Holy smoke: Houston Judge looking for a few weed-minded votes ... on Halloween night

Embattled First Court of Appeals Incumbent His Honner Jim Sharp -- don't call him Mr. Sharp or else - must be getting desperate a few days before the election ..... He is a scheduled speaker at Houston NORML's Halloween  event ... oops ... Halloweed event -- or so NORML says.

The Seal of the State of Texas / Judicial Branch is prominently featured on the appearance-just-confirmed announcement on the organization's Facebook page, and his Court of Appeals bio page is hot-linked. What the hell with this lending-prestige-of-judicial-office-thing....it was just a public reprimand last time around anyhow.
 
Gotta make clear to the cannabis-loving crowd that this Sharp fella is not just an ordinary Joe Schmoe down the street. Or a less-than-judicial impostor.

You thought you got a good idea how Big Jim knows to swear like a sailor when he earned his rebuke from the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct!?

Wait until he gets high on the weed vote!

Or perhaps it's all part of good-natured trick-o-treating, ... if not a vast politically motivated conspiracy to sully the public standing of a jurist of great stature.

A man known to take a stand. A true local icon. 

THE HONOURABLE JIM SHARP - HOUSTON'S DESKTOP JURIST

The Houston Chronicle editorialized against him ("Voter should remember Justice Sharp's Temper Tantrum") and the bar poll favored his non-incumbent opponent.

Public Official Jim Sharp Twitter Stats: 35 Followers, 10 Favorites 

Jim Sharp's Re-election Campaign on Twitter: Don't Miss Any Updates 

HOUSTON CHRONICLE REMINDED VOTERS 
THAT JIM SHARP IS UNFIT FOR JUDICIAL OFFICE

Chronicle comes out against Justice Jim Sharp re-election bid
Link: http://www.chron.com/opinion/recommendations/article/Courts-of-Appeals-5822853.php 

FOR FURTHER STUDY: Click link to Texas Code of Judicial Conduct 

on Texas Judiciary web site 

Houston Court of Appeals Justice Jim Sharp soon to face the voters' verdict for misconduct in office

Judicial Elections as a Remedy to Improve the Judicial System  

Having distinguished himself with a formal reprimand by the Texas Commission of Judicial Conduct, followed by a like resolution by a special court of inquiry assembled by the Texas Supreme Court -- in his very first term on the First Court of Appeals, no less - Houston Court of Appeals Justice Jim Patrick Sharp is facing his forthcoming demise as a public official at the ballot box. Elected in 2008 by a narrow margin, Justice Sharp is up for re-election this election season as his 6-year term ends Dec 31, 2014. He performed poorly in the Houston Bar Association's poll of judicial candidates. 

Jim Sharp: Seeking re-election in 2014 to seat on First Court of Appeals
despite Censure by Judicial Conduct Commission 

Sharp's antics range from jumping on his desk and having his picture taken by a photographer for the Houston Chronicle, removing  furniture under cover of darkness without facility management

approval from his erstwhile chamber in the building of the South Texas College of Law to the newly restored 1910 Harris County Courthouse, and picking a fight with security personnel at said courthouse merely because they were doing their humble jobs and would not let him bypass the metal detector screening without showing his badge.

But nothing exemplifies the complete lack of judicial temperament and decorum more starkly than the tirade Sharp launched against employees of the Brazoria County Juvenile Probation Department when they wouldn't accommodate his intervention, seeking -- with reference to his authority as a member of the court of appeals overseeing the judges of ten counties -- the immediate release of the juvenile daughter of a female friend who had been caught shop-lifting; -- "popped", as Sharp put it.

Sharp's rants against the Brazoria County officers involved in the juvenile matters ran the gamut of appellations from "arrogant little prick" and "son of a bixxx" to "stupid axxhole" to "xxxxsuckers".

In his subsequent disciplinary proceeding Sharp sought to justify his impertinent outburst, and use of gutter slang, by averring -- ironically -- that he had to make sure they understood that he was not just a "Joe Schmo down the street". He also averred that he was just "venting".

A psychiatrist hired by Sharp, Dr. Stephen Tew, offered a mild diagnosis of adult attention deficit disorder, but conceded that it was not the sole producing cause of the wayward conduct that brought Sharp to the attention of the Judicial Conduct Commission. In other words, the man has behavioral issues, and they cannot be chalked up to a mental conditions as some sort of clinical excuse for clearly inappropriate behavior.

Dr Stephen Tew's fee for testimony on behalf of Justice Jim Sharp in his disciplinary case
before a special court as reported to the Texas Ethics Commission

Sharp was not just venting. He was trying to use his official position as a member of the First Court of Appeals to secure special favors for the teenage child of a woman with whom he had some sort of personal relationship; accompanied by a tirade of verbal abuse so vile it makes one cringe merely reporting it.

At the end of the disciplinary process, the not-so Honorable Jim Sharp was not removed from office. Nor deprived of his perch and the power to do more harm to the integrity of the judicial system through his participation in appellate decision-making. But that will likely happen, come November.

Democracy has its quirks. It can get unqualified people into public office, to be sure, but it can also flush them out when they betray the public's expectations, and the citizenry's trust. The ballot box can deliver much deserved justice when the peers that get to pass judgment and censor an errant colleague in the disciplinary process stop short of removing him from the bench he has sullied.

 Public official Jim Sharp's less than judicious choice of words:

Some of the findings on Sharp's verbal abuse of county employees 

THE CASE OF HOUSTON JUDGE JIM SHARP 
Now judicial ethics continuing education material 

Justice Sharp (Houston Court of Appeals) Judicial Discipline 

https://static.ark.org/eeuploads/ag/GOOD_LESSONS_FROM_BAD_JUDGES_AG_2014_Materials.pdf

LINKS TO EXAMPLES OF JUSTICE SHARP'S SELF-INFLICTED BAD PRESS

Houston Chronicle editorial on Justice Jim Sharp’s poor judgment (2012)  
Houston judge (Jim Sharp) censored for 'abusive' behavior (2012 Houston Chronicle article) 
Houston Press: Judge Jim Sharp - Rate His Cursing as the tries to spring friend's daughter from jail (9/7/2012) 

HOW CANDIDATE SHARP RATES WITH LOCAL ATTORNEYS: BAR POLL RESULT

Local Bar Poll Results: Jim Sharp lagging behind even though he is the incumbent
with better name-recognition

HALLOWEEN UPDATE: HOLY SMOKE!

The Hon Jim Sharp - featured speaker at Houston NORML Halloween ("Halloweed") event. 

Looking for a few last-minute weed-minded votes?

Ex-Judge Denise Pratt (non) news - Sanctions pronouncement by State Commission on Judicial Conduct "with all deliberate speed"

Former Harris County Family District Court Judge Denise Pratt finally slapped on the wrist by the State Commission of Judicial Conduct for tardiness and apparent back-dating of orders to cover up her lack in diligence in getting the business of the court done. Ironically, the sanctions opinion was tardy too. Pratt is long gone from office and lost her bid for re-election.  

The pdf version of the sanctions order, issued September 4, 2014, can be found at http://www.scjc.state.tx.us/pdf/actions/FY2015-PUBSANC.pdf

Here is a text verbatim (it' a rather tedious read). 
The bottom line: A Public Reprimand.

Given all the coverage in the local media at the time the scandal broke, and the story developed, it's hardly big news now. 

PUBLIC SANCTIONS

FY 2015

The following are public sanctions (reproduced in their entirety) which were issued by the Commission during fiscal year 2015. The public records for these cases are available for inspection at the Commission’s offices located at 300 W. 15th Street, Suite 145, Austin, Texas.

BEFORE THE

STATE COMMISSION ON JUDICIAL CONDUCT

CJC NOS. 14-0102-DI, 14-0165-DI, 14-0224-DI, 14-0403-DI,

14-0435-DI, 14-0468-DI, 14-0472-DI, 14-0473-DI, 14-0484-DI,

14-0508-DI, 14-0529-DI, 14-0654-DI&14-0655-DI

PUBLIC REPRIMAND

HONORABLE DENISE V. PRATT

FORMER JUDGE, 311TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT

HOUSTON, HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS

During its meeting on August 13-15, 2014, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct concluded a review of the allegations against the Honorable Denise V. Pratt, Former Judge of the 311th Judicial District Court, Houston, and Harris County, Texas. Judge Pratt appeared before the Commission on August 14, 2014, and gave testimony.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Judge Pratt was elected to the 311th Judicial District Court bench in November 2010, and assumed the bench on January 1, 2011. Starting in October 2013, the Commission began receiving complaints filed by attorneys, litigants, and confidential sources alleging numerous incidents of misconduct against Judge Pratt, including malfeasance by backdating court orders and judgments, excessive and unreasonable delays in issuing decisions, a lack of diligence in attending to the business of the court, and incompetence in performing the duties of office. Many of the matters raised in the complaints became the subject of extensive local media attention in the Houston area. In particular, it was disclosed in the press that allegations contained in the complaint of attorney Greg Enos had become the subject of a criminal investigation by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office into the conduct of Judge Pratt.

In Enos’ criminal complaint, Judge Pratt was accused of backdating court orders and renditions in order to cover up for the lengthy delays in her rulings in contested family law cases. It was alleged that Judge Pratt backdated the orders to make it appear that she had issued rulings sooner than she actually did and that the judge was assisted by court staff, who rolled back the clerk’s date stamp, then initialed and filed backdated orders knowing that Judge Pratt had not signed the documents on the dates she claimed. Enos provided examples in six cases of orders or renditions that appeared to have been signed by Judge Pratt months earlier but that were not filed or provided to the parties or their attorneys until much later and well after the time to appeal had expired. According to media reports, Judge Pratt’s lead clerk, Marilyn Epps, who had twenty-five years of experience as a Harris County court clerk, resigned following an investigation by the Harris County District Clerk’s office into the backdating allegations after admitting to one instance of rolling back her date stamp to match what Judge Pratt had written as the date she purportedly signed the rendition. However, there appeared to be no evidence to support a finding that Epps engaged in this conduct at Judge Pratt’s request, direction, or instruction. In December 2013, a grand jury investigating Enos’ complaint against Judge Pratt declined to indict the judge. During this time, Judge Pratt filed to run for re-election and became one of four candidates vying for election to the 311th District Court in the March 2014 Republican Primary.

In January 2014, additional complaints were filed with the Commission after Judge Pratt issued dismissal orders disposing of more than approximately 600 pending cases on December 30-31, 2013. According to the complaints, without notice to the parties or their attorneys or an opportunity to be heard, cases were dismissed for want of prosecution even though a substantial number of the cases had recent activity; were awaiting the judge’s signature on orders following trial, mediation, or arbitration; were set for trial in 2014; or had already been transferred to other courts following Judge Pratt’s recusal. Enos filed a second criminal complaint with the Harris County District Attorney’s office concerning the en mass dismissals alleging that Judge Pratt illegally purged her docket on the last two days of 2013 to cover up the growing backlog caused by her failure or inability to timely handle the business of the court.

Although Judge Pratt received the most votes in the March 2014 Republican Primary, she did not receive at least 50% of the votes and her name was placed on the ballot for the May 2014 Republican Primary Run-off election. However, on March 28, 2014, after Enos filed a third criminal complaint against her with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, Judge Pratt sent a letter to the Governor of Texas announcing that she was immediately resigning from office. Despite her resignation, Judge Pratt’s name remained on the ballot for the May 2014 runoff election, which she lost.

In August 2014, the Commission concluded its investigation into the allegations filed against Judge Pratt. After considering the evidence before it, the Commission entered the following Findings and Conclusions.

Harris County Family Law Center 

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. At all times relevant hereto, the Honorable Denise V. Pratt was Judge of the 311th
Judicial District Court in Houston, Harris County, Texas.

DELAYS IN RULING

The Bates Case