Bert Richardson (judge)


Robert Carl Richardson, known as Bert Richardson, is an American judge who serves as the Place 3 judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the court of last resort in state criminal cases, to which he was elected in 2014.

Early life

A native and resident of San Antonio, Texas, Richardson was reared in an Air Force family. His father was a fighter pilot, who flew 160 missions over Vietnam. His mother operates a fine art gallery. The military took the family to 6 states and 3 foreign countries, including in Argentina and in Europe. He graduated from Judson High School in Converse in Bexar County. He received his bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and his legal degree from St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio.

Legal career

Richardson began his legal career with the Bexar County district attorney's office in 1988 as Assistant District Attorney. In 1998, he started working as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas in San Antonio. In 1999, Governor George W. Bush appointed Richardson, a Republican, to the 379th District Court Judge position. He remained on the bench, for 10 years, uncontested until his defeat in the 2008 general election by a Democrat, Ron Rangel, 263,857 to 227,015.
Richardson has been a special state judge on call. He was scheduled to hear the 2014 indictment of Governor Rick Perry for alleged abuse of official capacity by the Travis County District Attorney's office. After his election to the Court of Criminal Appeals, Richardson denied the motion to dismiss the case against the governor, as Perry's attorney had sought, based on long standing legal precedents of the State high court where he now sits.
In the Republican primary for the Court of Criminal Appeals on March 4, 2014, Richardson defeated Judge Barbara Walther, the first woman and the first Republican to serve on the 51st Texas District Court in San Angelo. Richardson polled 668,618 votes to Walther's 439,267. Richardson then prevailed in the general election, 2,738,412 to 1,617,921 for Democrat John Granberg.
Elected to the Court of Criminal Appeals with Richardson were Kevin Patrick Yeary, also of San Antonio, and David Newell, of Houston. The terms of all three judges expire on December 31, 2020. Richardson ran against Gina Parker, an attorney from Waco, Texas, in the March 2020 Republican primary for reelection to Place 3. Richardson defeated Parker 51.84% to 48.16%, with over 1.7 million votes cast.
Richardson, who is board certified in criminal law, also serves as an adjunct law professor at St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio.

Personal life

He married his wife, Terri, a month before he began law school. They live in San Antonio. They have a son, Cory Sean Richardson, who attended Texas Tech University in Lubbock. Judge Richardson balances his legal work with photography.