CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Former District Court Judge Guy Williams has faced legal problems recently but is still a practicing attorney in Nueces County. The former judge says he's being treated unjustly by officials at the courthouse. Williams says he's being denied an attorney's badge to the courthouse and it's affecting his work.
Williams says he's in good standing with the State Bar so there's no reason he should be denied a pass. The badge is typically given to judges, attorneys, courthouse employees and media after security checks are done. The badge allows them to bypass security checks into the courts making it quicker for them to get to the courts on the upper levels. Williams has recently sent notices to County Judge Barbara Canales and Sheriff Hooper requesting a pass. He's given them a mid-November deadline or he says he will sue. He says he shouldn't be subjected to what he calls "body searches" whenever he needs to go to the courthouse.
"It's embarrassing and humiliating to have my peers and my former colleagues as judges and lawyers and bystanders seeing me searched when everybody knows who I am," said Williams.
In December 2018, Williams was publicly reprimanded by the Texas Ethics Commission. That decision meant he could not serve as a visiting judge or collect retirement.
According to court documents, Williams was accused of allegedly inappropriately touching several female judges and other county employees at an event in August of 2017. Additionally, he was cited for his behavior and the way he handled multiple child custody cases in his court. Williams was also accused of making “disparaging” comments about the Nueces County District Attorney’s Office in open court.
Williams will go to trial on October 2 for a public intoxication charge from a May 2018 arrest.
Williams believes a high ranking county official filed a complaint with the Sheriff's office which led to the denial. Sheriff Hooper says he cannot comment because of the possible lawsuit.
