By Janet Elliott
Staff Writer for The Texas Lawbook
Justice Don Willett will serve a second term on the Texas Supreme Court after victory in a Republican primary rematch with Steve Smith. However, Justice David Medina was forced into a runoff by John Devine in a three-way race.
As unusual as it is for an incumbent Supreme Court justice to be in a runoff, the race that had many North Texas lawyers talking Wednesday was the upset of a longtime appeals court jurist by a candidate with no judicial experience.
Martin Richter, who has served on the Dallas-based 5th Court of Appeals for 12 years, lost to David Lewis, a former state and federal prosecutor, 54 to 46 percent. Lewis, who will face Democrat David Hanschen in November, has an advantage in the five strongly Republican counties that join Dallas County to elect the court’s justices.
Richter has served at every judicial level, from municipal judge to the appeals court.
“After serving the citizens for 22 years as a judge to have somebody with no judicial experience and no qualifications beat you,” a stunned Richter said. “It may be time for a change in the way we select judges.”
Lewis said his extensive background in criminal law make him well-qualified to serve on a court with a docket dominated by criminal appeals.
In addition to serving as a prosecutor in the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Austin, Lewis said he has successfully argued four or five cases at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. In 2005, he was one of two lawyers named by then-D.A. Bill Hill as special prosecutors in the Dallas Police Department’s fake drug scandal.
“All of those experiences get me in the ballpark,” Lewis said.
Dallas appellate lawyer Chad Ruback said Richter has an excellent reputation among lawyers as intelligent, hard-working and fair.
“However, it is possible that he might have underestimated his opponent in this race,” Ruback said. “My understanding is that Justice Richter did not do a lot of fundraising or campaigning in this race compared to other judges who had viable opponents and it appears that this might have led to his being defeated by a respectable but less experienced opponent.”
In another closely watched race at the Dallas court of appeals, David Evans and Bill Whitehill emerged out of a six-person race for an open seat. They will face off in the runoff candidates. Evans is a former district judge in Dallas County and Whitehill is a commercial litigator at Gardere.
Willett , who has no Democratic opposition, beat Smith in 2006 by only 1 percentage point but won Tuesday by 14 points.
“There are only two ways to run for office – unopposed or scared. My victory margin was comfortable, but the path to achieving it was anything but,” said Willett, who raised enough money for a limited TV ad buy.
Medina, who raised much less than Willett, may have to rethink his fundraising strategy for the July 31 runoff with Devine, a former district judge in Harris County. Joe Pool Jr. of Dripping Springs came in third. Medina won 39 percent of the vote, Devine 32 percent and Pool 29 percent.
Justice Nathan Hecht was unopposed in the GOP primary but is the only Supreme Court candidate facing a Democrat in November. That candidate, Michele Petty of San Antonio, also won her party’s primary unopposed.
On the Democratic side, the most hotly contested judicial race in Dallas County was for an open seat on the 162nd District Court. Phyllis Lister Brown and Maricela Moore beat four other candidates for places on the runoff ballot.
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