Texas County Defeats Clerk’s Suit Over Alleged Assaults by Judge

A former criminal clerk in Burleson County, Texas, who says she was sexually assaulted multiple times by the former county judge lacks a civil rights claim against the county, a federal judge in Austin ruled.

That’s because Jane Doe AW can’t prove Mike Sutherland was a final policy maker for the county when he served as judge, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas said.

Sutherland resigned to avoid disciplinary action under an agreement with the state Commission on Judicial Conduct and he subsequently reached a private settlement with Doe ending her claims against him in the ...