We recommend in the race for Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Place 8

Texans have a clear choice in the race for Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Place 8. They should elect state District Judge Chika Anyiam, a Democrat who has capably presided over a Dallas County felony court for nearly six years.
Anyiam, 57, judge of Criminal District Court 7, said the state’s highest criminal appeals court is no place for politics and should remain independent of influence from other branches of government. She said the court also takes too long to decide cases, a problem she’d work to help alleviate. We agree on both counts.
Her opponent is Republican Collin County defense lawyer Lee Finley, 54, who has no judicial experience but who unseated incumbent Judge Michelle Slaughter in the March primary. Slaughter was among those on the all-Republican court who voted 8-1 against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a 2021 ruling limiting his ability to prosecute voter fraud cases. Paxton openly targeted Slaughter and two other judges who were up for re-election. All three were defeated in the primary.
Finley, a former Marine, did not participate in our recommendation process for the general election. But in the primary he described his politics as “extremely right” and said the Paxton ruling was a key reason for his candidacy. That shows he may be more interested in pleasing political allies than ruling according to the law.
Get smart opinions on the topics North Texans care about.
Or with:
By signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
In choosing not to recommend Finley in the primary, we also cited a September 2023 Facebook post in which he wrote he was “officially coming out as CISHET,” referring to heterosexuals who identify as their birth gender. Politics aside, that kind of snarky comment indicates a lack of proper judicial temperament and impartiality.
By contrast, in our interview Anyiam displayed the kind of thoughtful presence we like to see on the bench. That was particularly obvious when we asked about a 2022 decision to lower a murder suspect’s bail, triggering public backlash that led to her recusing herself from the man’s cases.
Anyiam told us she made her decision after a lengthy hearing in which the defendant argued that the original bail amount was too high and prosecutors did not meet their burden to refute that. She said she later restored the man’s high bail after reviewing the case record following the backlash. She said she then recused herself to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest after her impartiality was questioned because the man’s lawyer was a campaign donor, though she told us campaign contributions didn’t influence the bail decisions. We appreciated her candor.
Anyiam received a 73% overall approval rating from lawyers who practiced before her in the Dallas Bar Association’s 2023 Judicial Evaluation Poll. She scored even higher, 78%, when respondents were asked if she demonstrated “a proper judicial temperament and demeanor.” She also has a strong case disposition rate, and is not among those felony judges whom we’ve blamed in recent years for case backlogs.
Anyiam is the far more qualified and capable candidate for Texas Criminal Court of Appeals Place 8.
We welcome your thoughts in a letter to the editor. See the guidelines and submit your letter here. If you have problems with the form, you can submit via email at [email protected]