Republican Justice Ain’t So Blind
Two female Republican judges in Texas had a full fledged crime syndicate going on in the courtroom out in … you guessed it, East Texas, home of Louie Gohmert.
Judge Elizabeth Coker wanted to be both judge and prosecutor. During a trial on child abuse, she passed notes to a local prosecutor, Kaycee Jones, suggesting questions that Jones should relay to the prosecutor trying the case.
That’s called poopie del toro. It is also called illegal. Both women admit guilt. Jones writes —
Jones
“On August 8, 2012, I did receive a text message from Judge Coker that suggested a line of questioning in an injury to a child trial over which she was presiding and telling me to tell the trial prosecutor,” writes Jones in an April 2013 letter, which was obtained by the station. “I was not the trial prosecutor and had nothing to do with the investigation or prosecution of the case, but I was present in the courtroom for portions of the trial as an observer. When I received the text, I hand wrote the text verbatim and asked our investigator to deliver it to the prosecutor who was trying the case.”
Jones adds, “I deeply regret that I acted in this manner. It was wrong and I knew better.”
After this incident, Jones herself became a judge. She is a member of the Rotary Club and Central Baptist Church. She apparently sleeps well at night which is totally creepy.
The Judicial Conduct Commission can’t do anything about it because this happened before she was a judge. There is a complaint at the Bar Association. Except some shockingly offensive wrist slapping.
And there’s Judge Elizabeth Coker. She’s a doozy.
Coker
“The Commission investigated claims that Judge Coker allegedly engaged in other improper ex parte communications and meetings with Jones, other members of the Polk County District Attorney’s Office, the San Jacinto County District Attorney and certain defense attorneys regarding various cases pending in her court,” the agreement states.
“Judge Coker allegedly exhibited a bias in favor of certain attorneys and prejudice against others in both her judicial rulings and her court appointments; and Judge Coker allegedly met with jurors in an inappropriate manner, outside the presence of counsel, while the jurors were deliberating in one or more criminal trials.”
A bailiff in her courtroom filed an affidavit that she went into a jury room while they were deliberating and tried in influence their decision.
She has resigned and can never serve as a judge again. Whoop-te-do. She can still practice law, and draw full retirement and health care from the taxpayers of the state Texas, including those she screwed. She needs to be in freekin’ jail.
That’s my problem with Republican judges. The justice system is a game of gotcha to them. They have ethics as loose as ashes in a windstorm.
Thanks to Elizabeth for the heads up.
This is how it works. We had a judge here who was recorded (multiple times) on audiotape soliciting bribes from defendants scheduled to appear in his courtroom, but he was simply removed from the bench and barred from serving as a judge again. He was never prosecuted, or had a chance to model stainless steel bracelets. He’s still practicing law (and maybe, some day, he’ll get it right).
1Perhaps they’re related to the Vogons in Douglas Adams’ Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy stories: “When they heard the word ‘ethics’, they reached for their dictionaries; and when they heard the clink of coins, they reached for the rule book and threw it away.”
2I don’t understand. If what she did was illegal, why isn’t she in jail, or at least paid a fine?
3This is right up there with the judges who were routinely sentencing juveniles to for-profit detention centers in return for a cut of the profits. They destroyed lives.
4They sound like judges who could be easily bought. Neither is worth a “plugged nickel,” as my old dad used to say.
5And while we’re talkin’ about illegal, how about the big humongous banks who ain’t gittin’ thrown in the hoosegow? Today at Yeller Dawgs, someone mentioned how folks seem to have forgotten about right and wrong.
6So they got their wrists slapped by other Republicans. Gosh, the Judicial Conduct Commission works sooooooooo hard! Poor babies! I bet they have to suck on oxygen after making decisions! This is tantamount to kicking a sexual predator out of town for his crimes. It ain’t in no way punishment. He just moves his business to a new venue! Can’t believe anyone would hire either of these women in a legal capacity such as in a law suit or a crimanal case. Betcha they got their “JD” from a law school they found advetised on a matchbook!
7Oh, the hilarity that is the phrase “criminal justice system”.
http://www.techdirt.com/blog/wireless/articles/20131023/14363624989/texas-judge-forced-to-resign-after-being-caught-texting-instructions-to-assistant-da-during-trial.shtml#!
8This is nothing new. Biased judges are well known on both sides of the scales of justice. However, this case certainly throws out the myth that women are somehow above doing that. As I learned in law school back in the 70’s, women just as capable of bias & unethical behavior as men in all respects. They get away with it because few folks pay attention to who is on the bench when they enter the voting booth… unless they’ve been screwed.
9Apostates of the world, unite!
10Judge Elizabeth Coker, according to the ;ink below, changed her party affiliation this past April to Republican from Democrat. Either it didn’t take long for Republican values to overcome her or she’s an opportunist who cares more about her next election than principle.
http://www.easttexasnews.com/Trinity/News/Ind/Stories%202013/31.html
Btw, that article says as well that her sainted father and grandfather served on the bench in Trinity, Polk and San Jacinto counties as district judges. Makes you wonder about their ethics as well.
11I’d like someone with the expertise to explain just what it DOES take to get disbarred. And on the other side of the coin, what it takes to get indicted for breaking the law while sitting as judge.
12and the judge retained her law license according to grits for breakfast. then again she wasn’t humping the prosecutor on the side like that other east texas judge.
louie gohmert has a law degree but i can’t figure out who he paid to take the bar exam. he apparently has the intellectual capacity of a demented amoeba. i could be wrong, it may be just a charade to hide the zipper to his human suit………….
13Micr, she told the Republicans that she wasn’t changing her values at all to join up with them, so it sounds like she was an old-line Southern Democrat (the kind who jumped to Republican back in the day), or in modern terms, a DINO. She hung with the Dems until she saw the value of turning GOP.
And yeah, hereditary judges are probably a really, really bad idea. They get the notion that they’re owed the bench and whatever they can hide under it.
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