Judge denies asking bailiff to handcuff pregnant prosecutor to keep her in court for trial
During an ethics hearing last week, a Dallas judge denied ordering a bailiff to handcuff a pregnant prosecutor to her chair to keep her in the courtroom.
The judge, Etta Mullin, denied the claim by Stephanie Ernst, who said she was eight months’ pregnant when Mullin pressed her to proceed to trial against a DWI defendant or to dismiss the case. According to Texas Lawyer, Ernst was among 11 witnesses who testified in the ethics case brought by the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct.
Mullin claimed the 11 witnesses who testified against her weren’t telling the truth and had conspired against her, according to the Texas Lawyer article. Mullin says the witnesses, including 10 lawyers, were unhappy because she ran her courtroom in a way that required them to take more time on cases, costing them money.
The lawyers testified that Mullin ran an inefficient court, and many said she sometimes left the bench without any explanation or indication when she would return. Some also claimed that Mullin had called them liars or inferred they were lying.
Mullin testified that trial attorneys disrespected her and “were treating me like I had a tail.”
Mullin lost her judgeship in a 2014 election, but an ethics counsel with the judicial conduct commission said the public should be protected in case Mullin runs for the job in the future. Mullin has appealed a sanction to a special court of review.
The Texas Lawyer story has highlights from the hearing last week, including testimony about the handcuffing claim. Ernst said she had told Mullin that she wasn’t ready to try to DWI case, and she hadn’t eaten since about 8 a.m. when the judge told her to appear back in court for trial within 15 to 20 minutes. “I said, ‘Judge, I’m sorry, I’m not going to be here at 1:30. We don’t have a case to present, and you know that; and I am very hungry,’ ” Ernst testified.
“Her bailiff was in the courtroom and she told him to hold me and handcuff me to a chair—that was right at the prosecutor’s table—and hold me until 1:30, until the trial,” Ernst said.
Instead, Ernst says she went to the District Attorney’s workroom and reported the issue to her supervisor. Eventually the DWI case was dismissed.
Mullin denied the incident. “I would not dare order a bailiff to handcuff a pregnant woman to a chair. I wouldn’t do anything like that,” Mullin said. Mullin says she simply told the bailiff that Ernst was not to leave the courtroom.
Mullin is accused of failing to treat lawyers with patience, dignity and courtesy; failing to follow the law; and demonstrating incompetence.
Mullin was in the news in April 2014 for refusing to allow a lawyer in her courtroom because he was wearing shorts after knee surgery.
