Galveston judge indicted on 8 criminal counts Charges closely followed by civil lawsuit seeking Christopher Dupuy's removal from office

County Court No. 3 Judge Christopher DuPuy County Court No. 3 Judge Christopher DuPuy Photo: handout Photo: handout Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Galveston judge indicted on 8 criminal counts 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

GALVESTON - A Galveston County judge has been indicted on eight criminal counts charging him with abuse of office, including retaliation against the attorney representing the judge's wife in a divorce case.

The indictments, presented to state District Judge Kerry Neves by attorneys from the Texas Attorney General's Office on Wednesday, accuse County-Court-at-Law Judge Christopher Dupuy of two felony counts of obstruction or retaliation, two misdemeanor counts of official oppression and four misdemeanor counts of abuse of official capacity. If convicted on any count, Dupuy would be automatically removed from office.

He was arrested about 3 p.m. and posted bail of $19,000 about two hours later, Galveston County sheriff's spokesman Major Ray Tuttoilmondo said.

Dupuy could not be reached for comment and a spokesman for the attorney general declined to discuss the case.

The indictments offer few details, but they were presented only hours after a Galveston County attorney filed a civil lawsuit seeking the judge's removal from office. The petition for removal accuses Dupuy of failing to obey an order from a state appeals court, abusing his authority by retaliating against attorneys and threatening the district clerk while attempting to interfere in Dupuy's own divorce case.

'Ruined dozens of lives'

The lawsuit accuses Dupuy of incompetence and official oppression and asks that he be removed from office while the case is pending.

"He has ruined dozens of lives over the last two years with ridicules, horrible rulings he has made," said attorney Greg Hughes, who filed the petition for removal at 10 a.m. in Neves's court.

The civil case also will be handled by the Attorney General's Office. A spokesman for Attorney General Greg Abbott said in an email, "The petition for removal was filed today and is public. We can provide no other comment."

Also Wednesday, Dupuy's former wife, Adrienne Viterna, filed for an emergency protective order following an affidavit taken Monday from Dupuy's former fiance'e stating that the judge intended to kill Viterna and flee with their two children to New Zealand. Tara Compton is scheduled to testify Friday about her accusations in a hearing on the protective order.

One of the official oppression indictments accuses him of using his office to oppress attorney Lori Laird, who represents Viterna in a custody battle over their children. Laird said Dupuy retaliated against her when she tried to record his testimony during a deposition. After refusing to give the deposition, Laird said, Dupuy drove to the courthouse and drew up a contempt-of-court order against her.

"He held me in criminal contempt and gave me 120 days in jail," Laird said. Laird appealed and the appeals court overturned the contempt order.

Official oppression

The indictments also accused Dupuy of official oppression against attorney Suzanne Schwab-Radcliffe; abuse of official capacity against Laird, Schwab-Radcliffe and attorney Greg Enos; abuse of official capacity by using a county fax machine to send legal documents on behalf of his fiance'e; and obstruction or retaliation against Laird and Enos.

The law provides that the civil case be filed by a county resident and that the county attorney prosecute the case, but Galveston County has no county attorney so the duty fell to District Attorney Jack Roady. He recused himself to avoid a conflict of interest because his office has hundreds of cases pending in Dupuy's Court. He recused himself from the criminal investigation in February for the same reason.

Show-cause hearing

Neves appointed the Attorney General's Office to handle the case. Two assistant attorneys general were present in the courtroom.

Hughes said the AG's Office helped write the lawsuit in expectation that its attorneys would handle the case.

Attorney general spokesman Tom Kelley estimated that the agency has undertaken two similar civil cases in the past using the same section of the law.

Neves will be replaced by an out-of-county judge to avoid any appearance of impropriety, Hughes said.

A show-cause hearing will be scheduled for June 7 during which Dupuy may argue why he should not be removed.