Texas Judge Jack Robison disciplined for telling a jury God wanted them to acquit a defendant – CNN
The judge apparently “walked into the jury room after the jury’s deliberations, said he had been praying about the case, and informed the jurors God told him the defendant was innocent.” He went on to ask them to change their verdict. They declined.
After a flurry of complaints over the incident, he ended up with only a public reprimand from the Texas Judicial Commission.
[Robison] wrote that he had been suffering memory lapses and couldn’t explain why he’d broken protocol to try to inappropriately influence the case, but he said he’d been under extreme stress due to ongoing medical treatment and the recent death of a close friend.
He also provided letters from doctors.
The doctors determined Robison’s actions were driven by delirium, a “temporary, episodic medical condition,” according to the court papers. The doctors argued Robison’s “fitness for duty” was not impaired.
Um … that sounds like his fitness was, in fact, kind of impaired. Certainly his behavior overall doesn’t seem to be advancing the cause of justice. On appeal “a new judge ruled the sex trafficking case a mistrial, on grounds that Robison had made multiple biased comments throughout the trial.”
I feel sympathy for someone who is under such stress that he suffers memory lapses — but that sounds like something that would render him unfit to judge a case as well, especially as he’s still consulting with doctors on the matter.
Apparently the Texas Judicial Commission disagreed.