AUSTIN – In her first public statements since being accused of allowing a staff member to stand in for her during a criminal court proceeding nearly five years ago, former Dallas County District Judge Amber Givens denied the allegations while testifying Wednesday before a three-judge panel.

Givens’ testimony came on the second and final day of her judicial misconduct trial held at the state Supreme Court in Austin. Her statements to the panel contradicted previous testimony from two prosecutors and two probation officers who witnessed the hearing at the center of the case.

The former felony court judge received a public reprimand and an admonition from the State Commission on Judicial Conduct last year after it determined she had allowed her court coordinator to stand in for her during an August 2021 bond hearing.

The commission also ruled that Givens had treated attorneys poorly in her courtroom on three specific occasions, and had taken action in two criminal cases after she had been recused from them. Givens appealed the findings, which then voided them and led to this week’s trial.

The trial was presided over by a Special Court of Review, whose members are three justices from various appellate courts in the state. Two prosecutors from the Attorney General’s Office presented the case against Givens. The panel didn’t issue a ruling, and it could be weeks before a decision is released.

Among the options the justices have is to reinstate some or all of the sanctions issued by the judicial misconduct commission, or to dismiss them. If they uphold the public reprimand – the harshest sanction available – Givens would not be able to serve as a visiting judge, which many former judges choose to do after they leave the bench.

Givens resigned from her position presiding over the 282nd District Court in December to run for Dallas County district attorney. She’s taking on incumbent John Creuzot, who was among the witnesses called to testify during this week’s trial. Both are Democrats and will face off in the March 3 primary. Since no Republican candidates filed for the position, the primary winner likely will get the job after the November general election.

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During testimony Wednesday, Givens told the panel that on the day of the Aug. 3, 2021 bond hearing, she was having issues with her car and was working remotely, which was allowed during the COVID pandemic. When she tried to log into the virtual gathering for her court’s proceedings that day, she was unable to get in, she said.

Givens said she instructed her court coordinator, Arceola Warfield, how to log in to Zoom for her from Warfield’s computer so they could move on with the court’s business that day, which she described as minor.

When they got to the bond hearing, Givens said she called Warfield and told her to hold her phone up to the computer’s speaker so that the attorneys could hear her.

She said she told them she was approving the bond amount the two sides had agreed on and would require the defendant to wear an ankle monitor, which he repeatedly argued against. Givens said she also informed the participants that Warfield would read the bond conditions to them. Her lead attorney, Chip Babcock, then presented the justices with phone records that he said backed up her claims.

A former bailiff from Givens’ court said during a videotaped deposition played for the panel that he heard her voice over the phone. Warfield was not called as a witness during the trial. The prosecutors for the Attorney General’s Office said they repeatedly tried to subpoena her but were unable to locate her.

The testimony provided by Givens and the bailiff was at odds with that provided by the prosecutors and probation officers. They told the panel they never heard Givens’ voice during the hearing. All four said they were so concerned about what had taken place that they reported the incident to supervisors.

When leaders of the Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association found out about it, they filed a complaint with the judicial conduct commission.

The lawyers’ group also complained to the commission about the disrespectful way they believed Givens had treated attorneys appearing before her, and submitted videos of three court hearings to back up their claims. A criminal investigation was opened by Texas Rangers and a special prosecutor was appointed, but no charges were ever filed.

On Wednesday, Givens described the allegations accusing her of allowing a staff member to impersonate her during a court hearing as disturbing.

“I would have never asked (Warfield) to pretend to be me,” Givens testified. “I’m going to put my degree on the line? My license on the line? For a bond hearing? No.”

Givens also denied being disrespectful to attorneys in her court, and said well-known issues with the rollout of a new court computer system prevented her from knowing she’d been recused from the two cases she took action on after she had been removed from

In other testimony Wednesday, Amanda Branan, a former president of the Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, described Givens as acting like a “queen” when she was on the bench.

“It’s almost like she wants to be famous rather than be a judge and serve justice,” Branan said. “(Her) behavior was so bad and it just kept getting worse.”

Creuzot was called to testify about an email he received from Givens after she learned about the bond hearing allegations. In the message, she accused a prosecutor in Creuzot’s office of spreading lies about her and said she planned to file a bar complaint against her, which never happened, Creuzot said. She also asked Creuzot to reassign the prosecutor to another court, which he said he did.