Elsa Alcala is upset, and she is naming names.

The Houston attorney, formerly a judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, saw photos early this week of criminal defendants packed in line waiting to get into the Harris County courthouse, and other shots of people gathering in hallways to get into judges' courtrooms.

After objecting in a Facebook post about the risk of COVID-19 transmission, an outpouring of comments and messages from lawyers motivated Alcala to take action. She spoke out against judges whom she says are unnecessarily requiring defendants on bond—and their counsel—to come to court for in-person hearings, when they could be allowing remote conferences.

"It was pretty clear to me that this violated the spirit of the county judge's stay-at-home order," said Alcala, adding that she knows courts technically fill essential functions. "If there is one place a rule should be followed, it's the courthouse. The irony of the whole situation was shocking to me. I really couldn't believe what I was seeing."

Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht has asked the state's regional presiding judges to report to him when individual judges are breaking one of the high court's emergency orders regarding group size limits for in-person hearings. However, none of the regional presiding judges has reported violations yet, he wrote in an email.

Hecht added that the court's first emergency order from March 13 was really clear in stating that all the civil and criminal courts in Texas "must" avoid risk to court staff, parties, attorneys, jurors and the public. For that reason, courts are allowed to hold any hearings remotely through telephone or video conference.

Most Harris County judges do seem to be using video conferences over in-person hearings, said Alcala. But she communicated with lawyers and other judges to narrow down three of the worst offenders for still requiring in-person hearings.

She has now directly contacted 174th District Judge Hazel Jones, 337th District Judge Herb Richie and 177th District Judge Robert Johnson to ask them to change their ways. Those judges didn't return emails seeking comment before deadline.

"I implore you to act in the public interest to stop requiring personal appearances by defendants in an effort to reduce community spread of this deadly virus," Alcala wrote.

But that's not all.

She's chronicling it publicly on Facebook and Twitter, and garnering comments of gratitude from attorneys.

Alcala explained that some are scared for the safety of their clients and themselves, but still don't want to attach their own names to critiques of the judges with which they'll continue working.

Some wore masks

Houston solo practitioner Ed McClees was one of the lawyers forced to appear in-person in one judge's courtroom on Tuesday. He declined to name the judge, but noted that his client was out on bond and the hearing was to set his bond conditions.

McClees wanted to be safe.

But he had to wait in line outside the courthouse for a masked employee to take his temperature and ask questions about his travel and whether he was coughing. Next, he waited in a hallway outside the judge's courtroom with a group of five to eight lawyers who couldn't stand six feet apart. Some wore masks, some gloves, some both, and some nothing at all, he noted. Although the court required his appearance at 9 a.m., the judge didn't call his case until noon, he said.

"When the doors did open, they weren't making efforts to keep distancing inside the courtroom itself," McClees said, adding that he feels this judge should have used Zoom for his matter. "In this very unique time, your mind goes to wanting to make sure you are safe, from a selfish standpoint. You also want to make sure your client is safe."

He estimated that about half of the county's courts are doing the right thing by limiting personal appearances.

Alcala has made a point of pushing the holdouts to change.

She wrote a letter to Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo that included a recommended fix.

"I suggest that you lock the door to the judge's private entrance into the courthouse, and shut down the judge's private elevator. If judge are going to require that defendants personally appear, then the judges should be exposed to whatever contaminants that may be carried by the people who appear," Alcala wrote. "Maybe if this happens, judges will consider the risk of virus-exposure to the community at large that includes families and children."