CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — District Judge Inna Klein was removed from a case Thursday involving a teacher pleading guilty to having an improper relationship with a student.
Senior Judge Rogelio Valdez granted Amber Prince's attorney's request to have Klein removed from the case in a hearing on Thursday. Prince is a former London ISD teacher that pled guilty to 10 counts of having an improper relationship with one of her students.
Prince's attorney, Terry Shamsie, called Klein's impartiality into question after it was reported she watched the jury deliberate in another trial. Klein recused herself from the punishment of that trial, which involved a man accused of murder.
According to the Nueces County District Attorney's Office, Judge Inna Klein and her staff watched the deliberations, which are supposed to be secret. No one is allowed in the room when jurors are deliberating.
The jurors were deliberating in the courtroom rather than the jury room because of COVID-19 distancing requirements. District Attorney Angelica Hernandez said Klein and others -- including the prosecutor and defense attorney -- watched them on the judge's courtroom video camera.
"We have confirmed it. Our office has confirmed it through our assistant district attorneys who were present while it was happening," Hernandez said. "The broadcasting of visual jury deliberations is just a violation of the most fundamental aspect of our criminal judicial system, which requires secrecy. The jury is supposed to be protected."
There may be more fallout from these accusations but for now, a new judge will be put into place to review the Prince case after Klein's removal.
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