Republican voters in Corpus Christi rejected a return to the bench for an ex-judge, who in 2019 received a judicial conduct sanction and was convicted of public intoxication.

Former Judge Guy Williams, who challenged 347th District Judge Missy Medary in the Republican Primary, lost that effort by a landslide on Super Tuesday. He received only 3,235 votes, or 20%, while Medary won 12,737 votes, or 80% of the ballot, according to election results from the Texas Secretary of State's Office.

Now Medary will compete in the November general election against Deborah Rios, who was unopposed in the Democratic primary.

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Related story: 'Nice Body for a 70 Year Old': Ex-Judge Reprimanded for Groping Women, Misconduct on Bench

Williams' sanction and conviction became campaign issues.

"This court is too important to our community to allow my opponent, disgraced former judge Guy Williams, back on the bench," Medary wrote on Facebook. "Please share if you agree that respect, integrity, and character on the bench matters."

The Corpus Christi Caller-Times' editorial board wrote in an opinion piece that while Medary is "respected, liked, noncontroversial, and on overachiever among her peers," that Williams, was "neither widely respected nor liked, and he is controversial."

Williams didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.

The commission initially sanctioned Williams based on five complaints, Texas Lawyer reported in May 2019. He appealed the commission's sanction, leading to a special court of review holding a trial de novo. That court issued a public reprimand for Williams. Three of the complaints against him alleged that at a party in August 2017, he inappropriately touched three female public officials: a district judge, the Nueces County district clerk and the deputy chief clerk. The other two complaints leading to his public reprimand alleged disrespectful behavior toward litigants in a family law case, and multiple derogatory statements from the bench against the Nueces County District Attorney's office.

The sanction wasn't the end of Williams' troubles.

Texas Lawyer reported in October 2019 that a jury convicted Williams of Class C misdemeanor public intoxication for an incident in which he was a passenger in a vehicle that crashed into two palm trees, and then police arrested him for his behavior after the collision.

Williams is appealing the conviction.  He is a retired U.S. Marine who fought in the Vietnam War. He suffers post-traumatic stress disorder that creates anger issues, and has led to excessive alcohol consumption. He's also gone through intensive treatment for PTSD.

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Medary's credentials

Williams tried raising campaign issues about how well Medary was performing as a judge.

He alleged in a Feb. 7 letter to Nueces County District Attorney Mark Gonzalez, which Williams mailed to Texas Lawyer, that Medary had used more than $300,000 in taxpayer funds to call unnecessary jury panels, so that she could distribute a "campaign pamphlet" to potential jurors. Gonzalez didn't immediately return a call or email seeking comment about the complaint.

Williams also claimed in Texas Lawyer's judicial candidate questionnaire that Medary ran an inefficient court, didn't show up to court on time, and had closed a low amount of cases and held few trials compared to other district courts in the county.

However, Medary in 2019 earned statewide recognition for running an efficient court when the Texas Judicial Council named her court as a Center of Excellence.

"As a Center of Excellence, we have been recognized for our efficiency with our dockets and running the day to day operations of the court. We are always striving to improve and will continue to take innovative steps to better our service," wrote Medary in Texas Lawyer's judicial candidate questionnaire.

She has served as the judge of the 347th District Court for more than eight years, and since 2015, has also served as the regional presiding judge of the Fifth Administrative Judicial Region.

Medary wrote that Williams' conduct was an embarrassment to the judiciary.

"He is forbidden by law to sit as a visiting judge," she wrote. "Why would anyone in our community want to have him on the bench again full-time?"

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