Dallas judges push back against commissioners’ claims they don’t work, citing bad data

Dallas County judges are pushing back against allegations from county commissioners that they haven’t been working since the pandemic began. A video featuring 11 of Dallas County’s misdemeanor and felony court judges, all Black women, and called Speaking Truth to Power, is making rounds on social media. “Our Dallas County judges have worked tirelessly to bring much needed reform to the criminal justice system,” said the narrator, Pastor Freddie Haynes of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas. “Yet and still, they’ve recently come under attack. It’s time to set the record straight.” Misdemeanor court Judge Shequitta Kelly said on Facebook that judges will soon release details about a “Truth To Power Educational Series.” Commissioners have spent months blaming judges for a perceived backlog of pending cases. Courts nationwide face a build up of cases because many were shut down as the coronavirus spread through the country. In Texas, the state’s supreme court shut down all jury trials in March 2020. Its emergency order has allowed for courts to delay in-person proceedings until June 1.

Commissioner JJ Koch even went so far as to say in April that judges “absolutely broke our justice system because they’re not working.” Koch and Price could not immediately be reached about the judges’ post. Judges previously remained mostly silent while Koch and Price barked accusations. State rules for judge conduct limit what they may say off the bench. But the county’s 17 felony court judges broke their silence Tuesday, releasing a four-page statement. Commissioners are relying on an inaccurate data set, the judges said. They identified more than 1,100 cases on the county’s “Criminal Case Backlog Data” that are not still pending. Some cases Koch and Price list never even entered their courtrooms, according to the judge’s initial review. Judges identified cases listed more than once. One such case was listed 11 times. The data also includes cases that were never indicted. Some cases that remain on the list involve defendants who are dead, they said. The issue is nuanced. The Supreme Court of Texas extended a COVID-19 order that allows judges to conduct work remotely until June 1. The courthouse has limited the number of jury trials that can be on each floor at a time.