District Judge - 433rd Judicial District (Comal County) - Dib Waldrip
The Texas Patriots PAC recommends Dib Waldrip for Judge of the 433th District Court
Justice in the large urban areas of Texas, which voted strongly Democratic in 2018, is suffering due to the wholesale turnover of experienced Republican judges after the election that year. This resulted in a large number of inexperienced, unqualified judges on the bench in Texas’ large cities. Unexperienced judges who don’t know the law and procedures make many mistakes that lead to appeals, sometimes rely on conflicted trial attorneys to teach them, and often fail to deliver fair, efficient and timely justice. Justice delayed is justice denied.
Comal County was blessed not to have impacted by this judicial turnover and continued with experienced Republican judges after the 2018 election. It would be imprudent to throw out these good judges in March 2020 and risk bringing to Comal County the same judicial travesty Texas’ larger districts have witness the last few years.
Dib Waldrip is currently Judge of the 433rd District Court in Comal County. Approximately half the case in this court are criminal; the area of law critical to keeping us all safe and which has the most impact on the defendant who has liberty and/or life at stake. Judge Waldrip’s opponent has no significant criminal law experience; so we have no idea how he would handle these difficult cases, especially where life is involved. Judge Waldrip has dedicated his career to criminal law; serving 10 years as a police officer in New Braunfels, working as briefing attorney and staff counsel to two different judges on the Texas Courts of Appeal and serving 10 years as the District Attorney in Comal County before assuming his current position of District Judge where he has served for 11 years. As District Judge, he has conducted more than 100 felony trials. Judge Waldrip has done an exemplary job of dispensing timely justice and keeping us all safer.
The quality of Judge Waldrip’s work is recognized outside of Comal County. He recently served as president of the Texas Association of District Courts, served on the State Bar’s Section of the Judiciary – Legislative Committee and is now serving the Texas Office of Court Administration’s Judicial Needs Assessment Committee. Judge Waldrip has been board-certified in Criminal Law since 1995.
Judge Waldrip has been innovative in his efforts to improve the criminal justice system in Texas. Typically in Texas, counsel for indigent defendants is appointed from a rotating list of lawyers approved to do this kind of work. Indigent defendants are given no choice in who represents them and the quality of the representation depends on the “luck of the draw.” In 2015, Judge Waldrip implemented a free market approach for selecting indigent counsel in Comal County. Rather than having their lawyers appointed just because it is their turn, indigent defendants are allowed to choose their lawyer from a list of approved defense counsel. Since word spreads quickly among defendants about which lawyers are the best, lawyers must earn appointments by developing a reputation for effective representation. This system respects the defendants by giving them more control in who will represent them and provides these defendants more parity with defendants of means. A study by the Justice Management Institute of this program found better case outcomes for indigent clients who chose their own attorneys. Better defense work means fewer mistakes, and fewer wrongful conviction lawsuits that will be borne by taxpayers.
The Texas Patriots PAC knows of no reason why voters in Comal County should be anything but proud and blessed to have such a judge like Dib Waldrip serving on the bench of the 433rd District Court.