Posts Tagged ‘official oppression’

Judge Donald Jackson Resigns After Conviction

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

We told you last week that Judge Donald Jackson was convicted of official oppression after offering a defendant a better Houston criminal attorney if she agreed to date him. Now Judge Jackson has decided to resign from his position after the scandal. Since the accusation arose, Jackson has remained on administrative suspension from his position.

He resigned on Tuesday, only a few days after the jury decision and two days before the sentence is scheduled to take place. He was sentenced to the maximum punishment for the charge, including 30 days in jail, 200 hours community service, two years probation, $4000 in fines and a legal course on ethics.

For now, he is still remaining free, as his conviction is under appeal.

To read more on the on-going story, see the article in the Houston Chronicle. Image Via hyku [Flickr].

Judge Jackson Convicted of Official Oppression

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

We covered the story of Judge Donald Jackson and the DWI defendant Ariana Venegas last week, when we told you that Venegas accused Jackson of offering her a better Houston criminal lawyer in exchange for her agreeing to become involved with him romantically.

On Friday, Jackson was officially found guilty of the crime of official oppression and was sentenced to two years probation, 200 hours of community service, $4,000 in fines and 25 hours of mandatory state-approved legal ethics courses. He remains on administrative suspension for the time being. The judge hearing the case seemed to be personally offended by Jackson’s actions, stating, “we are all tarnished by your stupidity.”

To read more, see the article in the Dallas Morning News. Image Via St A Sh [Flickr]