Family with pending murder trial questions why Governor hasn't appointed judge
HOUSTON (FOX 26) - Judge Mary Lou Keel presided over the 232nd Criminal District Court from 1995 through 2016. Last fall, she was elected to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Governor Greg Abbott has yet to appoint her replacement.
“He was my sunshine and my laughter,” said Laura Jane while describing her brother Morgan Davis.
She says she spoke to him daily. The last conversation they would ever have happened two days before Christmas last year.
“Invited us over for Christmas dinner,” Laura Jane recalled.
Hours later bad news came calling.
“His stepson called and said his father had been shot,’’ said Laura Jane.
More shocking news would follow.
“Everyone that had seen them that day said they seemed fine,” she said.
The person charged in Morgan Davis’s murder is his own wife Geneva Davis.
“I want the trial to start. I want her to have to go through the process of being questioned about the murder,” Laura Jane said. “And I want her to spend time behind bars. I’m ready for her to stop being free.”
When they go to court settings Morgan Davis’s relatives say they see various visiting judges on the bench in the 232nd Criminal District Court.
“It’s like Seinfeld. How can we be the only court in the city of Houston that had a judge move out and they not put another one in,” said Brad Kellam Morgan Davis’s brother-in-law.
Davis’s relatives say they are on their third assistant D.A. and the prosecutors have to bring each visiting judge up to speed.
Many of them say they’ve e-mailed the governor only to get the same blanket response.
“I’ve asked almost every day on Facebook pages and e-mails, 'hey 232nd Houston Court, appoint a judge please so we can have some continuity in this trail,'” said Kellam.
The court coordinator for the 232nd Court says the docket is moving along fine with visiting judges and all the cases are getting the attention they deserve.
So when will the governor appoint a judge for that court?
His spokesperson tells us the governor is very close to appointing a judge but it won’t happen until after the Special Session has ended.