Inadmissible

Here’s an odd statutory question that needs answering in Wharton County: Is a constitutional county court judge who attended law school and passed the bar exam but never “activated” his law license qualified as “an attorney licensed by the state”? The Wharton County District Attorney’s Office wants to know. On April 13 it asked Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott for an opinion so the DA’s office can make sure law enforcement officers go to the correct judge to get blood-draw warrants approved for DWI arrests. The problem is that, under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 18.01(i), in smaller counties such as Wharton County, “any magistrate” may sign such a warrant, as long as the county judge isn’t “an attorney licensed by the state.” Before 2011, Wharton County’s four justices of the peace (JPs) signed blood-draw warrants, because their constitutional county judge was not a lawyer. Philip Spenrath , who took over as Wharton County judge in January, has a law degree from Lansing, Mich.’s Thomas M. Cooley School of Law , passed the Texas bar exam and was licensed in Texas in 1991. However, he never practiced law, never paid State Bar of Texas dues and always has been on inactive status with the Bar, according to the AG opinion request filed by the DA’s office. “Since there’s not a definition of a licensed attorney in the Code of Criminal Procedure, we’re kind of in this nebulous position,” says Nathan Wood , a Wharton County assistant district attorney. Wood says law enforcement officers are getting warrants signed by Wharton County JPs, and “we don’t want to wind up in a situation in a year-and-a-half if someone comes in and challenges the warrant.” Spenrath has a great reason for never practicing law in Texas. Shortly after he moved to Texas, he fell in love with high school sports and became the head basketball coach at El Campo High School, where he also taught government classes. He later became El Campo mayor. “That was 20 years ago, and I had $40,000 in law school debts and my starting pay was $17,000,” Spenrath says. “And two years became 20 years.”

Rocky Slopes Ahead

On April 19, Joe Morris , a longtime justice on Dallas’ 5th Court of Appeals, told his colleagues that he will not run for again once his term ends on Dec. 31, 2012. Morris has been a judge since 1987, when then-Gov. Bill Clements appointed him to the 101st District Court. Morris was elected to the 5th Court in 1992 and has been there ever since. “I’ll be 65 years old next September. And there comes a time when you say, ‘A quarter century is enough’ ” time being a judge, he says. The timing for his December 2012 retirement is perfect, he says. “ There will be snow on the mountains. There is a black diamond slope at Taos that has been my nemesis for years. And I plan to spend some time conquering that.” That ski run at Taos Ski Valley in New Mexico is called Winston, which Morris describes as “straight down with a lot of rocks.”

Stink, Stank, Stunk