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| District Judge, Elizabeth E. Coker of the 258th District Court |
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Judge Coker Facing Allegations of Ethics Violations in Court Room, LIVINGSTON, January 23, 2013 - Polk County District Judge, Eilizabeth E. Coker (258th District Court) is facing allegations of sending a text message to the prosecution to bolster the prosecution's case during the trial of David Reeves (held August 8, 2012). Reeves was being tried for felony injury to a child.
The whistle blower was then Polk County DA Investigator, David Wells (now with the Angelina County Sheriff's Department). Wells was the criminal investigator in the case and reported that he saw Judge Coker, conspire from the bench with the prosecutor.
Wells filed a report five months ago and called Coker's actions unethical.
According to Wells, he was sitting in the audience at the time of the trial when Kaycee Jones (an assistant district attorney at the time, who is now a judge for the 411th District Court), allegedly borrowed his notepad. According to Wells, Jones received a text message from Coker and she wrote word for word the contents of the message on his notepad.
Jones allegedly then asked him to deliver the note to the lead prosecutor, Beverly Armstrong. According to Wells, the note said "judge says, baby pooped on (Reeves)-if he threw a dog off the bed because dog peed on bed what would he do if baby pooped on him?"
Jones was not a prosecutor in the case but was only there as a specator. According to Polk County Criminal District Attorney, William Lee Hon, the text message had no impact on the outcome on the trial (David Reeves was found to be not guilty).
The incident remains under investigation by the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct.
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