A decision on whether Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins should be held in contempt for refusing to testify during a criminal proceeding was delayed on July 15, after his lawyers won a ruling that the disciplinary order was not specific enough. Watkins also moved to recuse the judge who held him in contempt.
In March, Watkins refused to testify in a hearing before 204th District Court Judge Lena Levario, in which wealthy Dallas heir Albert G. Hill III sought to have several mortgage fraud indictments against him quashed. Hill alleged the criminal charges were the result of influence allegedly exerted on Watkins by Hill's former civil lawyer Lisa Blue Baron, with whom Hill has a multimillion-dollar attorney-fee dispute. Levario ultimately dismissed the charges against Hill. [See "State Judge Dismisses Fraud Indictments Against Albert G. Hill III, Holds Dallas DA Craig Watkins in Contempt" Texas Lawyer, March 8, 2013, page 1.]
