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Judge Reprimanded for Saying God Found Defendant Innocent

By William Vogeler, Esq. on March 06, 2019 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Judge Jack Robison said God spoke to him, and that was a problem.

In a criminal case in Texas, Robison interrupted jury deliberations to say he had a revelation. God, the judge said, told him the defendant was innocent.

The jurors were not believers, however, and they convicted the defendant. The judge, as they say in Texas, "bless his heart," got chastised.

God Made Him Do It

Robison couldn't help himself. He said God made him to do it.

"When God tells me I gotta do something, I gotta do it," he explained.

The jurors said it was strange, but the jury foreman didn't blame him.

"You've got to respect him for what he did," said Mark House. "He went with his conscience."

Still, it was wrong. Robison reported himself to the state judicial ethics commission.

Episode of Delirium

He said he wasn't feeling well that day because he was taking prescription drugs for a serious condition, and was dealing with the death of a close friend. He told the commission he could not remember what he told jurors.

It was a sex trafficking case, and the defendant was on trial for prostituting a 15-year-old girl. Gloria Romero-Perez allegedly sold the child to a 32-year-old man.

The jury notified the judge they had reached a guilty verdict, but then the judge told them to reconsider because God said she was innocent. Robison later apologized -- to the jury and the ethics commission.

The commission censured the judge, saying he had an episode of "delirium" because of his medical condition. Otherwise, he is fit to serve.

Romero-Perez, in the meantime, is awaiting a new trial.

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