A scheduled court hearing passed without incident Thursday morning after Harris County Judge Nathan Milliron ordered Houston attorney James Stafford to appear in his downtown courtroom over comments Stafford made about a viral video of the judge berating a county employee. Stafford did not show up.
Milliron did not call Stafford’s name or take any action against him, according to the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association. Members of the association were at the courthouse Thursday morning in support of Stafford, turning what could have become a confrontation into a quiet non-event.
The dispute began last week after Stafford emailed Milliron about a clip that spread online showing the judge speaking sharply to a Harris County IT employee. Stafford told the judge he had seen the video and said Milliron should apologize to the employee. Milliron responded by ordering Stafford to appear in court this week, accusing him of ex parte communication.
Stafford disputed that claim in his email, saying he was not involved in any cases on Milliron’s docket. In a Thursday statement to Houston Public Media, Stafford said, “As an officer of the Court I obey all lawful orders,” and added, “I find no authority that an email is a lawful order thus I did not appear.”
Wade Smith, who backed Stafford at the courthouse, said Milliron had no legal standing to issue the order. “When one of our longtime members and well-esteemed members, Mr. Stafford, was purportedly ordered to appear in front of this judge for what appeared to be contempt, it struck us as being a great judicial overreach and unlawful,” Smith said. “So, we came because of Mr. Stafford, otherwise we would not really have been all that concerned with trying to police just general judicial behavior.” He also said, “There was no ex parte communication, and everything about that was wrong, and this is constitutionally protected First Amendment speech that James was exercising in telling the judge, an elected official, ‘Hey, I think you're misbehaving, you owe that guy an apology,’”
Brent Mayr called the judge’s lack of action a victory for Stafford. “Today is a good day,” Mayr said. “We see that the judge is not taking any further illegal action against James Stafford. We hope that it stays that way.” He said the association was still considering whether to file a complaint with Texas’ State Commission on Judicial Conduct.
The confrontation has put a public spotlight on Milliron after the viral video prompted criticism from the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association last week. What happens next now turns on whether the group follows through with a complaint and whether Milliron decides to press the matter further, but Thursday’s hearing made one thing clear: Stafford was not brought before the judge, and Milliron did not pursue him in open court.
