HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – The attorney for Harris County Justice of the Peace Hilary Green says the Precinct 7 judge should still be allowed to preside over low-level drug cases even though she admitted to using marijuana and Ecstasy and to seeking medical treatment and intense counseling after she began to periodically rely on prescription cough medicine in 2009.
The statements are part of a larger judicial inquiry that was filed by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct to the state’s highest court in an effort to have Green removed from office.
According to the documents, Green’s former boyfriend claimed Green obtained drugs from her courtroom bailiff, and stated the two used code words in their text messages, including "nuts and bolts" to describe Tussionex, "cookie dough" to describe cocaine and "Skittles" to describe Ecstasy.
“She does not have a substance abuse problem and the commission isn't alleging that she does. These allegations are stemming from somebody who is vowing to destroy her and her career and it's more than four years ago for the most recent allegation and it stretches seven or eight years," said Green’s attorney, Chip Babcock.
According to the inquiry, in a sworn affidavit, Green’s former boyfriend claims he and Green used the website Backpage.com to hire prostitutes on two occasions.
He stated Green paid a woman in Houston $150 for sexual services and also hired a prostitute in Austin and paid her $200.
Babcock said those allegations are false and plans to argue that Green can’t be removed from office because the alleged incidents occurred before November 2016, which is when she was re-elected to office.
“The people have elected her because the people say she is doing a good job. You will see none of the allegations against her have anything to do with her job performance in the last eight years,” Babcock said.
The next step in the case is a formal proceeding.
The executive director with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct says the allegations speak for themselves and that he does not want to comment on the specifics of the case.
[READ: The Commission on Judicial Conduct case]
