A prominent Texas judge who oversees numerous high-profile criminal trials has mysteriously disappeared from court for nearly a month amid concerns about his mania and interactions with police, according to reports.
Judge Kelly Johnson, one of Harris County’s longest serving current judges, has not been seen in Houston’s 178th District Court since May 1. There was no explanation for where she went or when she might return. ABC13 report.
A court spokesman initially refused to comment on the judge’s unexplained absence, and has so far only confirmed that “Mr Johnson is absent for personal reasons.”
However, an anonymous court worker later hinted at what the outlet described as “manic behaviour” in the lead up to Mr Johnson disappearing from the courtroom.
“She is a danger to herself and to the community,” officials argued.
According to a May 4 police report, Johnson had recently contacted police following an incident near his home. The report was labeled “Circuit Intervention/CIT” (police acronym for Crisis Intervention).
The exact circumstances of the incident were not immediately known.
Johnson is the first openly gay woman elected to the Harris County bench and is married with two sons.
Her absence from court also came just weeks after she presided over the trial of a man convicted of assaulting and killing his girlfriend’s 8-year-old son in 2020.
In just 20 minutes, Johnson found death row inmate Brian Coulter guilty in the beating death of Kendrick Lee, telling him: ”
Another high-profile case the judge has recently handled is the murder trial of AJ Armstrong, who was convicted of shooting his parents to death as a teenager in 2016. After two acquittals, Armstrong was found guilty last August.
In Johnson’s absence, some of her cases and hearings are being handled by an interim judge. Retired judge Jim Wallace took over as presiding judge last week.
The area’s administrative judge, Judge Susan Brown, declined to say when Johnson would return to the bench.
According to Judge Johnson’s biography, he was elected to the Supreme Court in 2016 after serving as an assistant district attorney for 17 years.
