Whats Worse Than a Reprimand?
State District Judge Rick Davis was publicly reprimanded earlier this year after using his position as judge to berate a prosecutor he thought had undermined his authority and to order her not to come into his courtroom, first in open court, then in the press and on television, then in letters to her boss, the Brazos County District Attorney. Davis thought the punishment from the State Commission on Judicial Conduct was too harsh, and he appealed the public reprimand to a special three-judge panel. He shouldn’t have. That panel agreed with the public reprimand in a scorching 18-page opinion and ordered Davis to take instruction from a “mentor judge” with particular emphasis on “anger management, courtroom demeanor, dealing with the media, and responding appropriately to criticism.” The court said his actions undermined the career of a young prosecutor, said she had done the right thing almost every step of the way, and told him he needed to learn the distinction between a threat to his
