Memorandum

CITY OF DALL AS
Date

14 September 2012 The Honorable Delia Jasso, Co-Chair Ad Hoc Judicial Nominating Committee Municipal Court Judiciary I am writing to express my sincerest appreciation for your strong leadership and extraordinary courage in nominating two (2) additional persons, Cheryl Williams and Timoteo Gonzalez , to serve as full-time Judges. As a retired City of Dallas Municipal Judge, and a currently acti vely practicing member of the criminal defense bar, I fully agree with your recommendations. Please permit me to articulate the reasons for my agreement. Judges Williams and Gonzalez are long-term City of Dallas Municipal Judges , with whom I have had the privilege of serving. Additionally, each of them has provided notable service, not only to the Municipal Court , but also to the City as a whole. I believe that both of those factors , and others, were considered when Judges Williams and Gonzalez were evaluated by the Jud icial Nominating Commission ["JNC"] and recommended for reappointment by that body. The JNC is appointed by the City Counc il to make recommendations of candidates for Munic ipal Judges. The body is comprised of highly respected citizens of Dallas -- the majority of whom are officers of the Court -- who are appointed for their knowledge of the court system as a whole and their ability to fairly and reasonably evaluate candidates without any political considerations associated with the election process. The JNC has been in existence over twenty (20) years . The body uses a merit-based standard to evaluate candidates. The same criteria is applied to every candidate. The criteria includes five (5) categories: I) 2) 3) 4) 5) knowledge of the law; judicial temperament; experience, either judicial or legal; evaluations [of incumbent Judges, whether full or part-time] ; and , candidates' views for impro ving the Municipal Court system.

To

Subject

Based upon that criteria. the JNC recommended candidates. in ranked order. for full and part time judgeships for the upcoming two (2) years. Judges Williams and Gonzalez ranked numbers 5 and 10. respectively. Thus upon a merit -based standard. Judge Williams ranked ahead of nine (9) of the eleven (II) candidates recommended by the Ad Hoc Committee. Judge Gonzalez ranked ahead of seven (7) of the Ad Hoc Committee's recommended candidates. Judge Williams has seventeen (17) years ofj udicial experience. Judge Gonzalez has sixteen (16) years ofjudicial experience. Six (6) of the candidates recommended by the Ad Hoc Committee have no judicial experience. In addition to Judges Williams' and Gonzalez's ranking by the JNC, and their judicial experience. each has offered unique and valuable service to both the Municipal Court and to the community. Judge Williams is the Juvenile Judge. Her work with young people and their families effectuates life-long beneficial changes. Judge Williams also volunteers with the prostitution docket. Her work in that arena also has life-changing consequences. I believe you have the full resume of each of these two Judges; however, in case you do not, I am attaching both. Finally, please know that your recommendation of the addition of these two Judges to the current roster is a beneficial expansion of the overall Municipal Court system. Having worked in that system for seventeen (17) years, as both a jail Magistrate and a trial Judge, I know that having full-time Judges assigned to more dockets is a more consistent method for operating the Courts. Therefore, based upon the foregoing discussion, I re-iterate my wholehearted agreement with your recommendation to add Judges Williams and Gonzalez as full-time Judges.

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Council member, District 5 Attachments c: The Honorable Mayor and Members of the Dallas City Council

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