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Submitted by john wertz on 2020-01-06 02:32:15

that Judge Richardson did not follow the rule of law in the Gov. Rick Perry case with the Austin DA.

Judge Richardson's rebuttal:

In a recent interview with the Montgomery County Tea Party my opponent made two claims that were factually incorrect regarding my ruling in Ex parte James Richard “Rick” Perry. First, she claimed that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA) decision was unanimous, presumably to make light of my ruling. That was false. Eight judges participated in that decision - 6 voted to grant the relief requested and two dissented. TCCA Judge Johnson in her dissent noted “the Court stretches constitution, case law, and statute beyond where I am willing to follow.” That TCCA decision reversed the unanimous decision of the Austin Court of Appeals (all Republicans) denying Gov. Perry relief in Ct 2, requiring that he go to trial, and affirming their decision to find the statute in Ct 1 unconstitutional. Justice Pemberton, writing for the Austin Court of Appeals and denying Perry relief stated: “pretrial remedies presently available to defendants in criminal cases are more limited. . . we are instead duty-bound to follow that existing law unless and until the Legislature or the Court of Criminal Appeals instructs us otherwise.”

I have consistently maintained my role in the Perry case was to follow the law as a trial judge - I did exactly that. Appellate courts had the authority to change that law - they did that. In this case, the Austin Court of Appeals found the statute in one count unconstitutional, and they had the authority to do that; however, the Austin COA, as noted, was also bound to follow the TCCA precedent (the higher court) on the “as applied constitutional” claims. Being the State high court, the TCCA had the authority to change that rule, or make an exception. That is exactly what they did in Perry. I have never spoken out against either of those decisions, those two appellate courts had the authority to rule like they did and I respected their decisions."