State Rep. Ron Reynolds, convicted in 2015 on charges of barratry, has lost his appeal of that conviction.
A Texas appeals court has upheld the conviction of state Rep. Ron Reynolds, who was found guilty in 2015 of engaging in a scheme to illegally solicit potential clients for his law firm.
The three-judge appellate panel ruled Wednesday that there was sufficient evidence to convict Reynolds and that the trial judge did not violate any rules relating to the introduction of evidence.
The Missouri City Democrat was sentenced to one year in jail, but he has been out on an appeal bond since his November 2015 conviction.
Reynolds has served in the Texas House of Representatives since 2011. He was re-elected in 2016, months after his conviction on five misdemeanor charges of barratry, more commonly known as “ambulance chasing.”
If you recall, at the time of his conviction, his camp blamed it on…take a guess.
Another state lawmaker and attorney, Harold Dutton, is representing Reynolds in the appeal process. He said the criminal justice system has not been fair to his client.
“This is typical Conroe justice,” Dutton said, “And I don’t think I have to say anything else.”
Reynolds’ brother Omar went further.
“Every drop would spell racism in Conroe,” Omar said.
Eighth Court of Appeals Chief Justice Ann Crawford McClure said no, it wasn’t racism, it was the evidence presented to the jury that did you in, Rep. Reynolds. Reading the court’s opinion, it’s easy to see why his conviction was upheld.
Second, the payments here were required to be paid in cash. When Appellant paid the medical bills at the conclusion of a case, the payments were appropriately documented through a check. The documented payment allows the attorney to justify deductions from the total settlement sum for legitimate case expenses. By contrast, Appellant for the most part paid Robert in cash.
No payments were documented on any kind of client ledger in Appellant’s files as legitimate case expense. Added to this, the text messages used to set up pick-ups used coded language, such as “pick up some love” or “2 Kitty pick up” that the jury could consider in deciding if the parties had nefarious motives.
It seems like this case has been around forever. I think the first time we mentioned it was back in February, 2014.
Looks like justice might finally be coming to Rep. Ron Reynolds. Of course, he’ll appeal again but the odds are getting slimmer. Perhaps soon he’ll learn what it means to “pick up some love” in a completely different context.