Judge resigns after asking former jurors to 'meet and greet' campaign event
A Texas judge has resigned in a deal with prosecutors after sending a letter to former jurors inviting them to a “meet and greet” campaign event.
Judge Michael Seiler of Montgomery County resigned Tuesday, the Houston Chronicle and Texas Lawyer (sub. req.) report. Though he won’t run for re-election, his name remains on the primary ballot.
Montgomery County prosecutor Joel Daniels told Texas Lawyer that Seiler agreed to resign and never run for judicial office again. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop the criminal probe and the Commission on Judicial Conduct will not discipline him.
“Our investigation revealed he had obtained juror information for all the jurors that had served in his court and sent out this literature,” Daniels said. “The evidence really suggests—and I’m careful here—suggests abuse of official capacity. That’s the statute that was in play.”
Seiler had denied that he did anything wrong with regard to the mailing. He was previously reprimanded for impatient and discourteous remarks to lawyers in his courtroom. The reprimand cited his speech to a Texas Patriot PAC in which Seiler held up a Hannibal Lecter photo while talking about the “psychopaths” who appeared before him in a civil commitment court for repeat sexual offenders.
