Judge Franklin Bynum, addressing the years-long attempt to have him removed from the bench, argues that his actions in court do not merit the same fate given to very few in the Texas judicial system.
The misdemeanor judge, who lost his Democratic primary bid in March, expressed his desire to remain in the Criminal Court at Law No. 8 through the end of the year in long-awaited remarks to Texas’ highest court. His response followsthat a seldom-used rule be used to remove him or force his early retirement from the bench.
Bynum notes that only seven jurists in the past 20 years have faced the same suspension he is threatened with. One of the judges was sanctioned after an accusation surfaced that she used her bailiff to obtain narcotics, while another successfully argued against a similar suspension when a video surfaced of him “savagely beating his child,” the scrutinized misdemeanor judge wrote in a late Tuesday filing.
The response is unusual for Bynum’s intimate reflection of how the threat of suspension has impacted his life but also because he wrote the response on his own after having his lawyer, Nicole DeBorde Hochglaube, withdraw from representing him in connection to the response, according to court documents. She slammed the commission’s recommendation in July and pledged to “vigorously fight it.
The commission accused him of three charges: bias against the state, failure to comply with the law and reasonable doubt regarding judicial impartiality. Several members of the commission — Fifth District Court of Appeals Justice David Schenck among them — appeared convinced during the hours-long hearing that Bynum's actions outside the court threatened to ruin the public's perception of him as impartial.
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