Four months ago, Freestone County Times reported on an appeal filed by an Anderson County man who had been sentenced to 60 years in prison by 87th District Judge Deborah Oakes Evans for biting an officer during an arrest.
The Application for a Writ of Habeas Corpus Seeking Relief from Final Felony Conviction, filed on behalf of sixty-year-old Richard Gross, cited ineffective assistance by his court appointed attorney.
Several grounds for relief were outlined in the Application, including the failure to disclose a close familial relationship between the judge her son, Brian Evans, who served as prosecutor during the trial.
This is an update.
First, the State’s Response to the Writ, filed July 15, 2020 by Anderson County District Attorney Allyson Mitchell, identified the need for an expansion of the record; namely, an Affidavit from Mr. Gross’s trial and appellate attorney, Mark Cargill, addressing the allegations of ineffective counsel.
Mr. Cargill’s affidavit, along with exhibits showing attorney fee vouchers related to his representation of Mr. Gross during the trial and appeals process, were filed with the court within thirty days of the order.
Next, District Judge Evans voluntarily recused herself from presiding over the Writ of Habeas Corpus on July 16, 2020.
Then, on September 25, 2020, the Presiding Judge for the Tenth Administration Judicial Region assigned 114th District Judge Christi Kennedy of Smith County to preside over the matter.
However, according to court documents, during an informal hearing with the new judge held via Zoom on October 7, 2020, Judge Kennedy informed the parties that she was friends with Judge Evans, acquaintances with her son Brian Evans and his wife, and knew Mark Cargill, having him appear before her in court several times.
Although Judge Kennedy said that these relationships did not affect her impartiality, the matter was brought up as to whether the Applicant, Mr. Gross, would move to recuse her.
Two weeks later, on October 21, 2020, Attorneys T. Brent Mayr of Houston and David E. Moore of Groesbeck, filed a motion on behalf of Mr. Gross, to Recuse Judge Kennedy from the Writ of Habeas Corpus.
Cited in the Motion to Recuse is Rule 18b(b)(1), Texas Rule of Civil Procedure which state that a judge must recuse themselves in any proceeding in which “the judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned.”
The Motion goes on to read, “The Applicant maintains that it is entirely counterintuitive to have the issue of Judge Evans’ recusal or disqualification from the Applicant’s case due to her personal relationship with the attorney for the State to be examined by a judge who has admitted to having a personal relationship with both Judge Evans and Brian Evans.”
Interestingly, the Motion also mentions the Applicant’s intent to amend his application for Writ of Habeas Corpus to further allege that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to try his case, due to the familial relationship between mother judge and her prosecutor son.
District Judge Kennedy has declined to recuse herself, but has requested that the Presiding Judge of the Tenth Administrative Judicial Region assign a judge to hear the Motion to Recuse.
The ‘”Times” will continued to follow this case.
