Michelle Slaughter (born 1978) is a former Judge of the

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) is the court of last resort for all criminal matters in Texas. The Court, which is based in the Supreme Court Building in Downtown Austin, is composed of a presiding judge and eight judges. Article V ...

Education

Slaughter received her

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

from the

University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...

and her

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from the

University of Houston Law Center The University of Houston Law Center is the Law school in the United States, law school of the University of Houston in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1947, the Law Center is one of 12 colleges of the University of Houston, a state university. It is ...

in 2004.

Legal career

Upon graduating law school, she clerked with Haynes and Boone. Before taking the bench she was a managing member at Slaughter & Hammock and from 2005 to 2010 practiced at

Locke Lord Locke Lord LLP was an international law firm formed on October 2, 2007, after the combination of Texas-based Locke Liddell & Sapp PLLC and Lord Bissell & Brook LLP. Locke Lord's earliest predecessor firms date from 1887 and 1891. The firm is head ...

State judicial service

Slaughter campaigned to be a Judge for the 405th District Court of Galveston County and took office in 2013. In 2015, she was cleared of any wrongdoing by a judicial panel after concern was raised over personal Facebook posts regarding a trial she was overseeing. In March 2018, she won the Republican primary to be a Judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Her opponent in the General Election was

Libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

Mark Ash. She went on to win the general election, receiving 4,760,576 votes or 74% of the vote. Her term on the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals began on January 1, 2019 and she replaced Judge Elsa Alcala. In 2024, Slaughter was defeated in the Republican primary by attorney Lee Finley.

Personal life

Slaughter is a Republican.

References

External links

Texas courts bio
* 1978 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) University of Houston Law Center alumni 21st-century American judges 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American women judges American women lawyers Judges of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Texas lawyers Texas Republicans Texas state court judges {{Texas-state-judge-stub