mrsat_98
12-29-2013, 01:45 AM
DALLAS (AP) — A Dallas-based state district judge is free on bond after being arrested on charges he dragged his girlfriend by the hair, choked her and held her against a balcony's edge.
Carlos Raul Cortez, a civil court judge since 2006, was released on $15,000 bond after his arrest Saturday on assault and family violence charges.
Police reports say a 26-year-old woman told police the disturbance at his Dallas apartment began with a fight over medication belonging to a juvenile living there. Police reported seeing red marks on the woman's neck.
A home phone number for the Cortez, a Democrat, could not be located.
In September, Cortez received a Medal of Friendship from the Mongolian government for his involvement in a smuggling case where a dinosaur skeleton sale was halted.
http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/texas/article/Dallas-County-judge-arrested-in-assault-5098542.php
Update, 10:22 a.m.: Another police report gives a narrative of the arrest. It says that Cortez choked his 26-year-old girlfriend several times and, at one point, held her over the balcony of his Uptown apartment.
Carlos Cortez
Police were called to the apartment on McKinney Avenue just after 2 a.m. Saturday for a report of a disturbance. Cortez and his girlfriend met officers in the lobby. The girlfriend told police that they had been in an argument “over the location of medication belonging to [a] juvenile male witness,” the report says.
Police separated Cortez and his girlfriend, and the girlfriend immediately showed police a series of red marks on her neck, the report says. She said that she and Cortez had been drinking alcohol for several hours and got into an an argument. She told police that Cortez walked up to her while she was sitting on a couch, grabbed her by the hair and throat and choked her, according to the report.
“[The girlfriend] stated that [Cortez] choked her several times over the course of 15 minutes and at one point dragged her by her hair over to the balcony, leaned her over the edge and choked her for approximately 15 seconds straight,” the report says.
The woman told police that he said he was going to kill her. All of this happened in front of a juvenile, the woman told police.
Original: A Dallas County state district judge who has been the focus of a long court battle to keep potentially damaging details of his personal life private was arrested Saturday morning on an assault charge.
Carlos Raul Cortez, 44, was detained at 2 a.m., according to a Dallas Police Department arrest report. The report doesn’t list any details, other than that the case involves assault, family violence and “strangulation.” There is no information about the victim or the circumstances of the case.
The charge against Cortez, a civil court judge, is a third degree felony, which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Cortez, a Democrat, was first elected in 2006. He is up for re-election next year.
He filed a defamation suit against Dallas lawyer Randy Johnston in 2010 and has since spent more than $100,000 of campaign funds trying to keep some details of the suit sealed. The Dallas Morning News has previously reported that some of the documents seem to pertain to the use of drugs and prostitutes. Cortez denies them, the News reported.
http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2013/12/district-judge-arrested-on-assault-charge-police-report-says.html/
Carlos Raul Cortez, a civil court judge since 2006, was released on $15,000 bond after his arrest Saturday on assault and family violence charges.
Police reports say a 26-year-old woman told police the disturbance at his Dallas apartment began with a fight over medication belonging to a juvenile living there. Police reported seeing red marks on the woman's neck.
A home phone number for the Cortez, a Democrat, could not be located.
In September, Cortez received a Medal of Friendship from the Mongolian government for his involvement in a smuggling case where a dinosaur skeleton sale was halted.
http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/texas/article/Dallas-County-judge-arrested-in-assault-5098542.php
Update, 10:22 a.m.: Another police report gives a narrative of the arrest. It says that Cortez choked his 26-year-old girlfriend several times and, at one point, held her over the balcony of his Uptown apartment.
Carlos Cortez
Police were called to the apartment on McKinney Avenue just after 2 a.m. Saturday for a report of a disturbance. Cortez and his girlfriend met officers in the lobby. The girlfriend told police that they had been in an argument “over the location of medication belonging to [a] juvenile male witness,” the report says.
Police separated Cortez and his girlfriend, and the girlfriend immediately showed police a series of red marks on her neck, the report says. She said that she and Cortez had been drinking alcohol for several hours and got into an an argument. She told police that Cortez walked up to her while she was sitting on a couch, grabbed her by the hair and throat and choked her, according to the report.
“[The girlfriend] stated that [Cortez] choked her several times over the course of 15 minutes and at one point dragged her by her hair over to the balcony, leaned her over the edge and choked her for approximately 15 seconds straight,” the report says.
The woman told police that he said he was going to kill her. All of this happened in front of a juvenile, the woman told police.
Original: A Dallas County state district judge who has been the focus of a long court battle to keep potentially damaging details of his personal life private was arrested Saturday morning on an assault charge.
Carlos Raul Cortez, 44, was detained at 2 a.m., according to a Dallas Police Department arrest report. The report doesn’t list any details, other than that the case involves assault, family violence and “strangulation.” There is no information about the victim or the circumstances of the case.
The charge against Cortez, a civil court judge, is a third degree felony, which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Cortez, a Democrat, was first elected in 2006. He is up for re-election next year.
He filed a defamation suit against Dallas lawyer Randy Johnston in 2010 and has since spent more than $100,000 of campaign funds trying to keep some details of the suit sealed. The Dallas Morning News has previously reported that some of the documents seem to pertain to the use of drugs and prostitutes. Cortez denies them, the News reported.
http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2013/12/district-judge-arrested-on-assault-charge-police-report-says.html/