Wayne Patrick "Pat" Priest (November 1940 – October 12, 2018) was a

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

state court judge who has presided over a number of nationally and regionally important cases.

Tom DeLay campaign finance trial

As the senior District Judge of

Bexar County Bexar County ( or ; es, Béxar ) is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in South Texas and its county seat is San Antonio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,009,324. Bexar County is included in the San Antonio– New Bra ...

(in semi-

retired Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

) status, he was appointed to preside over the

Tom DeLay campaign finance trial Tom DeLay, a Republican U.S. Representative from Texas from 1979–83, and from 1985–2006 and the House Majority Leader from 2003–05, was convicted in 2010 of money laundering and conspiracy charges related to illegal campaign finance activi ...

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

by Chief Justice of

Texas Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Texas (SCOTX) is the court of last resort for civil matters (including juvenile delinquency cases, which are categorized as civil under the Texas Family Code) in the U.S. state of Texas. A different court, the Texas Court of ...

Wallace B. Jefferson Wallace Bernard Jefferson (born July 22, 1963) is a former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Texas, who served from 2004 until October 1, 2013. In October 2013, he joined the law firm Alexander Dubose & Jefferson LLP as a name partner and no ...

after two judges (Administrative Judge B. B. Schraub and District Judge Bob Perkins) were

recused Judicial disqualification, also referred to as recusal, is the act of abstaining from participation in an official action such as a legal proceeding due to a conflict of interest of the presiding court official or administrative officer. Appli ...

in the case. In January 2011, Priest sentenced DeLay to three years in prison. DeLay's conviction was overturned by the Texas 3rd Court of Appeals on September 19, 2013, which noted in part that "the jury on two occasions had asked trial Judge Pat Priest whether the $190,000 was 'illegal at the start of the transaction' or 'procured by illegal means originally,'" and that "the judge never answered the jurors' questions". The Court of Appeals was upheld by the Texas Supreme Court,Laylan Copelin,
Texas’ top court upholds dismissal of Tom DeLay convictions
, ''Austin American-Statesman'' (October 1, 2014). and DeLay appellate attorney Brian Wice said afterwards that this was due in part to "Judge Pat Priest with his novel legal theory".

Other cases

In 2015, Priest presided over the exoneration hearing of the "San Antonio Four", four women collectively accused and convicted of child molestation in 1994.A judge says four San Antonio women were wrongfully convicted of sexually assaulting two young girls in a case that advocates for criminal justice reform have long championed
, ''

U.S. News ''U.S. News & World Report'' (USNWR) is an American media company that publishes news, consumer advice, rankings, and analysis. It was launched in 1948 as the merger of domestic-focused weekly newspaper ''U.S. News'' and international-focused ...

'' (February 24, 2016). Priest ultimately ruled that the women should be given a new trial, although he "refused to declare their '

actual innocence Actual innocence is a special standard of review in legal cases to prove that a charged defendant did not commit the crimes that they were accused of, which is often applied by appellate courts to prevent a miscarriage of justice. Overvi ...

'". The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals exonerated them, asserting in plain but forceful language that they did not sexually assault anyone in 1994, for which they had spent years in prison. Priest has presided over a wide range of murder cases. Priest has used shock probation, releasing convicted criminals from prison shortly into their sentence with the expectation that the brief prison experience will be sufficient to rehabilitate the prisoner. His use of that methodology has drawn criticism and defenders.

Personal life

Priest attended

St. Mary's University Law School St. Mary's University School of Law is one of the professional graduate schools of St. Mary's University, a private Catholic university located in San Antonio, Texas. Academics The School of Law has an enrollment of about 770 students, pur ...

Texas State Bar The State Bar of Texas (the Texas Bar) is an agency of the judiciary under the administrative control of the Texas Supreme Court. It is responsible for assisting the Texas Supreme Court in overseeing all attorneys licensed to practice law in Te ...

Judge Wayne Patrick "Pat Priest" Priest
He authored a

criminal procedure Criminal procedure is the adjudication process of the criminal law. While criminal procedure differs dramatically by jurisdiction, the process generally begins with a formal criminal charge with the person on trial either being free on bail o ...

casebook A casebook is a type of textbook used primarily by students in law schools.Wayne L. Anderson and Marilyn J. Headrick, The Legal Profession: Is it for you?' (Cincinnati: Thomson Executive Press, 1996), 83. Rather than simply laying out the legal do ...

References

External links

Letter from Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Priest, Pat 1940 births 2018 deaths Texas state court judges Date of birth missing Place of birth missing Lawyers from San Antonio St. Mary's University School of Law alumni 20th-century American judges