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<blockquote data-quote="KPRC2" data-source="post: 20703" data-attributes="member: 148">The presiding regional judge over Harris County ruled Wednesday that 185th district court judge Jason Luong should be recused from a possible re-trial of a defendant who was convicted of child sexual abuse in his court.Judge Susan Brown sat in Luong’s chair during the hearing, which was triggered when Luong declined a request from the Harris County District Attorney’s Office to recuse himself from presiding over a new trial requested by defendant Philip Recio.<a href="https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2022/04/20/harris-county-district-attorney-calls-for-recusal-of-judge-claims-judge-is-partial-to-defendants-in-child-sex-abuse-cases/" target="_blank">SEE ALSO: Harris County District Attorney calls for recusal of judge; claims judge is partial to defendants in child sex abuse cases</a>Recio was convicted of continuous sexual abuse of a child and sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in prison on March 2 in Luong’s court.In the state’s motion to recuse, two-child abuse prosecutors claimed after the sentencing, Judge Luong called them into his office for “post-trial feedback” and proceeded to make several sympathetic comments about men accused of child sexual abuse.Tyler White and Elizabeth Liberman testified about their sworn affidavits in which they wrote, “The judge opined that, just because a child or ADA says a person is a child molester, that does not make it so, since ‘You will never know what actually happened.’”In another instance,&nbsp; the district attorney’s office claimed “Judge Luong equated child sex abuse cases with the Salem witch trials, because ‘just a mere outcry statement from a child is enough to put a man away for the rest of his life.’”In a response opposing the state’s recusal motion, Recio’s defense attorney, Lynn Hardaway wrote: “Judge Luong’s personal views on child sex cases, the way they are tried, the severity of the punishment, and the possibility for wrongful convictions does not constitute sufficient grounds for recusal in the context for which they were made.”During the hearing, Hardaway also called the timing of the state’s motion “curious”, noting that Judge Luong is running for re-election and facing current Harris County prosecutor Andrea Beall in a runoff in the Democratic primary in May.Meagan Scott, general counsel for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office told KPRC 2 News there was no political motivation.“There’s a lot of people running for a lot of offices. We make our decisions based on the facts of each case as it stands in this particular case,” Scott said.Judge Luong was not in the courtroom during the hearing and has not directly responded to requests for comment.Wednesday afternoon KPRC 2 News received a statement from Josue Ochoa, court coordinator for the 185th district court which said: “The only statement the Court can give is to indicate that the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct prohibits Judge Luong or any judge from making any public comment on matters pending in the court.”Judge Brown said she will reassign the case to another court in the coming days.<a href="https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2022/04/21/judge-accused-of-partiality-toward-defendants-in-child-sex-abuse-cases-removed-from-pending-case/" target="_blank">Continue reading...</a></blockquote>

[QUOTE="KPRC2, post: 20703, member: 148"] The presiding regional judge over Harris County ruled Wednesday that 185th district court judge Jason Luong should be recused from a possible re-trial of a defendant who was convicted of child sexual abuse in his court. Judge Susan Brown sat in Luong’s chair during the hearing, which was triggered when Luong declined a request from the Harris County District Attorney’s Office to recuse himself from presiding over a new trial requested by defendant Philip Recio. [URL='https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2022/04/20/harris-county-district-attorney-calls-for-recusal-of-judge-claims-judge-is-partial-to-defendants-in-child-sex-abuse-cases/'][B]SEE ALSO: Harris County District Attorney calls for recusal of judge; claims judge is partial to defendants in child sex abuse cases[/B][/URL] Recio was convicted of continuous sexual abuse of a child and sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in prison on March 2 in Luong’s court. In the state’s motion to recuse, two-child abuse prosecutors claimed after the sentencing, Judge Luong called them into his office for “post-trial feedback” and proceeded to make several sympathetic comments about men accused of child sexual abuse. Tyler White and Elizabeth Liberman testified about their sworn affidavits in which they wrote, “The judge opined that, just because a child or ADA says a person is a child molester, that does not make it so, since ‘You will never know what actually happened.’” In another instance, the district attorney’s office claimed “Judge Luong equated child sex abuse cases with the Salem witch trials, because ‘just a mere outcry statement from a child is enough to put a man away for the rest of his life.’” In a response opposing the state’s recusal motion, Recio’s defense attorney, Lynn Hardaway wrote: “Judge Luong’s personal views on child sex cases, the way they are tried, the severity of the punishment, and the possibility for wrongful convictions does not constitute sufficient grounds for recusal in the context for which they were made.” During the hearing, Hardaway also called the timing of the state’s motion “curious”, noting that Judge Luong is running for re-election and facing current Harris County prosecutor Andrea Beall in a runoff in the Democratic primary in May. Meagan Scott, general counsel for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office told KPRC 2 News there was no political motivation. “There’s a lot of people running for a lot of offices. We make our decisions based on the facts of each case as it stands in this particular case,” Scott said. Judge Luong was not in the courtroom during the hearing and has not directly responded to requests for comment. Wednesday afternoon KPRC 2 News received a statement from Josue Ochoa, court coordinator for the 185th district court which said: “The only statement the Court can give is to indicate that the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct prohibits Judge Luong or any judge from making any public comment on matters pending in the court.” Judge Brown said she will reassign the case to another court in the coming days. [url="https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2022/04/21/judge-accused-of-partiality-toward-defendants-in-child-sex-abuse-cases-removed-from-pending-case/"]Continue reading...[/url] [/QUOTE]

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