Judicial Profile - Judge Scott Wisch, 372nd District Court

JUDICIAL PROFILE

By Perry Cockerell, Perry Cockerell, P.C.

Judge Scott Wisch, 372nd District Court

After graduating from Southwestern University with a degree in biology and chemistry, Judge Scott Wisch attended graduate school at UTHSCD, focusing on medical microbiology and immunology. Judge Scott Wisch could have been Dr. Scott Wisch, but after a year in graduate school, and later doing chemistry research at Dow Chemical, the future judge made a career change and applied to law school on a dare. When the University of Texas School of Law accepted him, he never looked back.

Wisch was born in West Columbia, Texas, a small town 55 miles southwest of Houston in Brazoria County, where Texas Highways 35 and 36 intersect. As a historian, Wisch mentioned that Columbia served briefly as the First Capitol of the Republic of Texas and was the site of the 1st Congress of the Republic of Texas in 1836. He and his sister Dea were raised by Bud and Annette Wisch. Bud worked for Phillips Petroleum for 40 years, and Annette was a registered nurse. They also raised cattle on family land nearby.

Wisch graduated from Columbia High School and from Southwestern University in Georgetown. After college he married his college sweetheart, Cheryl Lewis, at the Southwestern Chapel. During law school Wisch participated in the Prosecution Clinic with a practice bar card, allowing him to work in the Travis County District and County Attorney’s offices under supervision. He also did a Criminal Justice internship at the Austin Police. These two programs inspired his future course.

Wisch graduated from the University of Texas School of Law in December 1980, six months early. After he took the Texas Bar Exam in February 1981, District Attorney Tim Curry hired him to start work in the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office on April 1, 1981. Wisch learned from Curry’s leadership and remembers him saying, “You can’t always be right, but you can always try to do what’s right.” DA Curry encouraged lawyers to use good judgment and a decision, then move on to the next decision.

His first court assignment was in the 323rd District Court, the juvenile court, with Judge Scott D. Moore, namesake of the current Juvenile Justice Center. “There were no referees or associate judges in those days.” His first partner in the Juvenile Section was Sharen Wilson (now Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney).

His next rotations were in county criminal courts and later criminal district courts. While assigned to Criminal District Court No. 2 during a judicial appointment lawsuit with assigned retired Judge Charles Lindsey, he got his first inspiration to someday be a judge. “Judge Lindsey was a visiting judge who, after an honorable career, got to come back to the courthouse and see colleagues and contribute to the justice system, which I thought was pretty cool at the time and a definite plus for being on the bench as a regular judge someday.” He later realized that many of the judges he appeared before were providing him with valuable lessons.

During his rotation in the 297th Criminal District Court, Judge Charles Dickens told him: “Know the law and do your own research. Don’t just rely on the lawyers to tell you what it is.” Wisch said he “thought the world of Judge Dickens. He was a very bright and learned judge, and I learned a lot from my time in his court.”

“Under Judge Gordon Gray, I learned that there can be mediation in criminal law. If the prosecutor was offering 10 years and the defense was offering 5 years, Judge Gray would say, “If you are that close, what’s wrong with 7?.’ He could constructively and persuasively point out compromise, and he often get the two sides to talk to each other.”

Judge Louis Sturns “had the patience of Job, and I have strived to model that. He had a tone of dignity and calm in dealing with all. He, like my first misdemeanor court Judge Billy Mills, demonstrated the epitome of judicial temperment.”

By 1986 Wisch became Board Certified in Criminal Law and had served as Felony Chief for two years. In 1987, after six and a half years as a prosecutor, he left the District Attorney’s office and joined with Don Hase and Wes Ball to form the firm of Ball, Hase & Wisch in Arlington. He remained with the firm until assuming the bench.

In 1994 Judge Wisch had to make a tough decision. Republican Judge Pete Perez, elected in 1991, was the incumbent judge in the 372nd District Court. Wisch decided to challenge Judge Perez, and he informed the judge of his decision. Ultimately, Wisch won in the primary and later the general election and became the new judge on January 1, 1995. Perez never held his loss against Wisch.

After the election Judge Perez gave Judge Wisch a Norman Rockwell painting showing members of the jury deliberating and trying to convince one juror to change her mind. The painting is autographed by Judge Perez and says: “To Scott Wisch, a great friend, a great judge. Pete Perez (Ret.).” “Grace and dignity is how I describe Judge Perez,” Judge Wisch said. “He would sometimes come and visit and greet me at judicial conferences like I was one of his kids. The way he treated

me afterwards humbled me. One of my proudest possessions is the Norman Rockwell painting.”

Since taking the bench in 1995, Judge Wisch has only had one opponent run against him, a Democrat candidate in the 1998 election.

The judge tries 12 to 30 jury trials per year. He has had two death penalty cases go to verdict. Nothing has been tried during the Covid pandemic. A typical Monday docket day under Covid protocols, with other days doing pleas, sentencings, probation hearings, and First Offender Drug Program (FODP) proceedings as Supreme Court rules allow, until recently mostly by Zoom. In normal times, trials begin on Tuesdays.

Judge Wisch is the presiding judge of the felony First Offender Drug Program, which is designed to allow low level felony drug offenders with no record a chance to be diverted from prosecution. “We have been trendsetters in Tarrant County since before my arrival, with open files, mental health and veteran’s diversion programs, intensive DWI alcohol treatment programs (FAIP) and others that over the years. Many have been adopted by other counties, or actually codified into law” he said. His focus has always been on improving the Texas criminal justice system.

“Fix who you can, and jail the rest” (co-opted from Blue Bell Ice Cream’s “Eat what you can, and sell the rest”). “If I can keep a defendant productive in society and who poses no substantial risk to others, then that is my goal. I have to prioritize not only what is justice for a defendant, but also for society. For example, there are people who have serious medical or mental health problems that are undiagnosed, and they are self-medicating. There are some people who have no conscience. You can’t fix everyone, but when you can, you make the public safer and get taxpayers, vs a burden for taxpayers,” he said. “If it is not a violent crime and they are not presenting a danger to others, or self-destructive, then it is usually worth the risk. You have to take it on a case by case basis and let the facts control.”

Judge Wisch and his wife have two sons. g

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