Editorial: changes must be made at County Court at Law No. 2

The Examiner endorsed Terrence L. Holmes in his 2016 run for County Court at Law No. 2 Judge, which is a misdemeanor criminal court. We spoke highly of his ethics and ability to bring firm and swift punishment or reprieve to those who deserve it – yet, day after day for months and months before, during and after the COVID pandemic, this court is seemingly doing everything in total opposition to firm or swift.

Misdemeanor cases that could be resolved with a willing plea drag on for what, at times, are hours. Jury trials of those accused of crimes they say they didn’t commit take months and months to set all because the law demands that a jury trial must have a court reporter in the courtroom for the trial due to the consensus that it is next to impossible for Judge Holmes to keep a reporter on staff. Roving court reporters don’t want to work for Holmes, either, alleging that, as a judge, he doesn’t know what he is doing.

In our endorsement, we cited that his experience as a prosecutor, defense lawyer and municipal court judge had prepared him for the task of judge on Day One, yet his record has revealed the contrary. Holmes’ court docket, reputation and performance certainly have proven our recommendation wrong.

Defense lawyers in Holmes’ court are acutely aware that they may delay a case almost indefinitely by simply asking for a jury trial – which, true enough, every charged person has a right to request. Unknown to many law-abiding citizens, while the charges against the defendants in the county court are called misdemeanors, these alleged offenses are not necessarily minor criminal infractions. A misdemeanor can include crimes such as assault with bodily injury, DWIs up to the second offense, and cruelty to animals. While defendants that have been charged with those crimes are generally held with minimum or no bail, many are put back on the streets by Judge Holmes, not because of their guilt or innocence, but because of his lack of ability to see they get the swift and firm justice promised in the Constitution.

How about the prosecutors? Are they willing to make deals for lighter sentences to repeat offenders, knowing that a defense lawyer simply asking for a jury trial will drag a case on for possibly years and increase their unresolved caseload?

What about the person that is innocent and wants to prove it in court with a jury? When can that person get a fair trial if Judge Holmes is dragging down the court because he can’t keep a court reporter? Is that fair to the accused?

Judge Holmes’ performance, which is hindering the ability in Jefferson County for all assigned to his court to get a fair trial, must be looked at by the State Commission of Judicial Conduct, and by the citizens of Jefferson County in the next election for that office.