The Crazy Judge
It’s nuts how far Waller County has gone to protect the secrets of its biggest developer. A blanket of secrecy in the divorce case of NewQuest’s co-founder. And wait till you see what just happened in our fight with THE CRAZY JUDGE that was hearing the case.
The Crazy Judge
“So, who would like to begin today?”
“I have a couple of things that I’d like to get off my chest.”
When I first watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest back in college days, I thought it was a pretty simple plot.
“I want my cigarettes, I want mine…”
Some crazy guys in a mental hospital.
“Apparently I wasn’t a deep thinker back then. I read the author of the Cuckoo’s Nest book said there was a much deeper meaning,” Wayne Dolcefino told the camera.
The mental patients’ rebellion against Nurse Ratched was symbolic of a greater fight for freedom, freedom from oppression, tyranny.
It’s kind of like our legal fight in Waller County. The unparalleled secrecy being awarded to the most expensive divorce case in the entire state.
“Why are you depriving a jury a chance to do this? Why are you keeping secrets from us, Judge? You think that’s right? You think that’s what the taxpayers deserve? To keep secrets?” Dolcefino asked Judge Kern.
It’s a five-year battle between Jay Sears, the co-founder of the most powerful real estate developer in the county, NewQuest Properties, and his wife of 43 years.
There have been explosive new developments.
You want to see what the judge has done now.
“It’s gone completely off the rails,” Nick Kacal said.
Breaking news.
What’s up, Waller County!
“Women have complained that you’re not fair to them. You think that’s the case here?” Dolcefino asked Judge Kern.
When we first called out this elderly Texas judge for alleged bias against women, the Women’s Justice Network was watching and sharing our investigation on social media.
“You think you are fair?” Dolcefino asked Judge Kern.
The group has been blasting what they call the good ole boy network at the Waller County, Texas courthouse.
“The Justice Network says what’s been happening at Waller County courthouse is really an old storyline; a really rich and powerful guy trying to take advantage of the wife he is dumping,” Dolcefino told the camera.
“Why did you want to have your divorce here in Waller County when you live in Harris County? Is that because of the relationship your company has with the county officials?” Dolcefino asked Jaay Sears.
Jay Sears is the co-founder of NewQuest Properties — the biggest real estate developer in Waller County.
He moved to here just long enough to file for divorce here.
That was five years ago. In court papers, his wife claims it was really just a way to play the system, to get to a place where he had some advantage.
Neither lives in Waller County, yet their divorce fight plays out here, and Waller County taxpayers are paying for it all.
The county judicial system has done Sears a huge favor, even the existence of the divorce is a secret.
You can’t find it.
Since April, we’ve been trying to get access to the court records in the case that should not be sealed.
We’ve been denied.
We’ve asked a Texas appeals court to help us — and we are still waiting.
We filed suit against the district clerk.
“Can you tell us why you are hiding records from us? Did somebody tell you to hide records from us?” Andrea Palacio asked District Clerk, Liz Pirkle.
“It gives the appearance of impropriety in this case,” Kacal said.
But we have been eyewitnesses to some of this divorce drama in recent months, even though it’s pretty clear we’re not welcomed here.
We’ve gotten to watch the judge in action, and his conduct should raise alarm bells.
Robert Kern is not just cranky, insulting to McLeod’s lawyers.
He is hard of hearing. Forgets court orders that he signed.
“Why is this guy in charge of the most bitterly contested divorce case in the state or any contested divorce, for that matter?” Dolcefino told the camera.
“After being in court, watching him, I have growing concerns about this guy’s competency,” Dolcefino said.
At 82, Kern is too old to be an elected judge in Texas, he retired seven years ago.
But in Texas, retired judges like Kern can still be appointed to dispense justice.
“Our Waller County investigation proves that law needs to change,” Dolcefino told the camera.
“Thanks, Your Honor. He likes me,” Dolcefino said.
That was July 7th, the day we were in open court watching a pre-trial hearing, three weeks before the scheduled trial of the divorce case.
Lawyers were fighting about what the jury could know about Sears’ girlfriend, his paramour they call her. The money spent on her.
“After that public court hearing, we asked for a transcript from the court reporter, that’s real common stuff in our world. But we were denied, and since then it’s been a total secret,” Dolcefino told the camera.
Since that July 7th court hearing, we’ve learned there were two more public court hearings in the lead-up to trial.
But they were conducted in secret on Zoom
We have not been allowed to see the transcripts.
In late July, we showed up for the big trial, but the place was empty.
“Judge Kern has not sign an order?” Dolcefino said.
“No, not to unseal,” clerk said
“So, we’re here for the trial,” Dolcefino said.
“There is no trial,” clerk said.
“Why?” Dolcefino said.
“The parties have come to another agreement and gone a different route,” clerk said.
“You fooled them chief. You fooled them. You fooled them all.”
“In the last few days, a courthouse insider filled us in on those Zoom hearings, those public court hearings that we were denied access to,” Dolcefino told the camera.
In one of the hearings, Kern said he simply couldn’t be bothered to read a lot of the legal papers being filed in this high-stakes divorce showdown.
And he continued to try and avoid a jury trial.
“I hope the members of the Judicial Conduct Commission are watching, because it’s what happened when Judge Kern was approached by the lawyers from both sides who said they wanted another special judge on the case, that is the latest judicial outrage,” Dolcefino told the camera.
“Why don’t you knock off the bullshit and get to the point?”
“This is the point”
The judge said something to the effect of, ‘I’ve been fighting a newspaper guy and so far kept him out.’
“Guess the judge doesn’t remember I was on TV for 27 years. Never worked for a newspaper,” Dolcefino told the camera.
He also complained about our unscheduled interviews that we have done outside the courthouse when the judge leaves for the day.
“Why can’t the public see what’s going on? Your Honor?” Dolcefino asked Judge Kern.
But get this.
The judge apparently considered denying the request for a special judge because he didn’t want me to win my fight for transparency.
The judge said from the bench something to the effect of, ‘I don’t want to give the impression that I turned my tail and ran.’
“He had a long career, but those kinds of comments prove that Judge Kern—it’s time to hang it up,” Dolcefino told the camera.
McLeod has accused Sears and dozens of companies linked to NewQuest of fraud, of hiding assets.
And Sears and NewQuest are literally spending millions of dollars to hire an army of lawyers to try to keep McLeod from finding out what he actually owns.
Their estate, we’re told by the judge, is valued at 600 million dollars.
“In a court filing in Harris County seeking Debra’s deposition, Sears says, ‘I was the primary breadwinner all the time and she did some philanthropy stuff’ It’s the same old story,” Dolcefino told the camera.
Sears now wants to get his wife under oath again in Harris County to see what she knows about this Women’s Justice Network, about the billboards that went up along 290.
Sears claims it’s part of an intentional smear campaign, a premeditated character assassination, he calls it.
“This whole case is crying for sunshine; a politically powerful guy and a county where his company does massive developments. We think what has happened in that court case, the refusal to give us records, is simply illegal,” Dolcefino told the camera.
Keep up with us on social media:
