Judge who signed search warrants for attorney's office recused from murder case

Via Grits and Tex Parte Blog, Collin County District Judge Mark Rusch has been recused from hearing a capital murder case, after signing search warrants for defense attorney Keith Gore's office.

Despite a hearing being scheduled to determine whether the prosecution was entitled to the items they sought, the prosecution sought and obtained a search warrant from Judge Rusch to enter Gore's office and search for a pair of boots and letters that the defendant had written to his wife. The boots were not found in the office, but the letters were taken by the police. From Tex Parte:

The boots were not found, according to a motion the DA’s office filed in the case, but letters and a shoe box were. “We’re pleased with it, and we think it vindicates what we’ve been saying all along: that Keith Gore did absolutely nothing wrong,” Miears says. “And we’re disappointed that the Collin County DA’s Office would put a district judge in the position of having to issue an illegal search warrant of a lawyer’s office.” Collin County assistant district attorney John Rolater, who represented his office during the recusal hearing, declines comment.