Judge leaves Jasper court to testify in Hemphill trial

Jasper County Judge Mark Allen was presiding at the third legal trial of his career when he had to order a recess so that he could testify at another trial.

In the Jasper trial, the jury eventually found Leona Fletcher guilty on two counts of resisting arrest. She was sentenced on each count to one year of jail probation to run concurrently, and she was also fined $2,000 and court costs and attorney fees.

But in the middle of all that, Allen was called to testify in the capital murder case of Rusty Horton of Hemphill. Allen was part of the criminal investigation of the murder of Fred Easter, a 78-year-old Bronson man found stabbed and burned in 2006.

"I think it's the first time in Texas history that a judge has been called from presiding over his own court to go to another county and testify in their court," Allen said.

In Hemphill, the Horton jury took less than two hours to return a verdict of guilty.