What is it like to be a criminal law judge?

Judge Chuck Miller of Dripping Springs spoke about life as a criminal court judge during the October meeting of the North Hays Republican Group.  

Miller is a board-certified criminal law specialist and a Texas Senior Appellate Judge.  He served on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals – the highest criminal court in Texas, co-equal with the Texas Supreme Court - for two terms.  He was most recently in the news in May, after presiding over the Austin trial of a man convicted of sexually abusing his stepdaughter; Miller added 20 years to the life sentence returned by the jury.

“To know what it’s like to be a criminal law judge, you have to put yourself in their shoes,” Miller said.  “If you want to become a judge, know that you have to be able to make good decisions quickly,” Miller emphasized. “Everyone who is a criminal law judge wants to be one.  You should be confident that you will, at the very least, be as good as some of the judges that have preceded you, and preferably know in your heart that you will be better than some.  It involves a unique skill set.”

That skill set, said Miller, is not simple or easy.  “You have to have respect for life as we want it to be in our society, and compassion and empathy for all parties, the victims and the accused.  You must have respect for the law, and [a disposition] to follow the law,” he said.  “If the law is ambiguous, you need to be able to put aside your personal prejudices – we all have them – and interpret the law without injecting them.”  Miller wanted the audience to know that most interpretations are non-controversial.  “You never hear about 99 percent of the decisions we make,” he said, “but that one percent, when it’s controversial, it’s REALLY controversial”.

Miller described the good, the bad, and the ugly of being a criminal law judge.  “The good is that feeling of knowing you’ve stamped the imprimatur of fairness on the system.  Society is a better place because of the way you’ve done your job,” he said.  “And, you can still be anonymous when you go to HEB.”  

“The bad is, you get shot,” he said, referring to the 2015 ambush of Travis County District Court Judge Julie Kocurek, and regular exposure to people who have committed violent crimes.  

“Some people would say the ugly is having to run for office by affiliating with a political party,” said Miller.  “When judges rule, we are not Republicans or Democrats.  If we rule according to the whims of society, we are not doing our job.  My take on it is that people want the ability to vote judges out; that’s just human nature.  That said, we are anonymous; nobody knows judges in the voting booth.  We are elected by straight party voters or when-in-doubt voters.  And the result is, good judges are swept out not because they’re doing a bad job, but because the political demographic of their electorate has changed.”

Judge Miller is a graduate of the first class of Leadership Dripping Springs, an active member of the Dripping Springs community, still serves as a Texas State Judge, and was most recently appointed to the City of Dripping Springs Utility Commission.