For those of you who have been doing criminal work in Harris County a little longer than I have, the news is reporting that retired Judge A.D. Azios passed away on Friday.
I never had the pleasure of trying a case in front of him, but have heard all kinds of war stories that seemed to indicate Judge Azios was a good judge with a good sense of humor. As the news noted, he was the first elected Hispanic Judge in Harris County.
Although I don't have any war stories of my own, I invite you all to share yours here, if you would like.
5 comments:
When I started in the office in the misdemeanor division in 1980 one of my assignments was in Judge Azios' County Criminal Court at Law No. 9. for about three months. We remained good friends after that. I recall one day I needed $5.00 for lunch so I wrote the judge a check and he gave me the $5. He never cashed it and for years after it was kind of a running gag when I'd ask him if he was ever going to cash my check so I could balance my checkbook. One day in chambers we were discussing the problems that might be posed by an unruly defendant. Judge Azios pulled an ancient little .25 automatic out of his desk and said that if someone tried to come over the bench he was going to give them the "old chingadera". He was a true gentleman. He also served his country in the US Army in WW2 and was wounded and captured during the Battle of the Bulge and was held as a POW for four months. One of "Great Generation".
Sid Crowley
Judge Azios taught me a few German curse words. He also gave me a fingernail clipper with an American Flag. After his retirement from Harris County, he served as a visiting Judge. Once, while doing Probable Cause hearings, a defendant spontaneously told the Judge "The cop who pulled me over didn't read me my rights before he put me in the patrol car". The Judge's response was "hell, you been arrested 20 times, you should know your rights better than most of these dumb ass prosecutors and defense lawyers".
As a prosecutor I always admired Judge Azios. He was not known as a state's judge and he did not always rule the way I hoped, but that didn't affect my good feelings for him. The longer I was a prosecutor the more I respected in judges the trait of courtesy and willingness to listen to both sides regardless of how they ruled. Judge Azios was the epitome of those characteristics.
Love your comments - they really help show the sort of person he was.
The story goes that "Both Sides" entered the Judge's Chambers and surprised him sitting upright - head down - glasses on his nose and a law book in his hands. One of the lawyers began to address the Judge when he shuttered to attention, cleared his throat, looked up and asked - Ahem - Hmmm - Humph - Ahh - Gentlemen how can I help you? The lawyers replied they hoped they hadn't interrupted him. The Judge replied: " No I'm just catching up on the law". One of the lawyers responded: " But Your Honor...your book is upside-down ". Without skipping a beat Judge Azios matter of factly stated: "Yes....This case was REVERSED!".
Larry Standley
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