Judge stepped down to avoid possible discipline

The sudden resignation of 198th District Judge Emil Karl Pohl of Kerrville last month was the result of an agreement with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct. On Tuesday, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct released a voluntary agreement to resign in lieu of disciplinary action that Prohl signed on Sept. 23. The commission’s chairman, 226th District Judge Sid Harle of San Antonio, signed the agreement on Oct. 14. Prohl had served on the 198th District Court bench for 18 years. The court’s district covers Kerr, Kimble, Mason, McCulloch and Menard counties. According to the agreement that Prohl signed, the commission received complaints on July 14, 2008, and July 22, 2008, that alleged Prohl “was biased in favor of the District Attorney of the 198th Judicial District as a result of the District Attorney’s largess towards the judge, which involved funds that had been seized from criminal defendants.” Prohl did not immediately return a telephone call for comment. Ron Sutton, who was the district attorney at the time the complaints were filed, calls the allegations in the complaints “absolutely ridiculous.” But Kerrville solo Richard Ellison, who filed one of the complaints with the commission, says, “If they’re absolutely ridiculous, then why did Prohl resign?” Sutton, who served as district attorney for 32 years, says the complaints were about the use of forfeiture funds to pay for Prohl, Sutton and others to attend a conference sponsored by the Texas Independent Bar Association in Hawaii. Sutton says that participants in the conference received continuing legal education credits. “If it had been taught in Oklahoma, nobody would have thought anything about it,” Sutton says. “Because it was in Hawaii, everyone got their shorts in a wad.” Ellison alleged in his July 10, 2008, complaint filed with the commission that in 2007 Sutton spent $21,475 of forfeiture funds on the conference in Hawaii. Among other things, Ellison also alleged in his complaint that Sutton used $8,400 in cash to pay for office equipment in 2006. Sutton says he bought office equipment for Prohl’s office. Prohl’s agreement with the commission disqualifies him from future judicial service in Texas.
-- Mary Alice Robbins

Comments

[Air Jordan Soldes]

It's great to hear from you and see what you've been up to. In your blog I feel your enthusiasm for life. thank you.