Photo: Jason Doiy and S. Todd Rogers/ALMTexas Judge Kicked Lawyer Off 14 Cases. Now Judge Is in the Hot Seat
The judge sua sponte appointed a different attorney for the defendant, but never entered a written order removing the original attorney, or allowing the lawyer to withdraw as defense counsel.
February 24, 2020 at 05:42 PM
3 minute read
A Texas judge is in the ethics hot seat after he removed a court-appointed defense attorney from several cases.
The State Commission on Judicial Conduct Monday issued a public warning against Judge Navarro Campbell Cox II, of the 145th Judicial District Court in Nacogdoches County.
The discipline stemmed from the judge's removal of attorney Clay Thomas, whom Cox had appointed as counsel for defendant John Paul Jones in September 2016.
It appears the case against Cox stemmed from a discussion between the attorney and judge before the first pretrial setting. At that time, the attorney said he'd already dedicated 10 hours to the case, and requested a psychiatric evaluation for the defendant.
But the judge was unconvinced.
"In his responses to the commission's inquiry, Judge Cox explained that he was concerned with the substance of Thomas's motion for psychiatric examination, and his perception of a 'nonchalant' reaction from Thomas regarding his concerns," the public warning states. "Judge Cox acknowledged that when Thomas told him how much time he had spent on the Jones case, he told Thomas that in 30 years of practicing law, he had never had an attorney '[s]pend 10 hours on a case prior to the first setting.' Judge Cox also stated that he told Thomas at that time that he was 'off the case.'"
The judge then sua sponte appointed a different attorney for the defendant, but never entered a written order removing Thomas, or allowing the lawyer to withdraw as defense counsel.
But Cox didn't stop there. He then removed Thomas from 13 cases before another jurist, Judge Edwin Klein.
"In each of the above-referenced cases, Judge Cox removed Thomas as defense counsel sua sponte, and Thomas was notified of such removal either verbally or through e-mail, by Judge Cox or his staff," the public warning states.
But the commission that disciplines judges found Cox crossed the line. It found the judge violated Canons 2A, 2B, 3B(2), 3B(4), 3B(5), 3B(8) and 3C(4) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct, as well as the Texas Constitution, when he instructed one of the defendants to "shop around" for another attorney to replace Thomas.
Thomas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
|Read the full public warning:
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