Meet Barbara Walther, Judge in Texas Ranch Raid Case
A Texas state court judge had perhaps the toughest case in the nation last week as she presided over a record-breaking 416-child custody hearing.
But Barbara Walther is a seasoned, authoritative jurist with a sense of humor who handled the challenging hearing as well as anyone could have, according to the Dallas Morning News and the Associated Press.
“She will rule, and that is something in a judge’s personality that lawyers really appreciate,” says Guy Choate, a longtime attorney in San Angelo, Texas, where the hearing was held. Her attitude is, “I may be right or may be wrong, but I’m not uncertain.”
Walther also lightened up her control of her courtroom during last week’s two-day custody hearing with jokes and laughter, the Dallas newspaper reports. At one point, despite the chaos inherent in a hearing that involves hundreds of attorneys, she invited a lawyer who seemed to be gesturing to her for permission to speak up to the bench. Then, after a moment of mutual confusion that drew chuckles from the audience, she discovered that he had no wish to do so.
“I thought you wanted to speak,” she told him. “At auctions in West Texas, if you scratch your nose, you bought it.”
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Judge Orders DNA Testing of 416 Kids; Sect Reconsiders Sex With Minors”
ABAJournal.com: “Lawyer Throws Open Secretive Sect’s Gates to Media”
ABAJournal.com: “Young Children Removed from Texas Ranch Not Abused, State’s Expert Says”
