Shocking outburst of troubled Texas judge after she was pulled over on suspicion of driving under the influence
Two careers were on the line when a Texas traffic cop and a senior judge dueled for 45 minutes on a Houston freeway after he pulled her over for multiple traffic violations.
Harris County District Court Judge Kelli Johnson quickly informed the officer who she was and demanded he call her friends at the police department after pulling her over on April 12 on US290.
Footage from both police body cameras at the scene was rendered useless by a mysterious “obstruction,” according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
But audio recording of Sgt. Colin McHugh told her she had been speeding, eating and looking at her phone, changing lanes unsafely, and that he smelled alcohol.
“I could lose my whole career,” Johnson told him.
“And this is the point, Your Honor,” he replied. “I could lose my entire career if I let you use your position as a judge for this.”
Harris County District Court Judge Kelli Johnson was arrested for speeding, eating and looking at her phone while driving, changing lanes unsafely and suspected driving under the influence
The first openly gay female judge elected in Harris County, she has served on the bench for seven years and has two sons, a 12-year-old and an 11-month-old, with his wife, Hilary Bartlett.
The glamorous Democrat had spent all week presiding over the trial of Brian Coulter, who would soon be convicted of murdering his girlfriend’s son, whose body was left to rot for a year.
“I’m a judge,” she told McHugh.
“Are you a judge?” he replied.
‘A subdistrict judge. Yes,” she confirmed.
McHugh told her why he stopped her before a second officer arrived to administer a field sobriety test.
She asked the second officer for a supervisor and told her, “If I take this test and you think I don’t do it right, I’ll lose my career and all that.”
“I mean, can you call a witness, for example? Can we call Ben Katrib? I’m calling Sidney Miller. Sheriff Gonzalez.
“This is a huge deal to me.”
The second officer told McHugh about her request and he returned to the car.
“Ma’am, here’s the thing,” he told her. “I’m her supervisor, okay? She asks you to get out of the car so she can give you her SFST.
‘Everything we do is captured on that camera. This body camera. Everything here. We’re not calling Lieutenant Katrib, or Sheriff Gonzalez.
Johnson, who was elected in 2017, is one of the state’s most high-profile judges
She was three days away from sentencing Brian Coulter to life in prison for beating a child to death in an apartment in Houston’s CityParc II complex on November 20, 2020.
She also presided over all three trials of the son of a former NFL player, AJ Armstrong (pictured), who was convicted of murdering his parents in 2016 as a 16-year-old.
“This is an investigation into an impaired driver.”
“I could lose my whole career,” Johnson told him.
“And the point is, your honor, I could lose my entire career if I let you use your position as a judge to do this,” he replied.
“I don’t use position,” she insisted.
Johnson, who was elected in 2017, is one of the state’s most high-profile judges. He has presided over cases including that of former NFL star Antonio Armstrong Jr., who was convicted of murdering his parents in 2016 as a 16-year-old.
She is the first openly gay female judge elected in Harris County and has two sons, a 12-year-old and an 11-month-old, with her wife Hilary Bartlett.
She was still days away from taking medical leave from the court, with a courthouse employee telling local news station KTRK that she was exhibiting “manic behavior,” and on May 4, police would be called to the home she was with her family shares because of a ‘crisis’. intervention’.
McHugh told her that both he and his colleague could smell alcohol on her breath and demanded she get out of the car.
“She can see your eyes are red and bloodshot,” he told her. “Now that the wind is blowing, I can smell it.”
The test was administered and Johnson failed on a number of indicators, but decided the failures were not significant enough to warrant an arrest.
“She’s probably been drinking, but not that much,” he told his colleague.
“So I’m going to write you a warning citation for the speeding ticket, 77 on a 65, and let it go at that,” he told Johnson.
‘Reasonable? Agree.’
Retired Houston Police Captain Greg Fremin said the judge had a narrow escape.
“She’s lucky she got away with a warning considering the many traffic violations,” he said ABC13.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said their officers played it by the book.
The traffic stop took place just days before police were called to a “crisis intervention” at the $820,000 home she shares with her family in the city’s north end
“Deputies exercise discretion when issuing citations,” Senior Deputy Thomas Gilliland told the station in an email.
“A total of 64 percent of HCSO traffic stops result in a written or verbal warning.
‘The Standardized Field Sobriety Test (SFST) is a nationally recognized examination used to determine probable cause for assessing impairment.
“If there are not enough signs of impairment, an arrest would not be an appropriate course of action.”