A district judge has recused herself from a contempt hearing for two Houston prosecutors. State District Jude Susan Brown recused herself at a hearing on Monday dealing with allegations that the Harris County district attorney’s office violated a court order by obtaining secret testimony from a grand jury investigation into the DA’s office. Two assistant district attorneys and two court reporters had been summoned to Brown’s court. They were asked to show why they shouldn’t be held in contempt.
Joe Paterno, college football’s oldest, winningest and perhaps most revered coach, was enveloped in a growing furor over the alleged cover-up of a sex abuse scandal at Penn State University.
A doctor who retaliated against two nurses now faces two months in jail and five years of probation after pleading guilty to two felony charges. Dr. Rolando Arafiles Jr. pleaded guilty to retaliation and misuse of official information as a part of a plea agreement, which will also cause him to surrender his medical license. Arafiles caused the firing of nurses Anne Mitchell and Vickilyn Galle after they filed an anonymous complaint with the medical board in 2009. Both nurses were indicted and faced 10 years in prison. Mitchell was acquitted and charges were dropped against Galle.
