Only in Texas.....
The jury's still out on judge's no-nonsense brand of justice
She's upset some with her demands of offenders, lawyers
12:00 AM CDT on Thursday, September 29, 2005
By KEVIN KRAUSE
SHERMAN - State District Judge Lauri Blake recently laid down the law to a 17-year-old drug offender: As a condition of probation, she barred the teenager from having sex as long as the girl is living with her parents and attending school.
The unorthodox ruling is just one of the ways Judge Blake, who was elected 10 months ago, is making her presence felt in the 336th District Court covering Fannin and Grayson counties. Word of her decisions has been spread by lawyers who have e-mailed colleagues in other areas. Some local media outlets have done stories about her.
Judge Blake prohibits tattoos, body piercings, earrings and clothing "associated with the drug culture" for those who are on probation and free on bond. And she makes poor defendants pay a portion of their legal defenses.
The 40-year-old former Dallas police officer and Collin County prosecutor who teaches Sunday school also has rules for lawyers in her courtroom.
Sleeveless shirts are out. Same with cleavage, said Sharron Cox, president of the Fannin County Bar Association. Strict decorum is expected. No handshake deals.
"It used to be like a circus, lawyers milling around," said Fannin County District Attorney Richard Glaser. "She makes them sit and come up one at a time."
The district attorney is investigating the complaint of a lawyer who was briefly ordered into a holding cell after the judge admonished him for his manners.
In a brief telephone conversation, Judge Blake said that if lawyers are discontent, none has approached her about it. Last week, she agreed to an interview but later declined through her court coordinator.
How far is too far?
When Christina Brazier, 17, was found guilty of drug possession in June, Judge Blake required her not to have sex as a condition of her probation.
"That's a new one. I'm not sure how you would enforce that," said Jim Mills, interim director of adult probation for Dallas County.
State law allows judges to assign conditions they believe are fair and appropriate. Ms. Brazier was tried and convicted as an adult. The age of consent in Texas is 17.
Fred Moss, a Southern Methodist University professor and former federal prosecutor, said being on probation entitles a judge to restrict one's freedom.
"The only question is, how far?" he said. "There have to be some limits obviously."
He said one must consider whether a condition "inflicts undue embarrassment" and whether it has any connection to the purposes of punishment.
"Some conditions could be viewed as too draconian and violate someone's personal dignity," he said. "I'm not sure where the parameters are these days."
Steve Blackburn, a lawyer involved with the Dallas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said defendants who don't like their probation conditions can reject them and go to jail. On the other hand, conditions that violate someone's constitutional rights are best avoided, he said.
"The idea is that you can't ever ask somebody to give up certain rights," he said.
Ms. Brazier also was ordered not to get new tattoos or piercings, not to use tobacco or wear clothing "associated with the drug culture," according to court documents. She could not be reached for comment.
From beat to bench
Judge Blake graduated at the top of her police academy class and spent three years as a Dallas police officer before going to law school. Before her four-year stint in the Grayson County district attorney's office, she was an assistant U.S. attorney in Sherman, where her husband also works as an attorney.
When she announced her candidacy last year, Judge Blake said it was important to elect a judge who decides cases based on law and facts "without regard to courthouse politics or personalities."
She defeated her Republican challenger with 52 percent of the vote and breezed through the general election against a Democrat. She replaced Judge Ray Grisham, who retired after 20 years on the bench.
Collin County District Attorney John Roach called her "smart as a whip" and said she was "fair but tough."
Judge Blake's supporters say the local law establishment - what Judge Blake called a good ol' boy system during her campaign - is disgruntled by her professionalism and is resistant to change.
By the book
Since taking the bench in January, Judge Blake has irritated some with her formal, by-the-book style. In the past, resetting a hearing, for example, could be accomplished with a phone call, said some lawyers who practice before her. Judge Blake wants lawyers to appear before her for such requests, they said.
"In the past, all the judges knew all the attorneys and were friends with them," lawyer Joe Moss said. "There was a very casual relationship between them in the past. She has a much more formal approach."
Grayson County District Attorney Joe Brown, the judge's former boss, said Judge Blake does not "suffer fools."
"She's restored decorum to the courtroom. She runs a tight ship," he said. "Some people aren't used to that. This county is changing. It's moving from a good ol' boy county to a more sophisticated court system."
Judge Blake has not issued a formal set of rules. Rather, she generally makes her wishes known in court and in meetings with lawyers. Some of them get lost in translation, however, like the rumor that she banned cowboy boots and open-toed shoes from her courtroom.
Some offended
Some local lawyers presented a different perspective.
"She told me to stand up straight and don't touch the bench," said lawyer James A. Fry, about a recent hearing. "It was like talking to a child."
An exchange between Judge Blake and lawyer David Stagner during a routine hearing in a divorce case led her to order Mr. Stagner into a courthouse holding cell in handcuffs.
"Bailiff, take him into custody and remove him to the holdover," she said, according to a court transcript. "I am not playing games, Mr. Stagner. Now when you decide you have good manners, Mr. Stagner, you may come back."
The incident occurred during the setting of a court date.
Mr. Stagner has filed a complaint against Judge Blake with the Fannin County district attorney's office over the July 29 incident in Bonham.
Mr. Stagner says in the complaint that he was illegally imprisoned for several minutes without having been declared in contempt, simply because the judge didn't like his manners.
"This woman is completely out of control," said Mr. Stagner, who has practiced for more than 36 years. "There is a revolution. Ninety percent of this bar is horrified."
Mr. Stagner also complained about Judge Blake's unorthodox conditions of probation and bond, saying she is imposing "her own moral and political will."
He is petitioning the Texas Supreme Court to have Judge Blake removed from the bench.
Mr. Glaser, the district attorney, says that his investigation is ongoing and that a grand jury will hear the case.
An outsider
In the small, tight-knit legal community in the Grayson County seat of Sherman, Judge Blake is a relative outsider.
The city of about 36,000 residents 65 miles north of Dallas has a small-town feel. The courthouse has no metal detector. Local lawyers prefer the slower pace and collegial atmosphere.
Last Thursday morning, Judge Blake presided over several hearings from her small courtroom in the justice building just off the town square. She is courteous with lawyers but gets right to business.
She recently handled 70 criminal cases and three civil cases in a single day, said Mr. Moss, the Grayson County lawyer.
Clyde Siebman, Grayson County's Republican Party chairman, said the complaints about Judge Blake are overblown and come mainly from those who voted against her.
"They contended during the election that she wouldn't be able to run her court," said Mr. Siebman, who supported her candidacy. "She won because she is well-respected. She was tough on crime as a prosecutor. People like that."
Dallas County District Judge John Creuzot recently met with Judge Blake during a training session he conducted in Grayson County. He said judges have to be creative and target the behavior that gets people into trouble.
"Just because it's unusual doesn't mean it can't be effective and appropriate," he said. "You have to be creative to get to the underlying circumstances of their behavior."
He said that Judge Blake puts much of her own time into Grayson County's drug court and that she recently spent a weekend cleaning a cemetery alongside drug offenders.
"She really is committed to them doing better," Judge Creuzot said.
E-mail kkrause@dallasnews.com
Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-newjudge_29met.ART.North.Edition2.17c653be.html
She's upset some with her demands of offenders, lawyers
12:00 AM CDT on Thursday, September 29, 2005
By KEVIN KRAUSE
SHERMAN - State District Judge Lauri Blake recently laid down the law to a 17-year-old drug offender: As a condition of probation, she barred the teenager from having sex as long as the girl is living with her parents and attending school.
The unorthodox ruling is just one of the ways Judge Blake, who was elected 10 months ago, is making her presence felt in the 336th District Court covering Fannin and Grayson counties. Word of her decisions has been spread by lawyers who have e-mailed colleagues in other areas. Some local media outlets have done stories about her.
Judge Blake prohibits tattoos, body piercings, earrings and clothing "associated with the drug culture" for those who are on probation and free on bond. And she makes poor defendants pay a portion of their legal defenses.
The 40-year-old former Dallas police officer and Collin County prosecutor who teaches Sunday school also has rules for lawyers in her courtroom.
Sleeveless shirts are out. Same with cleavage, said Sharron Cox, president of the Fannin County Bar Association. Strict decorum is expected. No handshake deals.
"It used to be like a circus, lawyers milling around," said Fannin County District Attorney Richard Glaser. "She makes them sit and come up one at a time."
The district attorney is investigating the complaint of a lawyer who was briefly ordered into a holding cell after the judge admonished him for his manners.
In a brief telephone conversation, Judge Blake said that if lawyers are discontent, none has approached her about it. Last week, she agreed to an interview but later declined through her court coordinator.
How far is too far?
When Christina Brazier, 17, was found guilty of drug possession in June, Judge Blake required her not to have sex as a condition of her probation.
"That's a new one. I'm not sure how you would enforce that," said Jim Mills, interim director of adult probation for Dallas County.
State law allows judges to assign conditions they believe are fair and appropriate. Ms. Brazier was tried and convicted as an adult. The age of consent in Texas is 17.
Fred Moss, a Southern Methodist University professor and former federal prosecutor, said being on probation entitles a judge to restrict one's freedom.
"The only question is, how far?" he said. "There have to be some limits obviously."
He said one must consider whether a condition "inflicts undue embarrassment" and whether it has any connection to the purposes of punishment.
"Some conditions could be viewed as too draconian and violate someone's personal dignity," he said. "I'm not sure where the parameters are these days."
Steve Blackburn, a lawyer involved with the Dallas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said defendants who don't like their probation conditions can reject them and go to jail. On the other hand, conditions that violate someone's constitutional rights are best avoided, he said.
"The idea is that you can't ever ask somebody to give up certain rights," he said.
Ms. Brazier also was ordered not to get new tattoos or piercings, not to use tobacco or wear clothing "associated with the drug culture," according to court documents. She could not be reached for comment.
From beat to bench
Judge Blake graduated at the top of her police academy class and spent three years as a Dallas police officer before going to law school. Before her four-year stint in the Grayson County district attorney's office, she was an assistant U.S. attorney in Sherman, where her husband also works as an attorney.
When she announced her candidacy last year, Judge Blake said it was important to elect a judge who decides cases based on law and facts "without regard to courthouse politics or personalities."
She defeated her Republican challenger with 52 percent of the vote and breezed through the general election against a Democrat. She replaced Judge Ray Grisham, who retired after 20 years on the bench.
Collin County District Attorney John Roach called her "smart as a whip" and said she was "fair but tough."
Judge Blake's supporters say the local law establishment - what Judge Blake called a good ol' boy system during her campaign - is disgruntled by her professionalism and is resistant to change.
By the book
Since taking the bench in January, Judge Blake has irritated some with her formal, by-the-book style. In the past, resetting a hearing, for example, could be accomplished with a phone call, said some lawyers who practice before her. Judge Blake wants lawyers to appear before her for such requests, they said.
"In the past, all the judges knew all the attorneys and were friends with them," lawyer Joe Moss said. "There was a very casual relationship between them in the past. She has a much more formal approach."
Grayson County District Attorney Joe Brown, the judge's former boss, said Judge Blake does not "suffer fools."
"She's restored decorum to the courtroom. She runs a tight ship," he said. "Some people aren't used to that. This county is changing. It's moving from a good ol' boy county to a more sophisticated court system."
Judge Blake has not issued a formal set of rules. Rather, she generally makes her wishes known in court and in meetings with lawyers. Some of them get lost in translation, however, like the rumor that she banned cowboy boots and open-toed shoes from her courtroom.
Some offended
Some local lawyers presented a different perspective.
"She told me to stand up straight and don't touch the bench," said lawyer James A. Fry, about a recent hearing. "It was like talking to a child."
An exchange between Judge Blake and lawyer David Stagner during a routine hearing in a divorce case led her to order Mr. Stagner into a courthouse holding cell in handcuffs.
"Bailiff, take him into custody and remove him to the holdover," she said, according to a court transcript. "I am not playing games, Mr. Stagner. Now when you decide you have good manners, Mr. Stagner, you may come back."
The incident occurred during the setting of a court date.
Mr. Stagner has filed a complaint against Judge Blake with the Fannin County district attorney's office over the July 29 incident in Bonham.
Mr. Stagner says in the complaint that he was illegally imprisoned for several minutes without having been declared in contempt, simply because the judge didn't like his manners.
"This woman is completely out of control," said Mr. Stagner, who has practiced for more than 36 years. "There is a revolution. Ninety percent of this bar is horrified."
Mr. Stagner also complained about Judge Blake's unorthodox conditions of probation and bond, saying she is imposing "her own moral and political will."
He is petitioning the Texas Supreme Court to have Judge Blake removed from the bench.
Mr. Glaser, the district attorney, says that his investigation is ongoing and that a grand jury will hear the case.
An outsider
In the small, tight-knit legal community in the Grayson County seat of Sherman, Judge Blake is a relative outsider.
The city of about 36,000 residents 65 miles north of Dallas has a small-town feel. The courthouse has no metal detector. Local lawyers prefer the slower pace and collegial atmosphere.
Last Thursday morning, Judge Blake presided over several hearings from her small courtroom in the justice building just off the town square. She is courteous with lawyers but gets right to business.
She recently handled 70 criminal cases and three civil cases in a single day, said Mr. Moss, the Grayson County lawyer.
Clyde Siebman, Grayson County's Republican Party chairman, said the complaints about Judge Blake are overblown and come mainly from those who voted against her.
"They contended during the election that she wouldn't be able to run her court," said Mr. Siebman, who supported her candidacy. "She won because she is well-respected. She was tough on crime as a prosecutor. People like that."
Dallas County District Judge John Creuzot recently met with Judge Blake during a training session he conducted in Grayson County. He said judges have to be creative and target the behavior that gets people into trouble.
"Just because it's unusual doesn't mean it can't be effective and appropriate," he said. "You have to be creative to get to the underlying circumstances of their behavior."
He said that Judge Blake puts much of her own time into Grayson County's drug court and that she recently spent a weekend cleaning a cemetery alongside drug offenders.
"She really is committed to them doing better," Judge Creuzot said.
E-mail kkrause@dallasnews.com
Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-newjudge_29met.ART.North.Edition2.17c653be.html