Harris County judge recuses herself from criminal case against accused Hidalgo aides

The jurist tasked with overseeing the criminal proceedings into three Harris County employees — all of whom handled a controversial procurement contract for Judge Lina Hidalgo’s office — has voluntarily recused herself to “avoid any appearance of impropriety,” according to court records. Following a grand jury indictment, the cases involving three former and current Hidalgo aides — Alex Triantaphyllis, Wallis Nader and Aaron Dunn — was randomly assigned to Judge Natalia Cornelio’s 351st District Court. The three were indicted April 11 on felony charges of misuse of official information and tampering with a governmental document following allegations that the aides steered a vaccine outreach contract to a vendor with Democratic ties with no public health expertise. The judge on Tuesday signed an order of voluntary recusal. Despite the decision, Cornelio stated in the order that she could “render a fair and impartial judgment” had she not done so.

The decision, she continued, was for the public to “maintain trust in the judiciary.” The recusal follows some concerns, mostly by public officials who spoke on the matter privately, that Cornelio had too many ties to the case. She worked with Nader at the Texas Civil Rights Project, with some court records listing them as co-counsels. Documents show Cornelio in 2017 was the nonprofit’s director of criminal justice reform, while Nader was a staff attorney. Campaign contributions were also discussed. Cornelio accepted a $100 campaign donation during her 2020 race from Felicity Pererya — the owner of Elevate Strategies, the vendor at the heart of the contract investigation, financial records show. Criminal judges during their election bids often accept donation dollars from lawyers, who may eventually go on to represent defendants in that judge’s court. That was the case with Cornelio, who accepted $500 from Ashlee McFarlane, one of Hidalgo’s lawyers representing her in connection to the contract probe. Katheryn Kase, Hidalgo’s legal counsel in her capacity as county judge, also donated $500 to Cornelio’s campaign. One of the search warrants used by the Texas Rangers to seek evidence identified Hidalgo and Kase as possible witnesses, rather than targets of the criminal investigation.