Three seats on the ballot for highest criminal court, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

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(The Center Square) – Three seats are on the ballot for Texas’ highest criminal court, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA). 

Texas and Oklahoma are the only two states in the country that have bifurcated high courts – separate courts for civil and criminal appeals. In Texas, civil cases are appealed to the Texas Supreme Court. Four incumbent Republicans are running for reelection on the high court, The Center Square reported.

Criminal cases are appealed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which has three seats on the ballot Nov. 3. Two are open, Place 3 and 9; an incumbent judge is running for reelection for Place 4.

The court has a presiding judge and eight judges, all elected, who serve six-year terms. High profile cases are heard at the court, including death row cases, election fraud and cases brought by the attorney general or district attorneys.

Place 3 is an open seat being vacated by outgoing Republican Judge Bert Richardson. He’s finishing his second term after first being elected in 2014 and reelected in 2020.  

Running to replace him are Democrat Okey Anyiam, a Dallas criminal defense attorney, Libertarian Mark Ash, a Houston criminal defense attorney, and Republican Thomas Smith, who worked in the Office of Attorney General. 

Anyiam says he’s “campaigning to ensure Texans benefit from a fair and independent judiciary” and his judicial philosophy is to "uphold the law without legislating from the bench, and to apply the clear legislative intent unless that intent is ambiguous."

Ash previously ran for attorney general in 2022 and for the CCA in 2016 and 2018. He lost all three races. He does not have a campaign website.

Smith says his efforts at the OAG were “instrumental in banning sanctuary cities in Texas,” and he “helped write multiple bills cracking down on human trafficking” and to protect “religious liberty, spearheading passage of a law protecting churches from being forced to make adoptions that violate their religious conscience.”

In Place 4, incumbent Judge Kevin Patrick Yeary is running for reelection.  A Republican from south Texas, Yeary says his nearly 12-year judicial track record “shows he understands that judges do not make law” and that “he has a proper understanding of the separated powers of government and knows how to stick to the judicial lane. His record proves he is the kind of judge Texans want serving on our Court of Criminal Appeals.” 

He is being challenged by Democrat Judge Audra Riley, who currently presides over Texas Criminal District Court 3 with jurisdiction in Dallas County. She says she’s running because “this court is 100% Republican,” and she’s “running as a Democrat to balance the make-up of this court and add a new perspective.”

Place 9 is an open seat being vacated by outgoing Republican Judge David Newell. Like Richardson, he is finishing his second term.  

Running to replace him are Republican John Messinger and Democrat Holly Taylor.

Messinger, who describes himself as “a career appellate prosecutor,” works at the Office of the State Prosecuting Attorney. He says, “almost no one practicing law today has as much experience in the Court of Criminal Appeals as I do.” 

He says one of his goals is to improve efficiency at the court. “Many recent opinions from the Court of Criminal Appeals ignore or conflict with applicable law, its own decisions, or both. Perhaps worse, last year the average time it took them to review a lower court decision increased to over 500 days. Imagine waiting an extra year to find out if you will have to face your attacker at a new trial. Imagine sitting in prison for an extra year before being released. Both are unacceptable.”

Taylor, a criminal defense attorney, spent 17 years as a prosecutor. She recently served in the Travis County District Attorney’s Office. She says she’s running because “I have seen how the criminal justice system can fail us. I will bring an independent voice to the Court of Criminal Appeals to ensure that cases receive a fair and thorough review. I am passionate about upholding the Constitution and the Rule of Law and treating everyone with dignity and humanity.” 

According to the Texas Constitution, to qualify as a judge on the court, a candidate must be a U.S. citizen, have lived in Texas for one year, be at least 35 years old, be registered to vote in the area of the office sought, and have been a practicing lawyer or judge for 10 years.