| ► Judge John Nelms of Dallas; scofflaw, bigot, ethical pauper |
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Judge John Nelms of Dallas; scofflaw, bigot, ethical pauper
Judge John Nelms previously sat on the 195th Criminal District Court in Dallas, Texas from 1992 through 2006. Subsequent to leaving the bench, Judge John Nelms took on the role as a senior retired visiting judge, which allows him to bill the state a full day’s pay for working 2 or less hours. Isn’t Texas a great country?
John Nelms’ purchase of equipment with campaign funds
Prior to leaving the bench in 2006, Judge John Helms used campaign funds to purchase the following equipment.
However, contrary to Texas campaign reporting laws, Judge John Nelms never disclosed this equipment as a campaign asset nor did he ever disclose how said equipment was disposed of after he left office.
I’m aghast that anyone could claim to have spent $860.22 to purchase a printer battery bag and service policy as Judge Nelms claims he did on June 7, 2006, how about you?
We may well have an admission by Judge John Helms as to what happened to the printer and $2,199 computer. In a profile of Judge Nelms by Anne Pohli for the Dallas Bar Association, it states that in retiring he (a) embraced technology and enjoys computers and photography, and (b) he’s made the transition to a digital camera and recently bought a good photo printer to process his own digital darkroom work and enlargements.” Ms. Pohli’s article can be found at http:tinyurl.com/yjyu6wx.
It would appear that Judge John Nelm’s may have illegally converted this equipment that was paid for with campaign funds to his own personal use, which is a crime in Texas.
Alleged repairs to Office copier
On October 11, 2005, Judge Nelms would have us believe that he actually spent $902.36 for copier maintenance and repair as set forth below. Hell, for this amount of money one could have easily purchased a top-of-the-line copier from Office Max or Staples, right?
Is Judge John Nelms a closet bigot?
On Jan. 24, 2006, reporters Holly Becka, Steve McGonigle, Tim Wyatt and Jennifer LaFluer of the Dallas Morning News did a story titled: “Judges rarely detect jury selection bias,” which can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/yhdyq9m).
In this article, Judge John Nelms admitted to allowing prosecutors to remove a black juror for gold teeth and jewelry. “That sounds like somebody who’s streetwise, who hangs out in the bars and dives,” Judge Nelms explained.
However, Judge John Nelms drew the line at removing a juror with cornrows, saying that’s a popular hairstyle. (Dallas Morning News) Well isn’t that just special?
I wonder if Judge John Nelms ever removed a good ol’ boy (honkey) as a juror involving a black defendant who was wearing a gold chain. Hmmm, my bad!
Conclusion
If you’re an African-American and called to jury duty before Judge John Nelms and don’t wish to serve, just wear a couple of gold jewelry and he’ll be sure to send ya packing.
But on the other hand, if you’re a good ol’ white boy, then wearing gold jewelry might not work won’t likely let ya escape jury duty if the defendant is black. Ya might want to consider donning some cornrows because they might get ya excused.
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