Tense meeting of Tarrant judges brings no action on threat to defund ‘ghost’ court

The Tarrant County commissioners threatened to defund judges as a way to force changes in the juvenile court system. On Wednesday, their efforts failed.

During a tense meeting, the judges who serve on the county’s Juvenile Board refused to take any action over problems with overcrowding in the juvenile detention center. Several of them pointed to the fact that the Nov. 8 election will put a new person in charge of the commissioners, who could keep the two associate judge positions funded beyond Jan. 1.

Tarrant County commissioners voted in September to defund the judge positions in the 2023 budget after a consultant found judges Cynthia Terry and Andy Porter rarely held hearings over the summer. The consultant suggested that the lack of hearings contributed to dramatic overcrowding in the detention center that was first reported in April.

Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley, who leads the county commissioners, asked the Juvenile Board to come up with solutions to overcrowding and other issues surrounding operations at the detention center. The leverage was the fact that the county commissioners fund the judge positions.

District Court Judge Robb Catalano, who heads the Juvenile Board, said that Wednesday was the first time the board had heard about Whitley’s request, though it has been reported several times in the Star-Telegram.

Whitley, who also serves on the Juvenile Board, first floated the idea of defunding the associate judges during a commissioners meeting a few days after the consultant’s report was made public. The next day, Whitley brought up the idea to the Juvenile Board, which asked Whitley to hold off on making drastic decisions without a more thorough examination of overcrowding problems.

Whitley and the commissioners officially moved to defund the two judge positions during a Sept. 13 budget meeting. He again asked the Juvenile Board to come up with other solutions to overcrowding.

During that same meeting, Whitley voiced a plan for commissioners to meet directly with the Juvenile Board to discuss future steps. A joint meeting has yet to be scheduled.

Catalano has not said when that meeting might be. His yearlong obligation as chairman of the board will end Jan. 1, and the Juvenile Board doesn’t meet again until Jan. 18.

Whitley was the only county commissioner to attend Wednesday’s Juvenile Board meeting.

Tensions flare

The meeting started with public comment from Aaron Harris, a local attorney and supporter of 323rd District Court Judge Alex Kim, who oversees juvenile hearings and the detention center.

Harris encouraged board members to “rise above” politics and reminded them that in a few months, the county will have a new county commission and Juvenile Board.

Sitting in the audience were Tim O’Hare, Republican candidate for county judge (Whitley is not seeking reelection); Rick Barnes, the chair of the Tarrant County GOP; and Leigh Wambsganss of the Patriot Mobile PAC.

Whitley reiterated to the board his desire for them to make recommendations about how to run the juvenile courts more efficiently without defunding the two associate judges.

Among the options, according to Whitley: The board could designate a different court to oversee juvenile detention hearings, meaning the removal and transfer of Judge Alex Kim (which Whitley said he was not suggesting). The board also could use court referees instead of associate judges. The referees would report directly to the board, unlike the associates, who report to Kim.

However, the responsibility of referee judges is much more limited than associate judges, Kim pointed out. No decision was made regarding the use of referees.

The judges who spoke up seemed confused about Whitley’s request and pointed to a “triage” committee they formed in April. The committee meets anytime the juvenile detention center’s population reaches near capacity.

“I’m trying to figure out the exact problem were trying to fix here,” Judge Chris Taylor said. “To me, if the problem is overcrowding, we had a committee, the committee did what it was supposed to do … I think any group of judges should be reluctant to go into another judge’s courtroom and simply tell them how to operate or what to do … Frankly, why deal with it now when we’re gonna have a brand new commissioners court, a brand new Juvenile Board?”

Asked how he felt, Kim said he is opposed to getting rid of the two associate judges. He sees it as counterproductive to fixing an overcrowding issue, since those courts help them move through the docket. He didn’t offer alternative solutions to overcrowding.

“I think it’s not broken,” Kim said of the juvenile system. “If you look at juvenile cases, we’re moving cases faster than other counties. Nothing is broken.”

The consultant who found problems in the juvenile system was Carey Cockerell, who served as Tarrant County’s director of juvenile services for 20 years before serving as a state commissioner in Texas and Kentucky.

His report detailed how the number of juvenile cases sent to the 323rd District Court has decreased steadily since 2000, yet the number of juveniles held in detention has skyrocketed because youths are being held longer.

The report also noted that the amount of time the District Attorney’s office takes to file a case against a juvenile has increased, though is still within Texas statute. District Attorney Sharen Wilson said in August that Kim has the discretion to release juveniles at any time.

Another issue Cockerell found was that juveniles were commonly held in detention solely based on ratings of their behavior, which are assigned by detention staff. Kim has defended his position on this, saying he’s unwilling to release high-risk youth who continue to misbehave in detention.

Cockerell’s report suggested racism in the disproportionate numbers of detained Black and Hispanic youth.