Brandon Hodges says his intervention can keep the Chapter 87 case moving if procedural challenges arise over District Attorney Glenn Harwood’s role.
Former Midland ISD board President Brandon W. Hodges is seeking to prevent procedural disputes from derailing a civil effort to remove Midland County Judge Terry Johnson before a court decides the misconduct allegations on their merits.
Hodges, who currently represents District 5 on the Midland ISD board, said in a Sunday press release that he filed a Verified Plea in Intervention and Adoption of Petition for Removal in Cause No. DCV-26-01527. The document seeks to add him as an independent resident-relator without replacing Midland County District Attorney Glenn Harwood or changing the grounds Harwood already pleaded.
A backup relator
Harwood filed the original Chapter 87 petition on Thursday as a private Midland County resident while remaining the county’s elected district attorney. Texas law allows a qualifying county resident who has lived there for at least six months and is not under indictment to petition for the removal of a county official.
The presiding regional judge must appoint a prosecutor from outside the jurisdiction to represent the state.
Hodges argued that Harwood’s overlapping roles and claimed personal knowledge create a “built-in vulnerability” that could expose the case to dismissal before a ruling. No court has found that Harwood’s role compromises the proceeding.
“I am prepared to outwork and outgun every lawyer in Midland if that is what it takes to keep this removal proceeding moving and force a real decision for the citizens of Midland,” Hodges said. “Public office is not private property. Elected officials are not royalty.”
Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 60 generally allows a party to intervene by filing a pleading, but a court may strike the intervention for sufficient cause after another party files a motion. Hodges’ plea also asks the court, as a fallback, to let him file a separate removal petition and consolidate it with the existing case if the court rejects intervention.
This is not Hodges’ first intervention in a Texas court case. As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Hodges intervened in litigation over the release of Texas public school accountability ratings and later praised an appellate ruling allowing the ratings to be released.
Fight moves to the court
Harwood’s original petition accuses Johnson of obtaining and publishing sensitive identifying information belonging to a Midland resident, including Social Security numbers and dates of birth, from a county-controlled system. Hodges has alleged that Johnson acted after the resident criticized him and that the conduct amounted to identity theft.
Prosecutors have not criminally charged Johnson, and no court has found that he committed misconduct. The Chapter 87 case is a civil removal action, not a criminal prosecution.
Johnson previously said he had no plans to resign and declined to address the allegations. The Midland County Commissioners Court said on August 6 that county government would continue operating during the civil process and that it would not comment further while the matter remained pending.
The court has not ruled on Hodges’ intervention, determined that Harwood has a conflict or decided the allegations against Johnson. Whether Hodges provides a second route to a decision on the merits now rests with the court.
