Ousted GOP judge randomly released a group of defendants because that's "what the voters wanted"

Democrats shocked Republicans in Harris County, Texas — the nation’s third-largest county — by sweeping 59 seats in the midterms. One ousted GOP judge there is using his final days on the bench to throw an apparent tantrum.

Judge Glenn Devlin released nearly all the juvenile defendants who appeared before him the morning after elections, if they promised not to kill anyone.

“He made a comment, ‘This is obviously what the voters wanted,’ and I think there’s an implication by electing all Democratic judges, there’s this belief that Democratic judges are going to be soft on crime,” public defender Steven Halpert told a local news station.

It’s a stark change of heart for Devlin, whose record indicates that he was the sentencing judge for one-fifth of all kids sent to juvenile prison in Texas last year, according to the Chronicle. He released at least seven kids Wednesday, some of whom were accused of violent crimes.

Devlin and the county’s two other juvenile court judges all lost their seats by more than 10 points.

The American Civil Liberties Union has called for an investigation into Devlin’s post-election conduct.

“Judge Devlin’s mass release of children today, without any apparent concern for the children’s safety or for ensuring that they are released to their parents, proves his detachment from the needs of each child. Reducing mass incarceration and addressing racial disparities require judges to look at people as individuals,” Sharon Watkins Jones, director of political strategies for ACLU Texas, Jones said in a statement released Wednesday.

All 59 judicial races on the ballot in Harris County were taken by Democrats, including the contest for the county’s top judge seat. A 27-year-old political newcomer, Lina Hidalgo, secured a surprise victory and unseated longtime Harris County Judge Ed Emmett. She will be the county’s first Latina judge.

Cover image: Voters cast their ballots at a polling station in the Midterm Election on November 6, 2018 in Silver Springs, Maryland. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun/The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)