Name: More Harris County judges accused of favoritism in defense appointments
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More Harris County judges accused of favoritism in defense appointments

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Civil rights groups have formally filed complaints against two more state district judges in Harris County, adding to the list of jurists who are accused of violating state law in their case appointment practices.The Texas Fair Defense Project and Texas Civil Rights Project now contend that four judges favor certain private defense attorneys and overlook the Harris County Public Defender when appointing lawyers to indigent defendants’ cases. The groups on Thursday filed the new complaints against district Judges Frank Aguilar and Randy Roll, just one week after submitting against Judges Robert Johnson and Amy Martin.“This conduct harms indigent people charged with crimes and creates the appearance of cronyism, further undermining public faith in the courts,” the groups’ leaders wrote in the complaints to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct.This year to date, Aguilar and Roll have each appointed only .99 and 1.61 percent of their cases, respectively, to the Harris County Public Defender’s Office, according to the filing. The public defender’s office’s leaders say they can reasonably take on 20 percent of case appointments in each district court.Neither Aguilar nor Roll responded to requests for comment Monday evening. Judges do not typically speak publicly about complaints, citing judicial rules that prevent them from doing so.The complaint largely stems from the Sixth Amendment, which guarantees indigent peoples’ right to a quality defense. The Fair Defense Act in 2001 strengthened that right, and the state code was later amended to require that courts give priority appointments to public defenders, who already receive a budget from the county.Each criminal district court makes more than 1,600 appointments a year, so the defender’s office should average 320 case appointments from each of the 22 district courts, according to the filing.In reality, they take on much less. Aguilar appointed the public defender in 14 out of 1,418 total cases in 2020, and 36 out of 1,508 cases in 2019.Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Houston Chronicle / Staff PhotographerRoll appointed 29 out of 1,802 total felony cases to the public defender in 2020. In 2019, when he appointed 52 out of 1,953 cases to the public defender, the groups alleged, citing county data.Overall, 93.62 percent of appointed felony district court cases in 2020 went to private attorneys, and 6.38 percent went to the Harris County Public Defender’s Office, according to data collected by the Harris County Justice Administration Department.Advocates say the problem is far from isolated to the four judges currently facing complaints. Only five district judges have utilized the defender’s office for more than 10 percent of their case appointments this year, the data shows.Both Johnson and Martin’s case appointment rates rose slightly since receiving their complaints earlier in the month.Harris County’s criminal courts largely operate their own separate systems for appointing lawyers, but they must adhere to overarching guidelines. Felony judges make appointments by choosing from a list of qualified attorneys, and they implement the procedures through a Central Appointment Coordinator that they select, according to . Attorneys can also submit requests for appointments.None of the four judges have ever stated a reason for failing to appoint the public defender’s office to more cases, the complaint alleges. Bunin said he informed Martin, Johnson, Roll and Aguilar of the priority appointment law each at least once once.Photo: Jeremy&nbsp;Carter&nbsp;/ Houston ChronicleThe Texas Fair Defense Project and Texas Civil Rights Project argued that the judges’ behaviors were problematic beyond violating state law: When attorneys become overburdened with cases, the defendant tends not to have a relationship with assigned counsel and often feel pressured to plead guilty.In the 2019-2020 fiscal year, Aguilar’s appointments contributed to those massive caseloads, according to the filing. The Democrat, who has served on the bench for almost two years, approved close to $2 million in funds for private lawyers appointed to his cases.He appointed one capital case and 52 felonies to Cary Lynn Higginbotham while she represented 165 felonies, 209 misdemeanors and one capital case in other courtrooms, the complaint alleges. Defense attorney Jimmy Joe Ortiz received 59 of his 294 court appointed felonies from Aguilar that year.During the same fiscal year, Roll approved more than $1.2 million to private lawyers, including more than $400,000 to Ricardo Gonzalez. He was assigned to represent 518 people in Roll’s court alone. Roll, a Democrat, lost his primary and will leave his office this fall after four years in his current seat.In their complaints, Johnson and Martin faced similar allegations of favoritism benifitting certain attorneys. Johnson is up for re-election this year.A found that on average, an attorney can only competently represent 128 clients in felony cases per year. Higginbotham, Ortiz and Gonzalez were not available for comment Monday night.samantha.ketterer@chron.com

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateCivil rights groups have formally filed complaints against two more state district judges in Harris County, adding to the list of jurists who are accused of violating state law in their case appointment practices.The Texas Fair Defense Project and Texas Civil Rights Project now contend that four judges favor certain private defense attorneys and overlook the Harris County Public Defender when appointing lawyers to indigent defendants’ cases. The groups on Thursday filed the new complaints against district Judges Frank Aguilar and...

More Harris County judges accused of favoritism in defense appointments

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