The Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct has issued a “public reprimand” against the Burnet County judge, after a probe into his alleged interactions with a justice of the peace.
Pct. 2 Justice of the Peace Lisa Whitehead submitted a complaint to the commission, which concluded its review of the complaint on Oct. 3. The reprimand was issued following Oakley’s appearance Dec. 3 before the commission to provide responses to the allegations.
The primary concern from Whitehead involved safety in a room which served as her courtroom in the Burnet County Courthouse in Burnet.
On the issue of court security the document stated that:
• “On November 4, 2022, the next day, Judge Oakley had maintenance staff for the Courthouse removed and/or deactivate the locking mechanism on Judge Whitehead’s courtroom door. Judge Whitehead continued to close the courtroom door even though she could no longer lock it.”
• “When Judge Whitehead could not find a
workable option with Judge Oakley, she raised concerns to the Court Security Division of the Office of Court Administration for the State of Texas (“OCA”), who agreed to have its staff evaluate
and assess her security concerns.”
Upon request, Oakley offered the following statement in connection with the security concern.
“The small downstairs original courtroom referred to in the report has historically served as a multipurpose room as needed by departments and the public when court is not in session,” he told The Highlander. “Currently, when the upstairs courtroom has full dockets, there is little space in the halls and foyer for attorneys to meet with clients.
“For decades, this first floor room would be used by lawyers with clients and even used as a voting location until 2020.
It is inefficient to make precious square footage off- limits to the public and taxpayers when not in official use,” he added. “My attempts to keep this room open were in response to complaints to me about its unavailability. Fortunately, we recently acquired the old Burnet elementary school which will provide office meeting room space to accommodate our growing population’s needs.”
In the state’s document, he told commissioners: “[I]n retrospect, he might have handled the security issues differently but considered that room to be a public room and not a courtroom even though the blueprints for the Burnet County Historic Courthouse designated Judge Whitehead’s courtroom as a courtroom.”
Another complaint by Whitehead involved accusations of sexual harassment from alleged incidents in 2023.
Whitehead accused Oakley of sexually harassing her and creating an alleged “hostile work environment.”
According to the public reprimand, Whitehead contended that:
• “Judge Oakley similarly rubbed Judge Whitehead’s leg when he was sitting by her with the Burnet County contingent at the Texas capitol in the House Chambers gallery and made a comment showing his physical contact was intentional and not inadvertent;”
• “In another instance, Judge Oakley was sitting at a table by Judge Whitehead at a Burnet community event and started rubbing her leg, saying, ‘nice boots.’”
• “Judge Whitehead reported other incidents of harassment, including Judge Oakley elbowing her on one instance in her office while commenting on the office carpet, asking her, ‘so have you and Eddie broken it in yet?’ Eddie is Judge Whitehead’s husband.”
Oakley refuted the harassment allegations: “The harassment claims are completely unfounded,” he told The Highlander. “These fabrications from years ago were unbeknownst to me until this recent weaponizing of the Judicial Conduct Commission’s complaint process.”
Another facet of Whitehead’s complaint alleged that he had an ally in the human resources department.
Oakley stated: “Separately, I condemn the attack on the integrity of Ms. Luther’s character. As clearly documented in publicly available records, she went through a hiring process done by a committee that did not include me.”
The commission’s finding resulted in the public reprimand, which served as a warning based on the canons of state law for judges.
The judicial conduct commission concluded:
• (1) his failure to comply with law and maintain professional competence in the law regarding the court security for Judge Whitehead’s courtroom;
• (2) his failure to be patient, dignified and courteous when he sexually harassed Judge Whitehead and created a hostile work environment; and
• (3) his failure to perform his judicial duties without bias or prejudice and/or manifested bias or prejudice towards Judge Whitehead through his words and conduct and his pattern of sexual harassment towards other women in Burnet County. Judge Oakley’s failure in these respects constituted willful or persistent conduct that is clearly inconsistent with the proper performance of his duties and cast public discredit upon the judiciary or the administration of justice in violation of Canons 2A, 3B(2), 3B(4), 3B(5), and 3B(6) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct and Article V, Section 1-a(6)A of the Texas Constitution.
The Highlander reached out to Whitehead for comments. She was unavailable by deadline on Dec. 12.
Oakley explained he had hoped the judicial conduct commission would have included more of his statements in their conclusion.
“I am continuously humbled and honored to be elected to serve the citizens of Burnet County,” Oakley stated.
“These false and misleading allegations are unsubstantiated.
“I provided information refuting the claims which was not considered and included in the findings,” he added. “This act is yet another page from the “Lawfare” playbook being used against me from within political circles. We as elected officials should be focusing on serving the needs of the public.”
