Family Law
Meet Barbara Walther, Judge in Texas Ranch Raid Case
Posted Apr 21, 2008, 02:14 pm CDT
By Martha Neil
A Texas state court judge had perhaps the toughest case in the nation last week as she presided over a record-breaking 416-child custody hearing.
But Barbara Walther is a seasoned, authoritative jurist with a sense of humor who handled the challenging hearing as well as anyone could have, according to the Dallas Morning News and the Associated Press.
"She will rule, and that is something in a judge's personality that lawyers really appreciate," says Guy Choate, a longtime attorney in San Angelo, Texas, where the hearing was held. Her attitude is, "I may be right or may be wrong, but I'm not uncertain."
Walther also lightened up her control of her courtroom during last week's two-day custody hearing with jokes and laughter, the Dallas newspaper reports. At one point, despite the chaos inherent in a hearing that involves hundreds of attorneys, she invited a lawyer who seemed to be gesturing to her for permission to speak up to the bench. Then, after a moment of mutual confusion that drew chuckles from the audience, she discovered that he had no wish to do so.
"I thought you wanted to speak," she told him. "At auctions in West Texas, if you scratch your nose, you bought it."
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: "Judge Orders DNA Testing of 416 Kids; Sect Reconsiders Sex With Minors"
ABAJournal.com: "Lawyer Throws Open Secretive Sect’s Gates to Media"
ABAJournal.com: "Young Children Removed from Texas Ranch Not Abused, State’s Expert Says"
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Comments
Posted by Nicolas Martin - 2 months, 1 week, 4 days, 3 hours, 56 minutes ago
No wonder “family law” courts are held in about the same esteem as the molesters they purport to protect children from.
Posted by martha Stephens - 2 months, 1 week, 21 hours, 14 minutes ago
There is abuse here and it is being coimmitted by the Texas court of Barbara Walthers and the Texas Department of family services.
Posted by Maureen Brooks - 2 months, 1 week, 7 minutes ago
The Texas Department of Family Services and Judge Barbara Walthers are heros. They’re more interested in doing what is right than worrying about the criticism and abuse they will experience because of it. Good job!
Posted by Bruce - 2 months, 5 days, 18 hours, 20 minutes ago
How do I email judge Walthers. I have a proposition that will end this conflict. Instead of taking the children away from these parents, just spend all this money they are spending for lawsuits and temporary housings to DPS officials to come and live with these families for a given amount of time and see for themselves what is going on. Give the families each a case worker and let them do investigations whenever they wish and let these families live in peace the same as we all do. Let’s think about it.