Bad Judges

OK, it's not Letterman's Top 10 excuses from Dick Cheney, but The Texas Observer offers its own list: The Worst Judges in Texas -- and two Rio Grande Valley jurists earn a mention.

The magazine asked lawyers across the state about bad judges, then narrowed the names down to the five worst in the state (and five dishonorable mentions). It names Fidencio Guerra Jr. of Hidalgo County as one of the worst, giving a dishonorable mention to Oscar Tullos of Cameron County.

Voters bounced Guerra out of a district judge seat some 14 years ago, but he got appointed to an auxiliary court in 1997. "In court, Guerra is known for making lewd or off-color comments to defendants and witnesses," the Observer says. Even District Attorney Rene Guerra tried to get the judge removed from his cases. Now Guerra's running for a county court-at-law seat.

Tullos, a justice of the peace in Brownsville, "holds the record for the most public sanctions by a Texas judge over the last five years" -- out of more than 3,500 judges throughout the state, according to the Observer. He once ordered a baliff to throw a woman and her 7-year-old daughter in a holding cell.

Just something to think about when you see their names on the ballot.