This takes us back to the Santa Fe shooting. The trial has not exactly been speedy.
- Click here for the story.
Attorneys for accused Santa Fe school shooter Dimitrios Pagourtzis argue Judge Jeth Jones should be disqualified because of past association with a lawyer briefly involved in the case, according to a motion filed Tuesday.
Nicholas Poehl, the main attorney representing Pagourtzis, argues Jones, presiding judge of the 122nd District Court, should be disqualified because he was in legal practice with with Jared Robinson, who’s now judge of the 405th District Court, according to the motion.
Poehl, Robinson and attorney Robert Barfield spoke to and provided legal advice to Pagourtzis on May 18, 2018, the day of the shooting, which created an attorney-client relationship, according to the motion.
Robinson at the time was in practice with Jones through the firm Jones Robinson LLP, according to the motion. Robinson and Jones discontinued their association two days later, according to the motion.
"Although Robinson was briefly on the team and in a limited capacity, Jones is still considered a part of that group,” Poehl said. “Jones and Robinson are the same person for these purposes.”
Under Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, a judge must be disqualified from any proceeding in which the judge has served as a lawyer in the matter in controversy, or a lawyer with whom the judge previously practiced law served during such association as a lawyer concerning the matter.
Judicial disqualification must meet two prongs: The judge or the judge’s firm was the attorney for the party in the case, and the matter before the judge is the same matter that was before the judge or judge’s law firm.
Pagourtzis’ defense team on March 13 filed a motion to recuse Jones from the case, which has yet to be heard by Administrative Judge Susan Brown.
Attorney General Ken Paxton also weighed in on the case March 30, when he filed a motion in the 122nd District Court to vacate Jones’ March 10 order to require Dr. Joseph Penn to perform a new competency examination of Pagourtzis.
Brown is scheduled to hear both the recusal motion and the motion to disqualify on April 20.
For more:
- Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.
- JETH JONES FOR GALVESTON 122ND DISTRICT COURT.
- Jeth Jones (Texas 122nd District Court, Texas, candidate 2022).
- 122nd Judicial District Court.
