BREAKING NEWS: Nueces County sheriff confirms judge found dead at courthouse

caller,com ^ | 7/115/13 | Rhiannon Meyers, Katherine Rosenberg

[Nachum]

CORPUS CHRISTI — State District Judge Tom Greenwell was found dead from a gunshot wound Monday night in his chambers, Nueces County Sheriff Jim Kaelin confirmed.

Corpus Christi police, medics and Nueces County Sheriff's Office deputies responded about 7 p.m. to the courthouse after a report that a man was found with a gunshot wound to the head.The courthouse closed at 5 p.m.

It was unclear how a gun could have passed through security or been within the county building, equipped with security personnel and a metal detector. Attorneys, judges, and some media outlets who have courthouse identification badges typically aren't required to pass through the security checkpoint.

[Jet Jaguar]

Bump

[GeorgeWashingtonsGhost]

Ummmm, a security person did it? Check their bank accounts for a sudden spike in funds. Maybe they did it for Trayvon.

[annalex]

This kind of thing is becoming a pattern, is it not?

Lord God, rest the soul of Thy servant and comfort his family. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, amen.

[LuvFreeRepublic]

Bump for in the AM.

[bergmeid]

Was he anti abortion by any chance?

[A.A. Cunningham]

Greenwell was first elected District Judge of the 319th District Court in Nueces County in 2002, becoming the first Republican ever to win a county-wide judicial race in Nueces County. Greenwell was overwhelmingly re-elected to the Court in 2006, and was elected to his third term, without opposition, in 2010.

Judge Greenwell is a 1981 honors graduate of the University of Texas School of Law. Greenwell received his Bachelor of Arts degree, with a double major in journalism and political science, from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. in 1978. He served as a staff attorney on the 13th Court of Appeals beginning in 1981 and was chief of the Court’s legal staff from 1991 to 1996. Greenwell was in private practice from 1997 until his election to the District Court bench in 2002.

Judge Greenwell served two years as the Presiding Administrative District Judge of Nueces County. In addition to presiding over the 319th District Court, Greenwell currently presides over Nueces County’s newly created Veteran’s Court.

[Political Junkie Too]

I think it's the first time that it's a judge. It's been District Attorneys and the like before.

So what's Eric Holder going to do, now that it's a judge?

-PJ

[ClearCase_guy]

"And that's pretty much why I worked so hard to get Zimmerman convicted. They paid me a visit, and I made the smart choice."

[FoxInSocks]

I would presume suicide.

[wrench]

There was a judge and his court reporter killed in Atlanta about 5 years ago. They were shot in the court room.

[lightman]

Mental detectors beat metal detectors every time.

[gusopol3]

yep.

[mrsmith]

“...suicide”

Well I hope the mobsters that run the Dem party were more subtle than to shoot him in the back of the head and throw the gun like they did back in the Clinton days.

[JCBreckenridge]

“becoming the first Republican ever to win a county-wide judicial race in Nueces County”

Ohh, I wonder what Holder has planned now. ;)

[SeaHawkFan]

That would be my guess. Maybe he was close to being indicted for corruption.

Was he married?

[batterycommander]

He was recently involved in a disbarment proceeding of a lawyer. Maybe the other guy took revenge.

[null and void]

Celebrate?

[lonestar]

Could have been self-inflicted.

[VerySadAmerican]

For him to win in Nueces County he had to get a lot of Hispanic votes. That’s good.