A district judge—under fire for allegedly withholding evidence—is now accused of calling a defense attorney from Ireland and accusing him of conspiring against her.
GAINESVILLE, Texas — Cooke County’s only district judge—already under fire for her role in a decades-old capital murder case—is now accused of calling a local defense attorney from Ireland and accusing him of “engaging in a conspiracy against her.”
The allegation is laid out in a recent court filing by defense attorney Lee Tatum, who says District Judge Janelle Haverkamp also told him she didn’t “trust” him.
“Such an accusation is sufficient to cause any member of the public to question Judge Haverkamp’s impartiality and clearly shows a bias and creates a cloud of prejudice that prevents the fair adjudication of this case,” Tatum wrote in the recusal motion.
Administrative Judge David Evans granted Tatum’s motion to remove Haverkamp from three of his cases. He’s expected to seek her recusal in dozens more. Tatum declined an interview request.
“That’s not something you should be saying to a lawyer who appears in your courtroom on a regular basis,” Scott Becker, a former Collin County district judge, told WFAA. “He has reason to believe she’s no longer a blank slate in regards to any client he brings in front of her—and that’s a problem.”
Tatum told Evans the phone call came shortly after he asked for records related to the Michael Newberry case — one in which a visiting judge recently concluded Haverkamp, then the district attorney, withheld key evidence.
Tatum is not involved in Newberry’s case. But Mark Lassiter, who represents Newberry, said the latest allegations track with a pattern.
“I think it’s par for the course when it comes to Janelle Haverkamp,” Lassiter said. “She is illustrating that she is unable to separate what is happening as far as case-by-case basis from the attorney.”
Haverkamp and her attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.
She has already been removed from all cases involving District Attorney John Warren after accusing him of waging a political vendetta against her.
“It’s astonishing to me that this is going on,” Becker said. “You got one judge. You got one DA. This is a standoff until one of them is removed from the equation. Yeah, it’s a big deal.”
In April, visiting Judge Lee Gabriel recommended a new trial for Newberry after finding that Haverkamp—then the district attorney—failed to disclose key statements by alleged accomplice Deon Moore. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is now weighing whether to grant Newberry a new trial. Warren, the district attorney, has said that if the court rules in Newberry’s favor, he will dismiss the case — setting Newberry free after nearly three decades behind bars.
Haverkamp’s attorneys argued in a court filing last week that she did follow the judge’s order.
They also are seeking to block Lassiter’s request for “a show cause” hearing – a hearing she would be asked to explain why she should not be held in contempt. Her attorneys argue the statute of limitations ran out years ago.
“Twenty-eight years have elapsed since the trial of this case,” her attorney, Mollee Westfall, wrote. “The trial judge is deceased. The memories of trial attorneys have faded. And the defense counsel’s files have been lost or destroyed. In sum, no witnesses or evidence about Newberry’s allegations are available.”
Westfall contends the alleged misconduct—failing to turn over a pretrial statement and grand jury testimony—was not a continuing offense and cannot be revived now.
“Here, twenty-eight years have elapsed since the alleged violations raised by the Show Cause,” she wrote. “The alleged failure to abide by a pretrial is not a ‘continuing’ offense for purposes of arguing that every day brings new violation.”
But legal experts note there’s precedent for prosecutors being held in contempt years later for failing to turn over evidence.
In 2013, former Williamson County prosecutor Ken Anderson was arrested nearly 30 years after withholding evidence in a wrongful conviction case. He served five days in jail, lost his law license, and performed community service after pleading guilty to criminal contempt and tampering.