Dallas County DA John Creuzot Seeks Contempt Case Dismissal After Being Accused Of Violating Gag Order
UPDATE: Contempt Of Court Case Against Dallas County DA John Creuzot Dismissed
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) — Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot is seeking his contempt of court case to be dismissed following accusations that he violated a gag order in the murder trial of Amber Guyger.
Creuzot was accused of violating the gag order Dallas County Judge Tammy Kemp issued for the murder trial of former Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger.
Guyger stood on trial in October for the fatal shooting of Botham Jean in 2018. She was convicted of his murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison. She will first be eligible for parole in five years.
Kemp ordered a show cause hearing for Creuzot to explain why he was not in contempt of the gag order and why he should not be sent to jail over comments he made about the trial to Fox 4-TV prior to its start.
In the order, Kemp said the interview was a "direct violation" of the gag order she set in place to prevent Creuzot from publicly speaking about the case.
However, Creuzot's attorney Brian Wice said Kemp issued the order "not because [Creuzot] even came close to violating her... but because [Kemp] was offended by his brief, benign and non-prejudicial comments to Fox 4-TV about the Amber Guyger trial. Period."
The underlying narrative in this contempt matter — what it is and will always be about — is Respondent's [Kemp's] insistence on issuing a show cause order against Judge Creuzot, not because he even came close to violating her sua sponte void unconstitutional gag order, but because Respondent [Kemp] was offended by his brief, benign, and non-prejudicial comments to Fox 4-TV about the Amber Guyger trial. Period. But whether Judge Creuzot's comments offended Respondent [Kemp] is most assuredly not the test this Court is obligated to employ in determining if he is guilty of contempt of court.
Ellis County District Attorney Patrick Wilson has since been appointed to serve as the special prosecutor in the case against Creuzot.
At this time, no date has been set for the hearing.