(Texas Scorecard) – Dallas County District Judge Amber Givens has been issued two public sanctions, a reprimand and an admonition, for a pattern of misconduct and violating two defendants’ constitutional rights.
The State Commission on Judicial Conduct is responsible for ensuring judges maintain good conduct. Public sanctions are a disciplinary measure issued to judges who violate the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct, with a public reprimand considered more severe than a public admonition.
The government body issued both sanctions on June 23.
The reprimand of Judge Givens of the 282nd District Court listed a pattern of disrespect, specifically failing to treat parties, litigants, and other judges with patience, dignity, and courtesy.
According to the reprimand, Judge Givens’ Court Coordinator, Arceola Warfield, was either directed or allowed to conduct a hearing in a case “without informing the parties and attorneys.” Additionally, she “…failed to hear and decide a matter assigned to [Judge Givens]… [and] failed to treat the attorneys and litigants in the Aaron Case with patience, dignity, and courtesy.”
The commission also reprimanded Judge Givens for “failing to treat attorneys… with patience, dignity, and courtesy during hearing in her court… performing judicial duties with bias or prejudice, and exhibiting, through words or conduct, bias or prejudice in the performance of her judicial duties.”
Due to her reputation, “more than 100 recusal motions [were filed] against her in a short period of time by both prosecutors and defense lawyers practicing in her court” in 2022.
Judge Givens also repeatedly failed to process recusal motions within the legally required time frame, demonstrating a lack of professional competence in the law.
Lastly, the commission’s reprimand found that Judge Givens had “fail[ed] to treat Judge [Ray] Wheless [Regional Administrative Judge] with patience, dignity, and courtesy when she recorded their telephone conversation without his knowledge or consent” and “when she refused his request to use her courtroom and court reporter to handle the numerous recusal motions filed against her.”
Judge Givens’ actions were found to be willful and persistent violations of her judicial duties, undermining the integrity and public trust in the judiciary.
Released the same day, the commission issued a public statement saying Judge Givens was admonished for “failing to comply with and maintain professional competence in the law, namely the due process clauses of the United States and Texas Constitutions,” based on her actions in two cases.
In the first case, Judge Givens found a defendant’s “explanation unacceptable” even though she had been “recused from [the case] and lacked the jurisdiction to enter the order.” Judge Givens then “signed a Jail Sanction which ordered him to serve 60 days in the Dallas County Jail.”
The defendant had served six days in the Dallas County Jail before Judge Michaell Snipes, who had been assigned to the case, ordered his release. Judge Snipes serves in the Seventh Criminal District Court in Dallas County.
In the second case, Judge Givens “voluntarily recused herself from the [case]” and it was reassigned to Judge Snipes. On the day of the hearing, the case was rescheduled.
However, Judge Givens believed she was presiding over the case that day, and as “neither the defendant nor his attorney appeared,” she issued “an order holding [the defendant’s] bond insufficient and directing that he be taken into custody.”
“In both her written responses and her testimony before the Commission, Judge Givens acknowledged she ordered [both defendants] jailed without the authority to do so,” the commission stated in the public admonition.
Texas Scorecard has asked the office of Judge Givens and her attorney for comment but did not receive a response before publication.
These are the first public sanctions the commission has issued against Judge Amber Givens.