David Peeples

Homer David Peeples, known as David Peeples (born 1945), is the Republican presiding judge of the 4th Administrative Judicial Region, a twenty-two county area in and about San Antonio, Texas. Peeples has served on the court since 1996. Earlier, he practiced law and was a judge of two state district courts and the Texas Court of Appeals for the 4th District.^[2]

Biography

Peeples was born in Tarrant County.^[3] He earned a bachelor's degree from the private Austin College in Sherman in North Texas, a master's degree in Government from the University of Texas, and a law degree from the University of Texas School of Law, both institutions in the capital city of Austin. He is highly active in the local and state bar associations. He is a founder and past board member of the Child Advocates San Antonio and formerly served on the board of the child care center of the First Presbyterian Church of San Antonio. He is a volunteer for his local Habitat for Humanity chapter.^[2]

Peeples and his wife, the former Emily Austin Bullock (born c. 1947), have a son, David Armstrong, and two daughters, Rebekah Austin and Anne Haydon. They have a second home in Allenspark in Boulder County, Colorado.^[4] Judge Peeples engaged in the practice of law during the 1970s with several firms, including Fulbright and Jaworski in Houston. In 1981, he was appointed by Governor Bill Clements to the 285th District Court. In 1982, Peeples and three other Republicans, Tom Rickhoff, Roy Barrera, Jr., and David Berchelmann, were elected to state court judgeships in Bexar County. They are the first members of their party to hold such judicial positions.^[5] Peeples thereafter joined the state Court of Appeals for the 4th District in 1988 and remained in that capacity until 1994.^[2] From 1993 to 2001, Rickhoff served on the appeals court, which encompasses thirty-two parishes in and about San Antonio.^[6]

In 1994, Peeples stepped down from the court of appeals upon his election to the 224th Judicial District. He defeated the Democrat Shirley Ehrlich, 138,198 (57 percent) to 104,307 (43 percent).^[7] A legal colleague, Alex Wilson Albright of Austin, said that Peeples preferred serving on the district court to the appeals court: "He likes being there with the people, trying to solve problems."^[8] He left the district court for the second time in 2004 but still is presiding judge of the 4th Administrative Judicial Region.^[9]

In 2014, Judge Peeples became involved in affairs of the Webb County Commissioner's Court in South Texas when one of its commissioners, Mike Montemayor, was forced from office because of bribery. He appointed a temporary commissioner pending the holding of a special election.^[10] Montemayor resigned on June 20, 2014, after less than a year and a half in office. He pleaded guilty the day before his resignation in a plea bargain to accepting about $11,000 in cash and $2,700 in electronics from a businessman who, unbeknownst to Montemayor, was an undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation agent.^[11]

Former state District Judge Scott McCown of Travis County, a Democrat, described Peeples as "a conservative guy. That's his reputation. But he’s fair, and he’s a judge that applies the law. He’s not driven by an ideology."^[9]Nathan Hecht, Republican chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court, described Peeples as a judicial "gold standard ... who is above reproach."^[9]

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