Lubbock County Court at Law 2 judge race heads into runoff - LubbockOnline.com

The race for the next judge presiding over Lubbock County Court at Law 2 will be decided in the May 7 runoff election between Tom Brummett and Bob Nebb.

Neither candidate garnered at least 50 percent plus one of the 23,845 votes cast to secure the position in the March 1 Republican Primary election. The winner of the race will run uncontested in the November general election.

Though both expected the outcome in the three-way race, which ended with Brummett getting about 43 percent of the vote, Nebb had 41 percent and Chris Wanner getting 16 percent.

"I'm glad for the outcome," Nebb said. "I'm glad I've proceeded to the knockout round. Now it's time to retool and re-arm."

Brummett said any race with three or more candidates usually results in a runoff.

"Obviously we're very happy to be in the runoff and then live to fight another day but we knew from the beginning, this was likely to be a two-step process," he said.

The court up for election is one of three statutory county courts at law in Lubbock and handles misdemeanor criminal and family law cases. Incumbent Drue Farmer did not seek re-election.

Brummett, who has worked at the Lubbock County District Attorney's Office for nearly 20 years, said his experience in criminal law prepared him for the responsibility of the bench.

"This is something that I had way back when I went to law school," he said. "... That's kind of what I've been working for the past 19 years. but that's always been the end goal at the end of the tunnel."

Nebb, who has practiced law for more than 32 years, said his motivation for seeking office is lifetime of service to people.

"I have been a servant my whole life," he said. "Since cub scouts, since I started working at 12 years old when my daddy dropped dead, since boy scouts, church, family, community and clients. I've been serving my whole life and now I believe I'm called to serve all of Lubbock County through the court."

Both candidates say the work in the weeks ahead will be to encourage the same people who voted for them to do it again,

The two candidates differ in their approaches to the court.

Brummett, who has worked as a prosecutor for most of his career said the court requires a judge with experience in criminal cases.

Nebb said the court needs a judge more familiar with family law cases.

"A criminal judge calls balls and strikes," he said. "A family judge decides who the kids live with, how much child support gets paid, how the assets are divided, alimony of spousal maintenance. Those are decided by the judge."

Though both candidates agree that criminal cases take up the court's docket, Nebb said criminal cases typically result in plea deals hammered out between a defendant's lawyer and the district attorney's office.

"If you look at the cases the sheer numbers of cases filed in the courts are criminal cases, the sheer numbers of cases actually tried are family cases," he said.

Brummett said though the majority of filed civil cases in the court have a higher trial rate than criminal cases, criminal trials still outnumber civil cases.

"If you look at family law cases, more of them go to trial than criminal law cases that go to trial but you're talking about percentages, not numbers," he said. "The number of criminal cases, that are on County Court at Law #2's docket, is still far more than family."

It is true: the vast majority of criminal cases are worked out via plea agreement. We do try cases but there are so much more that even though the percentage may be less, the number of trials is still more than family law.

He said the incoming judge in the court will also face the backlog of criminal cases held off because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which halted criminal trials for about a year.

"I've seen the dockets they are plenty full," he said.

source: https://www.lubbockonline.com/story/news/local/2022/03/28/brummett-nebb-head-into-runoff-lubbock-county-court-law-2-race/7036948001/

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