New Tarrant County juvenile associate judge appointed Wednesday
A new associate judge has been appointed to oversee detention hearings in the Tarrant County juvenile court system.
Riley Shaw, who worked at the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office since 1999, was sworn in Wednesday morning. He held the positions of deputy chief of the criminal division and chief of the juvenile unit while at the DA’s office.
A second associate judge position has not yet been permanently assigned, but attorney Judith Van Hoof will be temporarily sworn in to help in the meantime.
The associate judges are overseen by 323rd District Judge Alex Kim, who was re-elected in November.
Tarrant County commissioners voted in September to defund those two associate judge positions in the 2023 budget after a consultant found former juvenile associate judges Cynthia Terry and Andy Porter rarely held hearings over the summer. The money for their salaries were put into an undesignated fund while the court hoped to get suggestions from the Juvenile Board on how to better handle the positions going forward.
In December, the court approved to change the associate judges to referee courts, which meant the judges would be selected and supervised by the Juvenile Board.
But during the Juvenile Board’s last 2022 meeting, the judges declined to make any changes ahead of the November election. Then, during the county commissioners’ first meeting in January under the new leadership of Tim O’Hare, they reinstated the associate judge positions without discussion.
Bennie Medlin, director of county juvenile services, reported Wednesday that the average daily population at the detention center has been just under 100.
Shaw begins working as a judge immediately.
This story was originally published January 18, 2023 at 1:21 PM.
