Attorneys in Montgomery County are denouncing district judge candidate Eric Yollick, who was charged with criminal mischief for allegedly egging the county judge's car in protest of a COVID-19 stay-home order.

Yollick, who is running against candidate Vince Santini for the 457th District Court, has pleaded not guilty to the Class C misdemeanor—punishable by a fine of up to $500—and has a trial set for October.

Some people in the local legal community are mounting an opposition to Yollick's campaign for the district court.

"This is the least of the things he's done bad," said local attorney John Pettit Sr. of The Pettit Law Firm in Conroe. "He will get his vote out again. The thing people opposed to him have to do is realize we've got to get our vote out, too. If our group does not get going, and get people's attention, and get the vote out, I'm very concerned he could win the primary."

Yollick declined to comment.

 'kindergarten ethics'

The 457th District Court is a new bench, which meant there was no incumbent in the primary.

Five candidates ran in the Republican Primary in March. Yollick won 38% and Santini won 25%, which advanced them to a runoff in July.

Whoever wins will face Democrat Marc Meyer in the November election.

Santini said that judicial candidates need to be dignified rather than making negative headlines.

"No amount of experience matters, if you haven't learned kindergarten ethics," said Santini, senior litigation attorney in The Voss Law Firm in The Woodlands. "For example, don't take things that don't belong to you. Don't damage other people's property. Treat people the way you want to be treated—things like that. I think integrity matters. Integrity matters in a courtroom, especially nowadays, when people are hungry for justice."

The egging

Yollick referred Texas Lawyer to comments that he's made in other articles.

In an article in The Golden Hammer—Yollick founded it, but  no longer works there—he admitted throwing an egg on Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough's vehicle on March 27. He said it was a "light-hearted protest" against a COVID-19 lockdown and business closure order that Keough issued that day.

"People are sick and tired of being locked down while they're going broke because the government has deprived them of their livelihoods. It's sad that Judge Keough is more focused on a minor personal issue like this one rather than focusing on reopening our economy, getting people back to work, and restoring our civil liberties," he said in the article.

He said he cleaned the egg off the vehicle with paper towels and a water bottle, and later that day, offered Keough $20 for a car wash, which he declined. He argued the egging wasn't a crime because he didn't cause pecuniary loss, or any substantial inconvenience, to Keough.

Keough didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.

Conroe Assistant City Attorney Mike Garner, who is the prosecutor in Yollick's criminal mischief case, declined to comment.

Opposition emerges

Pettit, the Conroe lawyer, said he strongly opposes Yollick because the attorney has allegedly written untrue, divisive and hateful things about others on The Golden Hammer site.

In the past, Pettit said, a jury found that Yollick maliciously committed fraud in a civil case and awarded punitive damages.

The fraud case, JJJJ Walker v. Yollick, involved six investors who won an $118 million verdict—which included punitive damages—against Yollick and his client, First National Bank, on claims of fraud and conversion, said a September 2014 opinion by the 14th Court of Appeals in Houston.

The plaintiffs were investors who purchased three hospitals from a hospital system in bankruptcy. They alleged the defendants, through another business entity, defrauded them of their ownership interests. The jury found Yollick 10% responsible.

Although the trial court issued a judgment notwithstanding the verdict that said no evidence supported individual liability against Yollick, the 14th Court disagreed. It reinstated the judgment against Yollick.

While campaigning for the primary, several videos from doorbell cameras showed Yollick removing and crumpling other candidates' door hangers, then placing his own campaign hanger on the doors, according to an article in The Courier of Montgomery County.

Yollick admitted removing door hangers and told the newspaper he did it because they were "tattered."

Pettit, the Conroe attorney, said, "You can't learn integrity. Eric Yollick has had 60 years to learn integrity, and he hasn't done it, and he has zero judgment."

Note: This article was updated to reflect that Eric Yollick's criminal mischief charge is a Class C misdemeanor. Texas Lawyer regrets the error.