Bert Richardson (Texas judge)

Robert Carl Richardson, known as Bert Richardson (born 1956), is the incoming Place 3 judge of the nine-member Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the court of last resort in state criminal cases, to which he was elected in 2014.

Background

A native and resident of San Antonio, Texas, Richardson was reared in a military family. His father was a fighter pilot, and Richardson spent part of his earlier life abroad in Argentina and in several places in Europe. He graduated from Judson High School in Converse in Bexar County. He received his bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and his legal degree from St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio, dates of study unavailable.^[1]

A former competitive runner, Richardson is also heavily involved in his avocation of photography. He married his wife, Terri, a month before he began law school. He has a son, Cory Sean Richardson (born 1988), who attended Texas Tech University in Lubbock.^[1]

Legal career

Richardson began his legal career with the Bexar County district attorney's office in 1988. In 1998, he joined the staff of the United States attorney in San Antonio. In 1999, Governor George W. Bush appointed Richardson, a Republican, to a newly-created state judgeship numbered 379. He remained on the bench uncontested until his defeate in the 2008 general election by a Democrat, Ron Rangel, 263,857 (53.8 percent) to 227,015 (46.3 percent).^[2]

Richardson has been a special state judge on call. He was scheduled to hear the 2014 indictment of Governor Rick Perry for abuse of official capacity by the Travis County District Attorney's office. After his election to the Court of Criminal Appeals, Richardson refused to throw out the case against the governor on a technicality, as Perry's attorney had sought. Richardson has not yet ruled on constitutional objections raised by the Perry lawyers.^[3]It is unclear if Richardson will leave the Perry case after he assumes his seat on the Court of Criminal Appeals.

In the Republican primary for the Court of Criminal Appeals on March 4, 2014, Richardson defeated Judge Barbara Walther, the first woman and the first Republican to serve on the 51st Texas District Court in San Angelo. Richardson polled 668,618 votes (60.4 percent) to Walther's 439,267 (39.6 percent).^[4]Richardson then prevailed in the general election, 2,738,412 (59.8 percent) to 1,617,921 (36.5 percent) for his principal opponent, the Democrat, John Granberg.^[5]

Elected to the Court of Criminal Appeals with Richardson are Kevin Patrick Yeary, also of San Antonio and David Newell of Houston. The terms of all three judges expire on December 31, 2020.

References

Current statewide political officials of Texas
U.S. Senators	John Cornyn Ted Cruz
State government	Greg Abbott, Governor Dan Patrick, Lieutenant Governor & President of the Senate Carlos Cascos, Secretary of State (appointed) Ken Paxton, Attorney General Glenn Hegar, Comptroller (Treasurer equivalent) George P. Bush, Land Commissioner Sid Miller, Agriculture Commissioner Christi Craddick, Ryan Sitton, David J. Porter, Railroad Commissioners
Senate	Juan Hinojosa, President pro tempore In the Texas Senate, there are no majority or minority leaders.
House	Joe Straus, Speaker Dennis Bonnen, Speaker pro tempore In the Texas House, there are no majority or minority leaders.
Supreme Court (civil)	Nathan Hecht, Chief Justice Don Willett Debra Lehrmann John P. Devine Paul W. Green Jeff Brown Jeffrey S. Boyd Phil Johnson Eva Guzman
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals	Sharon Keller, Presiding Justice Lawrence E. Meyers Bert Richardson Kevin Patrick Yeary Cheryl Johnson Michael Keasler Barbara Hervey Elsa Alcala David Newell