New Judges

This Tuesday, Jan 1, there will be some new Democratic faces joining the courthouse.

At 10:00 am in the Central Jury Room, Gloria Saldana will be sworn in as Judge of the 438th District Court.  Saldana will be returning after being swept out in the 2010 red tidal wave.

At 10:30 am in the Presiding Court Room, attorney David Canales will be sworn in as Judge of the 73rd District Court.  The seat of the late Andy Mireles, this seat returns to Democratic hands after only a brief intermission.  Canales has been criticized for being too young and inexperienced, hopefully he can prove the critics wrong.

At 11:30 am in the Central Jury Room, Michael Mery will be sworn in as Judge of the 37th District Court.  Mery is making a return and getting a promotion.  Previously a County Court-at-Law judge, Mery was defeated in the Democratic primary for re-election 2010.  Mery returns to the bench, but with a promotion to a state judge.

At 1:00 pm in the Central Jury Room, Laura Salinas will be sworn in as Judge of the 166th District Court.  Like Mery, Salinas is also making a return and getting a promotion.  Also a County Court-at-Law judge, Salinas lost in the 2010 general election.

At 2:30 pm in the Central Jury Room, Ray Olivarri will be sworn in as Judge of the 399th District Court.  Olivarri rounds out our 3 former county court judges who made a return this year and got a promotion.

At 4:00 pm in the Central Jury Room, Rebeca Martinez will be sworn in as a Justice on the 4th Court of Appeals.

At 5:00 pm in the Central Jury Room, Luz Elena Chapa will be sworn in also as a Justice on the 4th Court of Appeals.

Both Chapa and Martinez, along with Patricia Alvarez (she is being sworn in, in Laredo) are part of the new Democratic majority on the 4th Court of Appeals.