Texas Judge Arson Case Comes Back To Life

THE STRANGE CASE OF THE TEXAS SUPREME COURT JUSTICE and his wife who were accused of burning down their house last June has taken a fresh turn.

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Medina house fire #2

Back in January Judge David Medina and his wife Francesca were indicted on arson charges related to the burning of their $1 million home in the Houston suburb of Spring, Texas.  At the time of the fire, they were suffering some severe financial problems that included:

• Losing the fire insurance on their home because of failure to pay the premiums.
• A $10,000 lien on the home for back taxes owed.
• Fighting off foreclosure proceedings because of missed payments by taking out equity loans at 16% interest from a shady mortgage company that was being investigated by the State.
• Failing to pay their homeowners association dues.

It was also the second time in ten years that they had a major house fire.  For the background story read the original Firegeezer report HERE.

The case became complicated because the Harris County District Attorney was a political crony of Judge Medina’s and the next day he threw out the indictments alleging a “lack of evidence.”  The D. A. himself was being investigated for unrelated illegal activities and was in the process of being run out of town at the time.

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Judge David Medina (KVUE)

The dismissal of the charges enraged the grand jury members who laid out the indictments and they took the unusual step of asking the court’s permission to go public with the facts of the case. (Firegeezer reports HERE and HERE.)

Since then, the D. A. has been replaced and a new grand jury has been seated.  Yesterday, Wednesday, the prosecuters re-indicted Francesca Medina and charged her with felony arson, felony criminal mischief and state jail felony criminal mischief.

The state jail charge carries punishment of up to two years. The arson and felony criminal mischief charges each are punishable by up to life in prison.

The Houston Chronicle has the complete DETAILS.