Federal judicial service
On April 22,1986,President Reagan nominated Hittner to succeed Judge George Edward Cire on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Hittner was confirmed by the U. S. Senate on June 6,1986,and he received his commission on June 9,1986. He assumed senior status on November 11,2004,and initially maintained a full-time caseload. In addition to his regular duties as a state and federal judge,Hittner became an expert in summary judgments,a teacher and a mentor. From 1981 until 2007,he conducted a continuing legal education program for state and federal court practitioners entitled "Saturday Morning in Court",with the focus on the critical minutiae of trial practice. The program prompted a laudatory note from Chief Justice Warren Burger,who recalled overseeing a similar project early in his legal career. [5] Hittner has been an adjunct professor at South Texas College of Law Houston. [6]
Notable cases
Racial Gerrymandering: Hittner was a member of a three-judge panel that held three of Texas' 30 Congressional districts,as drawn by the state legislature in 1990,were unconstitutional. They were drawn based on racial minority populations in an effort to influence election results. The panel's decision was twice affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court. [7]
The Sleeping Lawyer. In 1995,Hittner blocked the execution of death row inmate Calvin Burdine and ordered a new trial. Burdine's court-appointed counsel in state court had dozed off during significant parts of the proceedings. Hittner's decision was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit,and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the decision further. [8]
Houston City Hall Bribery Trials,1998–99. The jury deadlocked in the first trial,involving two city councilmen,two former city councilmen,a former port commissioner and a lobbyist. The second trial focused on one of the former city councilmen and the former port commissioner;both served prison terms after they were convicted of bribery and conspiracy. The third trial for the two city councilmen and the remaining former city councilman—charges against the lobbyist had been dismissed—also ended in a hung jury and mistrial. Prosecutors declined to try the case again. [9]
Cross Burning. In 2001,Hittner sentenced Matthew Marshall to 10 years in federal prison for leading a group that burned a cross in the front yard of an African-American family in the Houston suburb of Katy. [10]
Enron. In 2004,Hittner presided over criminal proceedings against former Enron assistant treasurer Lea Weingarten Fastow,the wife of Enron executive Andrew Fastow. She eventually pleaded guilty to filing a false federal tax return and served one year in federal prison. [11]
Financial Fraud. Hittner sentenced R. Allen Stanford to a total of 110 years in federal prison for orchestrating a 20-year investment fraud scheme. [12] Stanford,the former chairman of Stanford International Bank,was found guilty of misappropriating more than $7 billion from his bank and financial institutions to finance his personal business and lifestyle. During the six-week trial in 2012,Stanford was convicted on 13 of 14 counts of conspiracy,fraud,obstruction and money laundering. The jury also found that 29 financial accounts located abroad—worth approximately $330 million—were proceeds of Stanford's fraud and should be forfeited. [13] [14]
At the time,the Stanford trial was the largest financial fraud case ever tried to a jury in federal court. [15]
Sex Trafficking. In 2016,Hittner sentenced the organizer of a sex-trafficking ring that operated in Houston's East End to life in federal prison. Hortencia "Tencha" Medeles,then 70,was the leader of an international sex-trafficking ring that forced women,including minors,into prostitution. During the trial in 2015,jurors learned that Medeles owned a three-building complex in southeast Houston. Hidden doorways and staircases led from a downstairs cantina to a brothel upstairs where 17 rooms were rented out for sexual activities. Evidence presented in the case showed rooms were rented out 64,296 times during a 19-month period ending in 2013. [16]
Sandra Bland. In 2016,Hittner granted the agreed dismissal of a wrongful death civil rights lawsuit filed by the family of Sandra Bland,an African-American woman who died in a Texas county jail days after a traffic violation and controversial arrest. Her death was ruled a suicide. Following a judge-approved mediation,the lawyers representing Bland's family told Hittner that a legal settlement,$1.9 million,had resolved their claims. [17]
Drag Ban. In 2023,Hittner ruled that Texas Senate Bill 12,legislation that criminalized drag performances in the presence of minors,was unconstitutional on five counts. He issued a permanent injunction against SB12. [18] [19]
