From Courtroom to Clickbait: Judge reflects on viral video livestreams in his court
Wearing small round glasses, a floral suit and a bow tie, Judge David Fleischer brings a splash of personality to an otherwise solemn Harris County Criminal courtroom.
What was once a quiet corner of Texas’ justice system has become a viral spectacle, thanks to a mysterious YouTube account that reposts his court’s livestreams. Today, Fleischer is an accidental internet star.
Shortly after he started livestreaming during the pandemic, the internet took notice. The videos, which often start with the judge uttering his catch phrase “let’s go nerds,” have been edited into compilations by someone called Victoria and posted onto her YouTube account.
With over 600,000 views as of this writing, the most watched clip was posted nine months ago and features a drunk driving trial where the defense cross-examines a police officer and secures a dismissal from the judge based on those answers.
Other widely viewed clips include one where a defendant curses at the judge and one where the judge yells at a defendant for allegedly bringing a Whizzinator to fake a drug test and one where Fleischer jumps out of his seat to beg defendants to return to high school, to get their GEDs and to never ever reach for the gun.
“That’s about the worst thing that you can do,” he exclaims as an attorney describes a threatening workplace scenario.
Fleischer takes particular offense to DUI cases, which he says are rampant in the area. He often imposes curfews on the defendants, and he urges them to return to school, so they don’t have to live the criminal lifestyle in the future.
If it sounds like he’s reprimanding his own children, that’s intentional, Fleischer explains. A father of four—ages 3 to 14—Fleischer says he realizes how lucky he was, and still is, to have such a supportive family. As a teenager, he says, he was “hell on wheels,” but his parents calmly and repeatedly reined him in and helped him stay focused on his future. He also realizes that many others aren’t so fortunate, and his goal is to be the parent they never had.
“I love helping people,” he says. “I try to do the same thing that my parents did to me for every person, because some people never had parental figures.”
Fleischer never strove to be a viral star, and he rejects the idea of being called an “influencer,” despite the hundreds of thousands of views his videos receive on YouTube.
But he didn’t mind all his viewers—especially those who tuned into his DUI cases—at least not initially.
“We lead the nation in DUIs and fatalities,” Fleischer says. “The idea is that on YouTube, everybody sees it. They can see when they’re out, and they’ve had three glasses of wine, ‘I better not do that.’”
His children, especially his teen—are really getting an education. Sometimes, Fleischer says, his 14-year-old son will text him from class because he and his friends are watching it, even though they’re not supposed to be on YouTube during school. At the same time, he’s pleased that they get to see what happens when people violate bond conditions, when they drive under the influence and when they fail drug tests.
“The value is the education that these kids see,” he says. “They see the consequence of criminality.”
The problem, however, is that his YouTube videos “went off the deep end,” he says. The videos became overrun with hateful comments and online bullying—none of which Fleischer reads. In April, he stopped livestreaming altogether, which also ended the anonymous reposting by his mysterious YouTuber.
Rather than educating viewers, he says, the streaming led many people making fun of the defendants. That’s not what he had intended.
There were also the disapproving glances from colleagues who did not approve of Fleischer’s sudden fame. Some judges, Fleischer says, wouldn’t even look at him because they hated his videos so much.
Still others are hoping he returns to the tiny screen. This includes his anonymous YouTuber, who responded to an email but declined to share a name beyond “Victoria.”
“He is by far the most popular judge on YouTube, and I think the internet,” Victoria wrote in her email. “He is someone who cares about people a lot while also taking no BS from people.”
Prior to becoming a judge in 2019, Fleischer was a defense attorney for about two decades. The turning point came when Donald Trump started getting involved in politics, making the hair on the back of Fleischer’s neck stand up. Fleischer was very concerned that life in the United States could take a turn for the worse, but he also realized that he might be able to make a positive difference.
He says he took a 40%-50% pay cut to become a judge in Texas, a state he says is known for paying judges less than most other states.
But Fleischer says it’s his duty to give back, which is why he takes the time to explain his judgments to the court—even when he loses his temper, which happens more than occasionally.
“I’m warning you now not to drive at all, and I’m giving you a curfew,” he told one alleged DUI defendant. “One false move, and I will give you a public danger and make your bond $150,000, and I don’t care who is kicking, screaming and crying. My only concern is public safety.”
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