COMAL COUNTY, Texas – A Texas judge received a public warning after telling a jury to keep deliberating over a sex trafficking defendant because God told him she was innocent. He later blamed the outburst on 'delerium,' according to a report.
Judge Jack Robison was presiding over the trial of Gloria Romero Perez on January 12, 2018 when he made the statement, according to a disciplinary report obtained by the San Antonio Express-News. Perez was charged with continuous sex trafficking and the sale or purchase of a child.
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When Robinson was informed the jury had reached a guilty verdict, he told them to keep deliberating because the conviction would be a miscarriage of justice, the documents said. The judge recieved at least 18 complaints about the outburst.
Officials reported that the judge later apologized for the outburst and told the jury, "When God tells me I gotta do something, I gotta do it."
The jury maintained their guilty verdict and Perez was sentenced to 25 years in prison. However, a mistrial was declared in October after a judge found that Robison's rulings were not in accordance with the law and that he made partial comments throughout the trial, the Express-News reports.
Perez is currently awaiting a retrial, according to court documents.
In a report to the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct, Robison said he was experiencing memory lapses at the time and was under extreme stress due to a medical treatment and the death of a close friend.
Robison provided letters from two medical professionals who said that the outburst was caused by a "temporary, episodic medical condition referred to as a 'delirum.'" The professionals said that Robison is no longer experiencing the impairment.
Robison said he recognizes that his involvement with the jury was grounds for misconduct.