On Monday, October 20, 2025, the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct issued a public warning to Lori Gray, judge of the 262nd District Court in Houston, Harris County, for failing to comply with the law and maintain professional competence.

The case is entitled “In the Matter of Judge Lori Gray,” with case number 25-0123.

The commission’s decision, stemming from a review concluded on August 6-7, 2025, centers on Judge Gray’s handling of a post-conviction writ of habeas corpus filed by Walter Hinton, Jr., who was convicted of murder in 2013 and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Hinton filed an Application for Writ of Habeas Corpus in October 2015, followed by an amended application in February 2016, alleging ineffective assistance of counsel. The Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas remanded Hinton’s Habeas Application on June 27, 2018, ordering the trial court to make findings of fact and conclusions of law within 90 days regarding the performance of Hinton’s trial and appellate counsel.

Initially, Judge Denise Bradley, the presiding judge before Judge Gray, issued an order on July 11, 2018, requiring Hinton’s trial counsels, Tara Long, Charles Brown, and Sonya Chandler-Anderson, and appellate counsel, Kurt Wentz, to submit affidavits concerning their representation. Judge Gray assumed her position on January 1, 2019, while the Habeas Application remained pending.

A Motion to Compel Responses for Affidavits was filed in April 2019, prompting the attorneys to respond to the 2018 order. Affidavits were eventually filed by Wentz in July 2019, Long in November 2019, and Brown in November 2019. However, the record lacked an affidavit from Chandler-Anderson.

The Court of Criminal Appeals sent reminders to Judge Gray in December 2020 and August 2021 regarding the overdue findings of fact and conclusions of law. While the Harris County District Clerk filed a supplemental record with the Court of Criminal Appeals on August 10, 2021, Judge Gray requested an extension on August 16, 2021, citing Hinton’s newly appointed counsel’s need to review a forensic DNA testing claim. The court granted a 30-day extension.

Another extension was requested on October 12, 2021, due to counsel’s medical appointments and scheduling conflicts, which the Court of Criminal Appeals granted but stipulated no further extensions would be permitted. Despite this, Judge Gray requested a 60-day extension on August 3, 2022, which was denied.

On February 22, 2023, the Court of Criminal Appeals issued a Show Cause Order, demanding Judge Gray explain why she should not be held in contempt for failing to comply with the remand order. The following day, Judge Gray signed the Proposed Findings and Conclusions, which had been on file since September 27, 2021.

In response to the Show Cause Order, Judge Gray submitted a sworn affidavit on March 15, 2023, citing factors such as the time it took her to familiarize herself with the case, requests from attorneys for extensions, misfiling of documents, and the lack of a tracking system for writs, exacerbated by COVID-19-related backlogs.

The Commission found that Judge Gray’s failure to meet the deadlines set by the Court of Criminal Appeals violated Canons 2A and 3B(2) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct, which require judges to comply with the law and maintain professional competence.

Ken Wise, Vice-Chair of the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, signed the public warning.

A copy of the original filing can be found here.