AUSTIN – A trial set to begin Wednesday on misconduct allegations filed against former Dallas County District Judge Amber Givens was postponed after her defense complained that representatives of the attorney general’s office willfully avoided a deposition last week.
The two-day trial was scheduled to be held at the Supreme Court of Texas in Austin after Givens appealed two sanctions the State Commission on Judicial Conduct issued against her earlier this year.
At the start of Wednesday’s proceedings, Givens’ lead attorney, Chip Babcock, asked the three-judge panel appointed to hear the case to dismiss it for the commission’s failure to participate in a deposition the defense had set for Friday in Houston. An assistant attorney general informed Babcock they wouldn’t participate because it was set outside of discovery deadlines and proper notice hadn’t been provided.
The justices denied Babcock’s dismissal request, but agreed to postpone the trial so that the deposition of a representative of the judicial conduct commission can proceed. The trial is now set for Feb. 24 and 25. Each side will be given four and a half hours to present their case.
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The sanctions against Givens were issued in June for incidents dating back to 2021 and 2023. In the first case, the commission determined Givens had improperly directed or allowed her court coordinator to conduct a bond-reduction hearing in her place. The judge’s picture appeared on the screen during the online hearing and neither side was told that she was not there, according to the findings.
In the second case, the commission found that Givens had improperly jailed one man and revoked another’s bond after having been recused from their cases.
Givens, a Democrat, was first elected to the 282nd District Court in 2014, and won reelection in 2018 and 2022. She resigned from her position last week in order to challenge Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot in the March Democratic primary.