Judge Kelli Johnson
Judge Kelli Johnson’s misdemeanor driving while intoxicated charge was dismissed Tuesday after a toxicology report failed to reveal any signs of alcohol or drugs in her system at the time of a June arrest — one of two traffic stops that coincided with accounts of bizarre behavior, her defense attorney said.
Johnson’s defense attorney Chris Tritico addressed the dismissal on her behalf and said Johnson also hopes to return to the bench “after recovering from a brain injury.”
Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon, whose prosecutors took over the case after the recusal of Harris County lawyers, signed the motion to dismiss the misdemeanor charge after his office found a lack of evidence to continue the case. The office determined there were “no intoxicating substances in the defendant’s breath or blood during the June 25 traffic stop. Court records reflected the dismissal later Tuesday.
Johnson was arrested during the traffic stop and booked into the Harris County Jail. She returned to court with sporadic attendance, ultimately going on medical leave from the 178th District Court for weeks.
She is unopposed on the November ballot, ensuring she will serve a third term.
Tritico attributed the injury to an incident in February when Johnson, while riding a scooter at her home, fell and hit her head. He said she lost consciousness for several hours and woke up in a hospital after someone found her. She received 14 stitches, he said.
Neurosurgeon experts warned that slipping unconscious in a fall like what Johnson is said to have experienced may be indicative of a serious brain injury that requires time and therapy to heal. Younger adults tend to recover more quickly than others.
“You don’t have to have a high-velocity or high-height fall to suffer a traumatic brain injury,” said Dr. Ganesh Rao, professor and chair of neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine.
He explained that some patients don’t behave like themselves immediately after, while others also struggle to concentrate at work and are unable to keep track of time and other memories.
“They might not recognize that their behavior is odd,” he said.
Tritico declined to elaborate on Johnson’s diagnosis but said she continues to receive treatment for the injury and that it has so far been successful.
“She sounds like the Kelli Johnson I’ve known for years,” he said.
See here, here, and here for the background. I’m very glad to hear that this has been resolved, and I hope that Judge Johnson is getting whatever medical attention she needs to recover from her injury. This incident was bizarre and hard to understand from the outside, with the limited information we had. This story clears a lot of that up and adds some new information. It all sounds like a pretty harrowing situation for Judge Johnson and her family. I wish them all well.
@Kuff…. Wow/well, this ‘outrage-without-a-complete-set-of-facts’, posted two days after the incident, sure didn’t fare well:
“I don’t know Judge Johnson and I don’t know what may be going on in her life. What I do know is that she needs to take responsibility for her actions and do what she needs to do to ensure this doesn’t ever happen again. That may include stepping away from being a judge for a period of time, or even stepping down, if that’s what it takes. Whatever is going on, I hope she’s able to get any help she might need.
As noted in the story, the question of whether she can continue serving as judge until the legal issues are resolved may not be up to her. As with her colleague Judge Aguilar, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct may suspend her from the bench in the interim. We’ll find out at some point what if any action they take. The rest is up to her, and as I said I really hope she takes responsibility and does what she needs to do to address her behavior. She has put herself and others in danger, and that can’t be allowed to continue.”