Alicia Franklin
Gov. Rick Perry on Friday appointed Houston family lawyer Alicia Franklin as presiding judge of Harris County’s 311th state District Court, a position left vacant in March after the resignation of disgraced freshman jurist Denise Pratt.
Franklin won a May 27 Republican primary runoff against Pratt, who appeared on the ballot despite her resignation, which came after a deadline to withdraw her name and later was revealed to be part of a deal with the Harris County district attorney to avoid indictment. She will face Democrat Sherri Cothrun in the November general election.
Franklin, who applied for the appointment, said she has already consulted with the visiting judges who have been hearing cases in the 311th since Pratt’s resignation and plans to work with them closely during her transition. The 36-year-old, who has no prior judicial experience, said she also has sought the advice of other family court judges about how they run their courts and keep their caseloads manageable.
“I’m very, very excited and eager to get started,” Franklin said.
See here for the full Pratt archives if you need a refresher. It’s been pretty standard for nominee to get appointed in a situation like this. Would have been interesting to see what Perry would have done if Pratt had managed to win the runoff, but we’ll leave that for the alternate-history books. I’ll be voting for Sherri Cothrun in November, but I wish new Judge Franklin all the best in straightening out Pratt’s ginormous mess. All the people that have been adversely affected by Pratt’s disastrous term in office will thank you for whatever progress you can make. Texpatriate has more.