A Travis County Court at Law judge has followed through on a threat to hold a local criminal defense attorney in contempt for his behavior during jury selection in a drunken driving trial last month.

Judge Nancy Hohengarten has filed a notice of allegation against attorney Adam Reposa, according to court records, which also reveal the case has been assigned to Judge Paul Davis, who sentenced Reposa to 90 days in jail in 2008 for contempt. In that case, Davis said Reposa "tarnished the dignity of the judicial process" for flicking his wrist to simulate masturbation in Judge Jan Breland’s court. (Reposa ended up serving about 10 days in jail after Davis cut his sentence short because Reposa’s girlfriend was about to give birth to a child.)

In the new contempt charge, Hohengarted cited five allegations against Reposa, stating that on March 27 the attorney disobeyed the judge’s orders to approach the bench, continued to question a potential juror when the judge was attempting to have a conference, and continued to question a potential juror after the judge instructed the person not to answer the question.

She also accuses Reposa, 42, of saying, within earshot of the jury panel, "I want to show the people how hard it is to get a fair trial in this court." Reposa admitted to that remark to the American-Statesman and offered, "it may have been loud enough for everyone to hear."

Reposa said he was trying to identify jurors who would not consider a punishment of zero days in jail for his client and that the judge did not approve of his approach.

The judge threatened to hold Reposa in contempt and sent the jury to the hallway. About 30 minutes later she declared a mistrial.

In the notice of allegation, Hohengarten also said Reposa spoke in a disrespectful tone when addressing her.

A hearing in the contempt case has not been scheduled. Former State district Judge Don Clemmer, now with the district attorney’s office, has been assigned as special prosecutor.