In Texas, judges are elected by voters, and must be sworn in before presiding over cases. However, last month, in a court in Cook County, Illinois, not so much.
A veteran Cook County Circuit Court judge allegedly allowed a lawyer, who’s running for election to the bench this fall, to wear a robe and hear cases at the Markham courthouse. The move prompted the county’s chief judge, Timothy Evans, to remove the judge from the bench until further notice.
The incident occurred in the Markham courtroom of Judge Valarie Turner, who allegedly allowed Rhonda Crawford, a lawyer, to take her place on the bench. Crawford, an employee in Evans’ office,
presided over at least two traffic cases on August 11, 2016.
Crawford had defeated two opponents in a primary and was unopposed in the general election. Judicial experts were shocked by the incident, and said it would be an ethical lapse, and possibly a violation of the law to impersonate a judge.
It is not known how Crawford ruled. But both cases will be heard again in front of a real judge, said Evans’ spokesman.
If you wind up in front of a judge in Texas, you can be sure the judge has been sworn in and is not an impersonator. It’s just the way we do it in Texas.
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*Photo of Markham Courthouse Courtesy of Cook County Court.org
