Jackson Free Press

Judge Houston Patton isn't used to competition. Since first winning election as Hinds County Court judge in 1989, Patton has had no opponents for the District 2 seat. But this year is different; the Jackson native is facing two challengers in November: Bridgett Clayton and Henry Clay.

Patton grew up in the tightly knit community around Tougaloo College where he attended Tougaloo Preparatory School. He earned his bachelor's degree in communication at Fresno State University in 1965, and after working as a Head Start administrator for Hinds, Madison and Rankin counties, Patton attended law school at Southern University in Baton Rouge, graduating in 1972.

He worked for Community Legal Services in Jackson for six years before entering private practice. Currently the senior judge for Hinds County Court, Patton handles civil cases, though he previously spent 10 years in the youth court.

Patton is an avid golfer, though modest about his skills. He lives in the Presidential Hills neighborhood in northwest Jackson with his wife.

How long have you been over the civil division?
For the last four years, the last term. (As senior judge, I made the) assignment at the last election, so I left Youth Court. I was at Youth Court, and then I assigned Judge (Bill) Skinner to Youth Court, and I came to County Court.

Why did you decide to leave youth court?
Well, the reason I had to leave youth court was simply because I made an assignment for Judge (William) Barnett to preside over the criminal division and Judge Skinner to preside over the civil division, and I was going to remain in youth court. Then, of course, after my order was entered, there was an exchange of orders between those two judges assigning the civil cases to Judge Barnett and the criminal cases to
Judge Skinner.

And at that time, I came back the next day and did an order transferring Judge Skinner to youth court, and I took over the civil division and reassigned Judge Barnett to the criminal division. And as senior judge that's within the statutory powers of the senior judge. So that's what I did. That's why I'm up here today.

A number of candidates want county court judges to function likes federal magistrates, hearing preliminary motions for circuit court cases. What do you think of that idea?
Well, county court is pretty busy itself, and to dump that on the county court would be kind of an injustice. We have our own load. Just for instance here, between January of '09 and May of 2010 alone, just in civil court alone, over 11,000 cases were filed. During that same period of time, I disposed of almost 2,300 of those cases. And that was coming to trial, heard and a decision rendered on. So we don't have time to sit here and twiddle our thumbs.

What sort of administrative changes are needed to speed up the docket in county court?
I think we've pretty well got a good handle on it. The system that's in place works very good. The only thing is if lawyers cooperate and everybody works together, it goes along well. The wheel is not broken in county court so there's no point in trying to fix it.

But it would be a problem to hear some preliminary motions for circuit court cases in county court?
Well, yeah, if you take part of the workload from circuit court and dump it on us, that's going to create a heavier workload for the judges here.

How does the rotation system compare to the current system?
To me, it was a better system in that you didn't get stuck in one area all the time. When you rotated among all three divisions, you kind of stayed alert of what was going on. This way, you kind of get stuck in the one area and you lose sight of what's going on in the other areas.

When did the rotation system stop?
After Judge (Chet) Henley passed, and Judge (Bobby) DeLaughter came on, that's when the system stopped.

Did the senior judge make that decision at the time?
There were some problems that happened to pop up, and the only way we could handle them was to assign people to certain divisions.

What were the problems?
I forgot what the problems were. I just know there were some problems.

Could the county go back to it?
Yeah, it's left up to the discretion of the senior judge.

You're the senior judge. Are you thinking next time about reinstituting the rotation system?
Well, it depends on how the elections in November come out. I might not be here in November, because I have two opponents. I don't want to speculate on what may happen on Nov. 3 so I'll reserve comment on that.

What are your goals for another term?
The same as they've always been: run the court system; be fair and equal and courteous to all the people that are involved in it. And to do what the court system is cut out to be.

What are you proud of in the time you've served thus far?
When you're out somewhere, and an adult walks up to you and says, "I know you don't remember me, but I came through youth court, and I asked you for a second opportunity. You gave me that opportunity. I no longer have to run from the police. I now have my own paint company, and I have employed three other people." Or another guy comes up and says, "Hey, you don't remember me, but I asked you for that second chance, and you gave me that second chance. Now I'm a city manager." ... Those are things that make you feel good.