HOUSTON – Attorneys for Judge Kelli Johnson said she will be taking a medical leave to recover from a head injury she suffered back in February.
“Judge Johnson is working with her doctors and following all of their recommendations. She looks forward to coming back to the bench fully recovered sometime right after the first of the new year,” Chris Tritico, her attorney said.
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This update comes after medical officials diagnosed the judge in August with Post-Concussion Syndrome (PCS) when she suffered a serious fall from a motor scooter on Valentine’s Day this past year.
Johnson, who usually decides on someone’s future, initially found herself in the hot seat. However, prosecutors have filed a motion to dismiss the case after investigators found she did not have drugs or alcohol in her system.
The charges were dismissed in mid-September, her attorney confirmed, and in a statement shared in part how relieved they were.
“We commend the special prosecutors for doing the right thing by filing the motion to dismiss,” Tritico said in a press statement. “This was a case that should never have been filed. Judge Johnson had no alcohol on her breath or drugs in her system. There was, quite frankly, no probable cause to arrest her. We are relieved that the truth has come to light and look forward to Judge Johnson returning to her duties after recovering from a brain injury.”
What happened?
Back in June, Johnson was pulled over by a Houston Police Department officer and ultimately charged with driving while intoxicated. But this wasn’t Johnson’s first offense, before being charged, she was allegedly pulled over by a deputy with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. She was not charged during this incident.
KPRC 2 Investigates learned Wednesday, July 24, that Johnson, who presides over the 178th District Court, has had her cases reassigned. The reason is still unclear.
Shortly after we broke the news of her cases being reassigned, Johnson’s long-time court reporter, Gail Rolen, spoke with KPRC 2 reporter Rilwan Balogun and told him that she had filed a complaint against the judge. Although Gail did not specify a reason, she said the judge was “completely out of control and no one knows what to do but watch her self-destruct.”
Judge Johnson has presided over many cases during her extensive career as a judge in Harris County. Here are a few of the most notable cases the 178th judge has presided over during her tenure as judge in Harris County:
AJ Armstrong
Judge Johnson presided over all three of the AJ Armstrong trials, the third one being the most notable in 2023, as the 23-year-old was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 40 years.
In 2016, Antonio “AJ” Armstrong Jr., was accused of murdering his mother and father while they slept inside their Bellaire home. The teen went through three trials before being found guilty, the first two ending in a hung jury.
To this day, AJ and his family claim his innocence.
David Temple
On April 20, 2023, a former Houston-area high school coach was sentenced to life in prison for a second time for killing his pregnant wife in 1999.
On Jan. 11, 1999, David’s wife, Belinda Temple, was shot in her home during what authorities initially thought was a burglary.
Investigators later found out that David staged the burglary and fatally shot his eight-month-old pregnant wife because he was having an affair.
David went on to marry the woman he was having an affair with and was not charged with his wife’s murder until five years later.
A jury initially convicted David of murder in 2007 and sentenced him to life in prison. But Texas’ top criminal court overturned that conviction in 2016 because prosecutors had withheld evidence.
In August 2016, David was convicted a second time and he was resentenced in 2023.
Brian Coulter
This was Johnson’s most recent case and one that she opened up about to KPRC 2 as one of the most “horrific set of facts that I’ve ever had to witness, to listen to and to imagine.”
Before sentencing Coulter to life in prison, she told the 34-year-old that what he did to 8-year-old Kendrick Lee and his three brothers had haunted her mind and interrupted her safe space.
“How you, Sir, could have done what you did to those children. When you look at them in the face, children that you led to believe were your own kids,” Judge Johnson said.
“Now you will leave this court, but you will not leave my mind,” the judge told Coulter. “And I hope, sir, when you’re in prison, I hope those same boys that have haunted my mind haunt yours.”
Volunteer judge with the Success Through Addiction Recovery or STAR program
Judge Johnson also oversees one of the dockets for the specialty STAR court, which provides treatments to women dealing with drug addictions and mental health disorders.
What’s next?
Judge Johnson’s team says she has been on medical leave to recover from a brain injury but is expected to resume her duties soon.