DALLAS — The state judicial ethics commission should not have reprimanded a Dallas judge who told a man convicted of brutally killing a child that he deserved to die locked in a closet, the Texas Supreme Court decided.
Chief Justice Robert Burns III, of Dallas’ Fifth Court of Appeals, was a criminal district court judge when he sentenced Charles Wayne Phifer to life in prison without parole, a punishment Burns said wasn’t severe enough.
Texas’ Commission on Judicial Conduct publicly admonished Burns last year for comments he made to Phifer as he delivered the sentence. Burns appealed the admonishment to the state’s highest civil court.
The Commission did not meet its burden of proving Burns violated state rules for judges conduct, the Supreme Court ruled last week.
A Dallas County jury decided in October 2018 to sentence Phifer, 41, to life in prison for the beating death of 4-year-old Leiliana Wright in Grand Prairie.
Leiliana’s mother, Jeri Quezada, testified that Phifer, her then-boyfriend, beat Leiliana with a belt and bamboo stick. Quezada said Phifer bound the girl and hung her from a rod in their living room closet the day of her death, March 12, 2016. Quezada pleaded guilty to felony injury to a child in exchange for a 50-year prison sentence.
A medical examiner said Leiliana was covered in bruises and abrasions and that her death was caused by blunt-force injuries to her abdomen and head.
Burns spoke to Phifer while jurors were present as he delivered their sentence and told Phifer that the case was the worst he’d ever seen.
“Life in prison seems insufficient. Hanging a little girl in a closet is savage,” Burns said. “You should die in a locked closet just — if (Texas) had one, but they don’t have one for you, unfortunately.”
Phifer unsuccessfully petitioned for a new trial and Burns voluntarily recused himself from the case, according to the Supreme Court’s ruling.
The state’s judicial conduct commission found Burns’ comment was “undignified and discourteous.” The state commission pointed to the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct, which requires judges to treat those who come before them with patience and courtesy. The commission also noted the Texas Constitution, which prohibits judges from behavior that “casts public discredit upon the judiciary.”
The Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court appointed a special court to review the Commission’s decision. The review court determined Burns did not willfully violate rules for judicial conduct and found him “not guilty.”
Burns testified during the review and said his comment “crossed the line” and he should not have made it, according to the Supreme Court ruling. He said the comment was spontaneous and unplanned. Horrendous details about the child’s killing throughout the trial took an emotional toll on him, Burns told the review court. The case was the most emotionally impactful of his career, he added.
Jurors were visibly shaken during the trial and saw photos of Leiliana’s battered body. A paramedic who tried to save Leiliana cried when testifying about how badly bruised the little girl was.
No testimony indicated Burns treated Phifer unfairly during the trial or in hearings throughout the two years before trial, the review court noted.
Burns was elected chief justice of the appeals court in November 2018 and took the bench in January 2019. Before that, he was judge over Criminal District Court No. 1 for 12 years.
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