Texas Criminal Court Judge Shot in Her Driveway

A felony criminal district court judge in Travis County, Texas, was shot outside her home last night. Judge Julie Kocurek is also a former prosecutor. It is unknown whether the shooting is related to her duties as a criminal judge or prosecutor.

At about 10:16 p.m., a call was made to 9-1-1 that there had been a shooting at her home. EMS arrived and the judge was transported to University Medical Center-Brackenbridge in Austin. Her injuries are reported to be extremely serious but not life-threatening.

A neighbor of the judge told the Austin American-Statesman that she “just heard four pops.”

The Austin newspaper also reported that the judge had just returned to her home after being out and others were with her when she was shot.

Officer Mark Spangler, the head of the Austin Police Department robbery-homicide division said his division and the patrol division is investigating. He said they do not have a lot of information about the shooter, or persons responsible for the shootings. He said the crime was committed in the darkness.

Kocurek has served as the presiding judge of the 390^th District Court since it was created in January of 1999. She was appointed to the bench by then Texas Governor George W. Bush. Since that time, she has handled several high profile cases, including cases involving Governor Rick Perry and former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, WYFF4 reported. She served as the criminal court administrative judge from 2011-14.

Kocurek’s strongly admonished Perry after he made public statements after his indictments in 2014. The judge suggested Perry’s denunciations of the indictments could be construed as a threat to the grand jurors, the Austin American-Statesman reported. Judge Kocurek was reported to say, “no one is above the law.”

The judge was also initially involved in a criminal complaint involving Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg. She eventually recused herself from the case.

In the criminal complaint, the Statesman reported, former district attorney candidate Rick Reed alleged that Lehmberg was guilty of obstruction or retaliation, a third-degree felony. Lehmberg was alleged to have threatened corrections officers at the jail after her drunken driving arrest. The complaint quoted the district attorney as saying that the officers were “screwed” and will go to jail if they “don’t do something pretty quick,” according to the Statesman article.