicial temperament, citing an unauthorized trip he made as a member of the U.S. Army Reserve to participate in the 1989 Panama invasion.

“Technically, I deployed without specific authorization,” Christian told the Express-News at that time. He said when he was unable to reach his commanding officer to volunteer for the Panama action, he used his military credentials to get on a plane that stopped at Kelly AFB on its way to Panama. Christian said he received a medal for involvement in the intervention.

Christian has served close to 19 years on the bench. An adverse ruling from the Commission on Judicial Conduct could mean the loss of a state pension and the license to practice law. Voluntarily stepping down would salvage both.

The commission can consider previous complaints against a judge when new charges are made. We’ll see how the cookie crumbles.

File photo The stakes are high for Bexar County Judge Wayne Christian, who has come under scrutiny after revoking a defendant’s probation without evidence. More recently, he refused to say whether he dressed as Cookie Monster on the bench in 2012.