Judge Sid Harle ordered Judge Stephanie Boyd of the 187th District Court recused from the high-profile trial of three former San Antonio police officers. Harle agreed with the defense attorneys who argued her impartiality was in doubt.
The trial was scheduled to begin this week but will now be delayed for weeks or months.
Two former officers face murder charges in the case, while a third faces lengthy prison time for aggravated assault by a public servant. The three men fired into the home of Melissa Perez, 46, last June during an apparent mental health crisis.
The killing caused widespread outrage in the city, especially from the mental health provider community, who relayed their own negative stories of dealing with police. It also raised questions about the accessibility of the city’s Mental Health Unit.
Harle said Boyd’s presence in the trial could improperly affect the case.
“I think without commenting on the specific merits of the allegations against Judge Boyd, I have to grant the motion to recuse just to ensure that the fair administration of justice occurs in this case,” he said.
Defense attorney’s argued that Boyd’s denials of requests for more time before going to trial by both the defense and prosecution for a continuation was inappropriate.
The defense requested a delay to accommodate the birth of one attorney’s daughter.
That attorney, Jason Goss, testified that he had never seen any judge deny a continuance request based on Family Medical Leave Act before, and he believed she was treating him unfairly because of a formal complaint he made against Boyd to the Commission for Judicial Conduct last year.
In a phone interview, Boyd said she has not been contacted by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct about the complaint and said judicial ethics prevented her from commenting on any such complaint further.
“The only thing I can say is judicial tenants of ethics do not allow me to respond, but what I can add is, again, I believe in full transparency and persons coming before me are treated fairly,” she said.
Goss referenced another instance last month on a manslaughter case before Boyd where he said she acted unfairly toward him when she initially refused to let him argue on behalf of his client that another attorney in his firm was directly representing.
“So in that clip, Judge Boyd grills me for about nine minutes … only after I went through this performative, I think, questioning, and honestly with intent to disparage or humiliate me, she finally allowed that,” Goss said.
The lead prosecutor on the Perez case, Bexar County District Attorney’s Office’s Civil Rights Division Chief Jeff Mulliner, agreed that FMLA was rarely treated the way Boyd treated it for Goss.
Mulliner also testified that the reason he and the prosecution team wanted to delay the start of the trial was because they believed they had not yet received all of the evidence and had not been able to share all necessary evidence with the defense.
“The fact of the matter is this proceeding to trial with evidence that could potentially be exceedingly significant that has not yet completed the evaluation lifespan to the point of conclusion is, in fact, maddening,” Mulliner said.
He added in his testimony that he was concerned that the integrity of the trial’s outcome would be at risk if Boyd oversaw it.
“I am very concerned, knowing the standard, that this is one more area that if we were to proceed to trial with the elected Judge [Boyd] of the 187th, it is one more issue for me to have some very significant concerns about the possibility that this works or operates along with other possible factors to make a conviction — should there be one — be a conviction that is not able to be maintained,” Mulliner said.
Boyd responded to Mulliner’s concerns in an interview with TPR. “This is what I will tell you about that,” she said. “I would like for you to review appellate decisions and see how many appeals are overturned for that reason.”
The defense also had issues with the fact that Boyd livestreams all of her court hearings on her personal YouTube channel. They believe that has improperly influenced how she rules on cases and how she manages her courtroom. This was part of the complaint Goss filed against Boyd.
They added that they and the San Antonio Criminal Defense Lawyers Association believe her publication of YouTube videos of trials where a defendant has later been acquitted and had their records expunged is a violation of the law.
Harle did not directly comment on the defense's concerns with Boyd’s use of YouTube. If Boyd had overseen the Perez trial, it likely would have been livestreamed on YouTube.
After Harle granted the defense’s motion, he said another judge would be found for the case as quickly as possible.
