Fort Worth judge played poker, smoked after hours inside juvenile courthouse
A Tarrant County juvenile court judge, a now fired judge who is up for election and several other men spent an evening in August playing poker at the Juvenile Justice Center, according to records and surveillance video obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Surveillance footage taken from cameras outside of the courthouse show 323rd District Judge Alex Kim, Shane Nolen and four other men at the courthouse between 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 24, and 1:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 25.
Nolen was an associate judge with the Tarrant County Juvenile Court at the time, but was fired by Kim in November because of a unspecified rules violation.
In one of the clips, Kim walks out of the office holding what appears to be an ashtray that he dumps outside. He then takes a puff of what appears to be a cigar and goes back in the courthouse while still smoking. Two men walk around holding red plastic cups. One of the cups is filled with a dark liquid.
Asked on Wednesday for an explanation of what happened that night, specifically what the men were doing and what they were drinking, Kim said he just “had some friends over” and that nothing illegal or improper happened. Then he said he would not comment further.
Three security officers who were inside the courtroom’s lobby confronted the men at 1:20 a.m. after noticing them walking in and out of the building several times, according to incident reports that each officer filed.
Kim spoke to the men for about 30 seconds while holding an unidentifiable silver can.
One security officer wrote that Kim said he and Nolen were playing poker with several friends. In another report, an officer wrote that Kim and his friends were “playing cards and getting away from their wives.”
The last vehicle left the parking lot at 1:49 a.m., according to one of the reports. An officer also wrote that it was “very smoky in the judges [sic] chambers.”
The video surveillance footage only shows Kim smoking.
The Star-Telegram requested surveillance footage from inside the courthouse but a county official said it had already been recorded over. The footage from outside was kept because security officers saved it, the official said.
Smoking is banned inside public buildings in Fort Worth.
Nolen is seeking the state district judge’s position in the 96th District Court in 2020. He could not be reached for comment. The only phone number he listed in his candidate filing paperwork was for an office at the courthouse. A message left at his law office was not immediately returned.
Austin-based attorney Lillian Hardwick, a judicial ethics expert who coauthored the handbook of Texas Lawyer and Judicial Ethics, said Kim’s poker game violates the state Code of Judicial Conduct, which says that extra-judicial activities cannot “cast reasonable doubt on the judge’s capacity to act impartially as a judge” or interfere with the judge’s performance.
“He’s wasn’t on the bench, but he’s in his chambers, in the courthouse and there’s a problem there,” Hardwick said. “It casts reasonable doubt. That’s not what people elect judges to do.”
Hardwick also said the poker game violates the state Constitution, which says activities that are inconsistent with the proper performance of duties or that “cast public discredit upon the judiciary or the administration of justice” violate the Code of Judicial Conduct.
The incident report did not name the other poker players, but Hardwick said if any of them are lawyers, it could cast doubt on Kim’s ability to be impartial.
The State Commission on Judicial Conduct investigates complaints and alleged code of conduct violations against judges. Calls to the commission were not immediately returned Wednesday.
This story was originally published December 19, 2019 at 6:00 AM.
