AUSTIN - The State Commission on Judicial Conduct has publicly reprimanded a judge in Harris County for reportedly having two lawyers on two separate occasions escorted to the jury box and shackled.
The reprimand was issued against Judge Barbara Stalder of the 280th Family Protective Order Court, records show.
According to the commission's report, complainant Derrick Saulsberry, an attorney, alleged that during a protective order hearing, Judge Stalder threatened to hold him in contempt for not answering her questions concerning an exchange between himself and the mother-in-law of his client in the hallway outside her courtroom. Saulsberry later answered Judge Stalder's question confirming that he had used profanity during the exchange.
Judge Stalder ordered Saulsberry to apologize in open court, which he refused to do. Judge Stalder then directed her bailiff take him into custody.
“Saulsberry was physically shackled to the jury box throughout this period and in the presence of observers in a full courtroom as Judge Stalder continued to discuss the matters related to the case with the parties,” states the commission’s report.
While investigating Saulsberry's complaint, the commission discovered information regarding another attorney, Samuel Milledge II, who Judge Stalder had allegedly ordered shackled in the jury box in her court, in a similar fashion, sometime shortly after the incident involving Saulsberry.
In neither case did Judge Stalder initiate contempt proceedings of any kind against Saulsberry or Milledge.
The report states that “Judge Stalder's failures in these respects” constitute willful failures to be patient, dignified and courteous towards the attorneys.
CJC No. 20-0880