Judge Fleischer, YouTube Sensation Tells All

Jen Hardy  [00:00:00]:

So today, we have the infamous Judge Fleischer from Texas, a favorite of the LawTube community. And, I’m so excited to have you on today. So for those of you for those who have not met you yet, can you introduce yourself and tell a little bit about how you got where you are?

Judge David Fleischer [00:00:21]:

My name is David Fleischer. I am the current judge of Harris County Criminal Court at Law number 5. It is one of 16 criminal courts in Harris County. We handle the, misdemeanors here in Harris County where if it’s punishable by up to 6 months or a year in jail, you’ll come to us. And, you know, we handle everything from, you know, DWIs, deadly conduct, criminal trespass, assault on a family member, garden variety assaults. We handle quite a variety of cases. And I practiced for about 17, 18 years criminal defense before I became a judge. And, the reason I did it was to change things because things were in a way where they weren’t very favorable for defendants, and I wanted to do something about it.

Judge David Fleischer [00:01:20]:

And it has really hit me in in a lot of ways. You know? I took a big pay cut doing this. So, it’s not about the money. Right? Because I was making, you know, double as as defense lawyer as I am now making a judge. So it took, you know, at at the very minimum, conservatively a 50% pay cut, you know, being becoming a judge. But, you know, the idea that we got we did it is to change things, and and we’ve done it. You know? We bail reform. And I don’t know if you’re familiar with bail form, you know.

Judge Fleischer [00:01:55]:

We when we got elected, we were thrust into a lawsuit where we got sued because the way that it used to be. And and I don’t know if the law to community knows this, but, you know, prior to 2018, if you were arrested for an offense, there were no PR bonds. They were virtually nonexistent. If you got arrested, you were given a bond, and you were put into jail. No one virtually no one got PR bonds. It took for a lady to file a lawsuit. She was charged with driving on a suspended license. Her bond because she had had a I I wanna say that she had one prior.

Judge

[00:02:35]:

And as a result, her bond was set at it it was either 25100 or 5,000. She couldn’t pay the bond. So essentially, she was stuck in jail. She lost her bond, lost her job, lost her apartment. So she filed a lawsuit saying, hey. Look. It’s not fair. Right? You know, I’m in jail.

Judge

[00:02:52]:

I can’t post a bond. Why do I have to sit here in jail? I’m I’m not a violent person. I’m going to show up. Give give me a PR bond. Back in the day, it didn’t happen. So we agreed to the lawsuit, agreed to the fact that, yes, you’re in a system that’s unfair. So we’ve essentially changed the things. So, you know, when the when the law to community or or and all the people out there saying everybody gets PR bonds, you know, in a manner of speaking, yes and no.

Judge David Fleischer [00:03:22]:

I think that with my brother and, you know, our more the most important idea is public safety. Right? Right. If you show me that you’re not a danger, you’re gonna come back. We’re gonna let you out. But if you’re gonna be a knucklehead, then no. You know? I mean, really.

Jen Hardy  [00:03:41]:

Yeah.

Judge

[00:03:41]:

And you can watch, you know, if you watch as you see, you know, a lot of people get out, but a lot of people get put in jail because of that.

Jen Hardy  [00:03:49]:

Well, and that’s interesting. That is one of the questions I was gonna ask you because you did an article in Kron online. There was a thing that where you were saying one of your goals was to rectify the bail bond system. So I was gonna ask you about that. So that’s Yeah.

Judge

[00:04:01]:

We have we have changed. Yeah. And and it’s and it’s always just a a work in progress. Right? You know, Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither was this. I mean, imagine you have a system that’s been in place for a 100 years. Right? So you just don’t upend and and change it. And, you know, you there are a lot of people that are upset. A lot of people that are upset.

Judge

[00:04:21]:

A lot of people that still want to change it and want to bring it back to the way that it was because they’re of the opinion that bail reform doesn’t work. I don’t agree with that, but it is what it is. And So

Jen Hardy  [00:04:32]:

in the in that same article, since we’re we’re going there, you were also talking about let’s see. We should focus on why the person is on the docket in the first place. If we address these issues, then we can prevent people being on the docket. Right? And so I’m I’m wondering, you know, about that, about, you know, helping people, right, before they get to court. Have you been able Well,

Judge

[00:04:57]:

that I mean, that that’s a little bit difficult. Before they get to court, I I’m not gonna see them. Right? It’s when they get to court finding me why are you here? What’s the problem? Why are you angry? Can we get so many assault cases. It’s ridiculous. Why are you angry? What’s going on? Why are you upset? Do you have a drug issue? Okay. Let’s fix it. Let’s see how we’re we’re gonna go from here. So what we like to do is, you know, delve deeper into issues with people to see, hey.

Judge David Fleischer [00:05:33]:

What can I do to make you better? I get so many kids that they haven’t even graduated high school. God, we had a guy in there the other day who was, what, mid forties, can’t read or write. So I think that all these impacts people, and so we, you know, 1 by 1 systematically try to help every person and tailor, a kind of a system that will help them. Now, of course, you have people that just they don’t care. They’re not with it. They’re gonna you know, young, and they rule the world, and and hey.

Jen Hardy  [00:06:23]:

Now in in Bexar County, Texas, they have the Rufejal court for first time violent offender, you know, that assault family members or whatever. Do you have anything like that in your county?

Judge David Fleischer [00:06:39]:

You mean like a domestic violence court? Yeah.

Jen Hardy  [00:06:44]:

They have they they set it up, and, apparently, they’ve got their success they’ve only had a few people go through it, but their success rate is 27 out of 28. But they only take first time offenders. So if you’ve done it more than 1, you’re gonna

Judge David Fleischer [00:06:58]:

We, you know, we have different, different types of courts for different types of like, we have a mental health court that will help with issues with mental health. We have, let’s see. We have a veterans court that helps those that are veterans that have issues. We also have courts that will help them. I think little by little, we are creating more. We have DWI sober court, which is a big huge hit where when we have people that truly have issues with sobriety, they are put into a sub a, a treatment program where they are actually monitored by a judge. It’s kinda like a probation, but monitored by a judge to make sure that they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing and and getting the treatment they’re supposed to be getting. And and it’s more we’re not gonna punish you when you mess up.

Judge David Fleischer [00:07:54]:

That’s not the idea. The idea is to figure out why did you do it. How can we help you going how can we help you from here so we don’t just put you in jail and lock away the key? That’s not the idea. You know?

Jen Hardy  [00:08:06]:

Which is I mean, it’s great to hear because I know a lot of people think that police and the the whole judicial system just wants to lock everyone up. Right? That that’s the goal.

Judge David Fleischer [00:08:16]:

Yeah. It’s it’s farther from the truth it can be. You know? It’s that’s now remember, we’re in misdemeanor court. Right? Over there and and a lot of the courts that you see over there in Bexar County and in Jefferson, you know, you see felony courts. You see, you know, murders and and, you know, we here we’re dealing with low level offenses. Okay? So you’re more likely to see more PR bonds with us than you are with the felony court or with, you know, the stuff that you see on Baer and and Jefferson. And, you know, those are very, very serious offenses, so you’re not very likely to see as many PR bonds with them. You know?

Jen Hardy  [00:08:57]:

And that makes sense. Total sense.

Judge David Fleischer [00:08:58]:

Okay. But we, you know, we we structure and have different courts to help those, like like I’m saying. You know? Because that’s the idea. Just we don’t wanna lock you up just to lock you up. No. We wanna figure out what the issue

Jen Hardy  [00:09:11]:

is. Yeah. And I’ve I’ve heard you tell some some defendants, you know, you’re you seem like a smart person. You need to go out and get some education, you know, and I think it’s really good for them to hear because they might not have ever been told that by anyone. So it it’s nice to see.

Judge David Fleischer [00:09:24]:

I, you know, I really you know, I there are some kids out there, they just have no structure. You know, mom and dad are not there. They don’t have any parental guidance. They don’t have someone, you know, saying, hey, man. You’re messing up. You know? And that’s why I really yeah. As much as they don’t want to, I’m gonna treat them like my child. I’ve got 4 great kids at home, and then I have another 25100 in court.

Judge David Fleischer [00:09:48]:

You know? And I really truly am gonna I talk to them as my own kids. That’s it. I’m really I I want everyone to succeed, and they’re going to, one way or the other. That’s it.

Jen Hardy  [00:10:03]:

I love that. And, you know, speaking of kids, let’s talk about your family for a little bit, and just hear about you as a person, because I know, you know, everyone wants to know all the judge questions, but I feel like a lot of people have asked those questions. How did you meet your wife?

Judge David Fleischer [00:10:19]:

That’s interesting. My grandfather fell down the stairs. He broke his hip. So he gets into the ICU, and my wife was the person that was taking care of him in the ICU. So I met her in the hospital as she was taking care of my grandfather. And, you know, initially, it wasn’t even me. It was my mom. You know, it’s like the old every Jewish mother.

Judge David Fleischer [00:10:43]:

Hey. Over there. Over there. So, of course, just letting in everything, getting it just like typical Jewish mother. Right? You know? And and, kinda just hooked us up, you know, and she was just she’s like an angel, you know, just taking care of him and that’s how we met. But, you know, me, you know, I I’m a chef by nature. That’s what I like to do. I like to cook.

Judge David Fleischer [00:11:11]:

Right? That if if you wanna know anything about me, that’s what I love to cook. You know? I I I like to experiment and cook, and that’s that is one of my, you know, passions. My cooking for a living and for a ton of people, it it’s, you know, it’s not.

Jen Hardy  [00:11:28]:

That’s a stressful job.

Judge David Fleischer [00:11:30]:

It was awful.

Jen Hardy  [00:11:31]:

Yeah. So what’s your favorite thing to cook?

Judge David Fleischer [00:11:36]:

I like paella a lot, and I like I like to experiment with Asian, a lot of Asian. You know? Interesting. On Instagram, if you watch you know, if you’re on Instagram, like, for me at least, I get so much, like, different Asian recipes where I’m working with noodles, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and and, you know, ramen and making, I love to make dumplings. You know? It’s great. So that’s That

Jen Hardy  [00:12:04]:

sounds wonderful. So do you cook at home, or are you busy at the end of

Judge David Fleischer [00:12:08]:

the day? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Every day.

Jen Hardy  [00:12:10]:

Do you really?

Judge David Fleischer [00:12:11]:

Every day.

Jen Hardy  [00:12:12]:

My husband cooks too, and I love it because I I don’t like cooking. I don’t we have 7 children, and I still Woah. Yeah. And it’s our 26th year homeschooling. So I have done a lot of the home things, and we’ve reversed this year, and it’s been really interesting.

Judge David Fleischer [00:12:27]:

7 kids.

Jen Hardy  [00:12:29]:

From 12 to 35. Can you believe that? It’s, yeah. We have children in 4 decades and 3 generations.

Judge David Fleischer [00:12:36]:

So yeah. Holy moly. I I I give you a lot of credit. That’s so much work, so much drama.

Jen Hardy  [00:12:43]:

Oof. It is a lot of it is. You know, but I I saw some pictures because, you know, I did some research, before we did this interview. And and originally, you know, with our original 4, you know, older ones, it just it really reminded me, you with the 4. It’s just a beautiful time. And people try to tell you to enjoy it. And I know sometimes it’s hard when you’re not sleeping and whatever. But parenting adult, it’s not my favorite being the parents of the I mean, I love them.

Jen Hardy  [00:13:06]:

Don’t get me wrong. But I like knowing where they are and having them sleep in my own house.

Judge David Fleischer [00:13:11]:

There’s nothing wrong with that.

Jen Hardy  [00:13:12]:

You know?

Judge David Fleischer [00:13:13]:

As you should because, you know, when the cat’s away, the mice will play. Right? And if you’re not constantly on them, they might veer the wrong way, and and that’s the fear that I have. So I try to keep them close, and I I wanna be the party house. You know? I want

Jen Hardy  [00:13:28]:

That’s a secret there.

Judge David Fleischer [00:13:30]:

If they wanna go out, have a good time, I, you know, I want them to come to me. You know, I just you know, I I have a close relationship with my kids, and I want their friends to be our friends so they feel comfortable hanging out with us. And I’ll make them food and, you know, and, I wanna be the party house where they all come over here, so I know what they’re doing at all

Jen Hardy  [00:13:54]:

times. That is it did it that is the smartest thing. And have a a pool or or a a jacuzzi or something where they can come and hang out no matter what ages they are. And the food, that’s the that’s the secret right there. You know? And knowing and having their friends know you have an open door. That is you know, because there’s so many parents now that don’t want that. They just want them to get out. And so it’s wonderful.

Jen Hardy  [00:14:15]:

That’s that’s just a beautiful thing to hear. That’s really nice. I like that.

Judge David Fleischer [00:14:18]:

So I know and another thing is I’m a I’m an avid video gamer. I’m a I’m a big gamer. You know? So, you know, my son and I, we like to game a lot. You know, we have couple video game machines, and and so it’s friend it’s fun for my friends to come up or not my friends, but his friends to come over, play video games, and do a lot of the things that they can’t normally do at home. You know?

Jen Hardy  [00:14:39]:

So Oh, yeah. You and my husband would get along really well because he’s also a gamer. We just bought our first arcade game that we have right in the middle of our living room.

Judge David Fleischer [00:14:48]:

Really?

Jen Hardy  [00:14:48]:

Yeah. Yeah. They had it at Costco, and he was so I told everyone right before Christmas, you can go and pick one thing, and he found that.

Judge David Fleischer [00:14:57]:

He got an an arcade one up?

Jen Hardy  [00:14:59]:

What’s that?

Judge David Fleischer [00:15:00]:

It was in an arcade one up. You know what I’m talking about?

Jen Hardy  [00:15:04]:

Well, it’s the it’s like an original Yeah.

Judge David Fleischer [00:15:06]:

Yeah.

Jen Hardy  [00:15:06]:

Yeah. But, it yeah. It’s it’s and then you have those 2. It’s amazing. I don’t know. I’m not a gamer, but, I

Judge David Fleischer [00:15:15]:

have quite

Jen Hardy  [00:15:16]:

Yeah? That’s fun. We’re actually gonna put on a cruise for grandparents and grandchildren to reconnect where we teach grandparents how to do video games, specifically Minecraft, and we teach the grandkids how to do board games because there’s such a disconnect right now with the generations because of the video games. Right? And, yeah, my husband’s gonna be leading that.

Judge David Fleischer [00:15:37]:

It’s not as difficult as you may think it is. Right? If you get them into it, I’m telling you, it they’ll connect like crazy. I promise you. If you get them to start playing with them online or whatnot

Jen Hardy  [00:15:53]:

Yep. It’s

Judge David Fleischer [00:15:54]:

it’s great.

Jen Hardy  [00:15:55]:

It is. And it’s something they can talk about together, you know, because the kids are talking about mods and spiders and all these things. And, you know, it it’s not that hard. You just have to be willing. I think that’s the thing. Yeah. Yeah. Totally.

Jen Hardy  [00:16:08]:

Just because it’s not your thing doesn’t mean it’s not okay.

Judge David Fleischer [00:16:10]:

So Yeah.

Jen Hardy  [00:16:11]:

That’s really neat. Alright. So what do you guys like to do as a family? What fun things do you do? Obviously, video games, but outside, do you sports or

Judge David Fleischer [00:16:20]:

We like to go, you know one of the big things that we like to do, go to water parks. You know? Last weekend, we were at Kalahari. I don’t know if you’re familiar with that, but well, probably not because you live elsewhere. But it’s, like an indoor water park here in Round Rock, which is about 2 2 and a half hours away. We also like to go to, like, Schlitterbahn, which is another one, and we go to Typhoon, Texas. So we like to go do things out and about, and, you know, my my daughters are big actors. Right? So they’re in a lot of play. So we go watch them do their plays at the local community center, and, you know, my wife will also take them out to place to go see, like, Frozen.

Judge David Fleischer [00:17:04]:

I wanna see how the Mean Girls. Right? Because there’s a couple plays that are coming in town here soon. So that’s about it. Because, you know, one of our kids is a 2 year old. So we’re really, with a 2 year old, we’re really there’s not much because you gotta be close to home because, they still nap he still naps. So when we go out, you know, we’re only out in a couple hours at a time. It’s not like we can take off for, you know, 12 hours and then come back home. So yeah.

Jen Hardy  [00:17:40]:

Well, speaking of family, you are first generation here, which I did not know until I started doing some research. And, can you tell me a little bit about that that were you born here, or were you born there?

Judge David Fleischer [00:17:52]:

Yeah. Yeah. I was right born here right after, you know, my parents, my dad, and my mother met in Chile. And my dad came here to work on a PhD. You know, my dad is a pro was or actually, he still is because he does adjunct. He’s a professor at U of H, chemical engineering. Oh, wow. So he does that, that they moved here for him to finish schooling with the intent of going back to Chile.

Judge David Fleischer [00:18:23]:

But, I guess the just the opportunity was too good. They ended up staying here. And, like, right after here, I came along. And, you know, once you once you have that baby, that’s it. Yeah. Stuck. So, but, you know, we still have some extended family that still live there. So we go there every once in a while back to Chile to visit.

Jen Hardy  [00:18:50]:

Oh, that’s nice.

Judge David Fleischer [00:18:51]:

Yeah. We were there probably just, you know, 2, 3 years ago, visiting.

Jen Hardy  [00:18:58]:

And they speak Spanish there. Right?

Judge David Fleischer [00:19:00]:

Yes.

Jen Hardy  [00:19:01]:

Okay. Just wanna make sure. So are do you teach your kids Spanish? Or

Judge David Fleischer [00:19:05]:

they’re not very willing to learn just like any kid. So it’s been difficult because they don’t want to.

Jen Hardy  [00:19:14]:

And

Judge David Fleischer [00:19:15]:

and I I don’t have the, I guess, wherewithal to just pound it into them, and I know I should. You know?

Jen Hardy  [00:19:23]:

But They can learn when they get older, though. So, you know, that’s okay. And I know before before you got elected, you were talking about wanting to help the Latino community when you got elected as a judge. Are there some things that you’ve been able to accomplish in that in that lane? Or

Judge David Fleischer [00:19:40]:

what have we done? What have we done?

Jen Hardy  [00:19:46]:

If the answer is no, I can edit this part out. Don’t worry.

Judge David Fleischer [00:19:49]:

No. We’ve done well, what we’ve done more so with the courts is we’ve got a fresh start program where we basically it’s the help that we do is just not limited to one portion of the community. It’s it’s to everyone. We, as a group, you know, the the judges and arts, we have done, you know, a fresh start program where we go into community and help with expunctions and we help with just ceiling records basically and, different drives where they have basically little spots where any people who want jobs or want other different services that need it, they can come get it. And throughout the year, we put those on, to help the community. I think the the next one is actually coming up pretty soon. And and I can I can show you a flyer, and I can, like, give you a copy of it as well?

Jen Hardy  [00:20:45]:

Yeah, that would be great. That would be great. Then I can I can share it with everyone? And along that line, what are there any beliefs that you had about being a judge that have changed since you’ve been on the bench?

Judge David Fleischer [00:21:09]:

Yeah. I think that probably the biggest thing is is the theory that I apply with my family. You know, I like to get along with people. I don’t like to fight. I don’t like the drama. And I I I like to be everybody’s friend. But you can’t do that with your kids. Right? You can’t do that with the court system.

Judge David Fleischer [00:21:35]:

You know? If you try to be everybody’s friend, then people are gonna just take advantage of you. And when I first started out as a judge, I was trying to, you know, just be happy, be everybody’s friend, and and I think that it was I gotta take advantage of a lot, and you can’t do that. Like, when you have kids, you know, you have to be the parent. You gotta know when to say no. You gotta know when to say yes. You can’t just say no all the time because that that serves no purpose. You know? You have to say yes a lot, but you have to say no as well. And it’s the same thing with the judge.

Judge David Fleischer [00:22:14]:

I get people that try to take advantage all the time, you know, and just and not defendants. I’m talking about attorneys. I’m talking, you know, where, you know, for example, you know, I I’ll have someone they’ve never been to court before. Right? And they’re asking, someone will come up to me asking, hey, man. Can we just waive the appearance? They don’t have to be here. You know? And I don’t know anything about the case. I didn’t I don’t know it’s a first appearance, and they don’t tell me. And, normally, I would say, yeah.

Judge David Fleischer [00:22:45]:

Sure. You know, I I guess we don’t need them. And then I find out later. Well, what what? It’s a first appearance? I haven’t even heard probable cause. So whereas, you know, we’re required to do probable cause in every case. Right? That’s the initial setting where we find out what happened. Is there enough evidence to go forward? If there is, are you gonna put any conditions on it, something like that? You know? So as much and as nice as you wanna be, you have to be careful. You just can’t be.

Judge David Fleischer [00:23:14]:

And and initially, you know, that was not my view. I wanted to, you know? And so you just can’t you can’t be friends with everyone. You just gotta

Jen Hardy  [00:23:25]:

And I think that’s that’s a lesson for everybody, and it it’s a painful one.

Judge David Fleischer [00:23:30]:

You have to know when to be someone’s friend and and to really be the adult over that. Right. And it’s and it’s hard. It’s it’s it’s because I don’t like to fight with people. I don’t like the drama. I don’t need it. You know? Yeah.

Jen Hardy  [00:23:43]:

I love him with you. So, you know, so we were talking about probable cause. There are a lot of people that don’t understand at all how court works and why people have to go more than once. Is there can you, in a relatively brief way, explain what are the basic steps for someone who’s committed a misdemeanor? They don’t just come to court once and it’s over. Right?

Judge David Fleischer [00:24:07]:

No. Right. So, you know, let’s just take a DWI for example. Right? Let’s say Jen Hardy pops gets popped with the DWI. Right? So there’s evidence in the DWI. You know, for example, there’s gonna be either a breath test, there’ll be a blood test, there’ll be field sobriety test, though there might be medical records if there’s a hospital say, hospital stay, There might be an accident record if there’s a if there’s a report. There might be a 911 call because someone called 911 on the road to report a drunk driver, for example. That’s evidence.

Judge David Fleischer [00:24:44]:

Right? Evidence is going to point to whose side is correct. There’s always two sides to a story. Right? So when you go initially into court your first day, you do a hearing to determine, hey. You’ve been arrested. Have you rightfully or wrongfully been arrested? Is there enough probable cost to go forward? And if there is, right, where’s the evidence? Evidence takes time. Yep. We don’t get it immediately. It takes time to get medical records.

Judge David Fleischer [00:25:19]:

It takes time to get body cameras. It takes time to get dash cameras. It takes time. You know, in 9 here in Harris County, just to get a 911 tape, it may take 6 months because we’re so backed up. I mean, we’ve 5000000, 4000000 people in in Harris County. How many people call 911 on a daily basis? So to get evidence takes time. And because of that, you have to do resets on a case. So you may have your initial appearance, you do probable cause.

Judge David Fleischer [00:25:49]:

And depending on who’s there, they might put conditions on you. And then you go on your merry way. With me and with a lot of us here, we wave appearances because your job is really important. If we forced you, like in the old days, to come to court once a month, lot of people would lose their jobs because they can’t take off that kind of that kind of time. So because of that, I waive appearances. So you don’t leave I mean, there’s no reason for you to come to court if evidence not is not there. So we waive appearances. And as long as you can abide by conditions, if there are any, you might not see me until 6 months, 9 months down the road.

Judge David Fleischer [00:26:28]:

Well, 6 months because I don’t like case again. So it but it takes time to get evidence. So that’s why cases get reset. Other states do it differently where they might make you come on a monthly basis. But I I don’t think that that’s it’s counterproductive to someone’s work schedule if they’re working.

Jen Hardy  [00:26:51]:

I agree. No. That’s really

Judge David Fleischer [00:26:52]:

So that’s fine. You know? And then usually with us at least, you know, there’s a cap how long, how old a case will get. There it also serves no purpose for a case to get a year or 2 years old. No. Because that person may need help now, not a year down the road when they pick up another 4 cases. So that’s why we we we reined it in as far as, you know, how how old the case gets. And, you know, we will put pressure on others to get the evidence in a timely fashion. Right.

Judge David Fleischer [00:27:47]:

Some cases, you know, they’re very easy. Some like a like a trespass case, for example, you know. You have just a statement from a person, you may have a video, so there might not be that much evidence. But in a DWI or an assault case, you may have more evidence. You may need expert testimony. Right? It takes time to get that. It takes time for It takes time to build a case. And so that’s why the more complicated the case, the more time it takes.

Judge David Fleischer [00:28:18]:

That’s why you also see in felony cases, for example, the cases typically tend to get older because they’re more complex. If you have a vehicular homicide case, right, you might need an accident reconstructionist, you know, that takes time. If you have a murder case, oof, you’ll have ballistics, you’ll have DNA. So by and large, that’s why you see felony cases take quite a bit longer than misdemeanor cases.

Jen Hardy  [00:28:47]:

I never realized that. And along that line too, I was gonna ask you, sentencing for drug users, not drug dealers, because obviously we want them off the street. But, you know, they can be pretty severe, the sentencing for those. What do you think about that? If somebody is, you know, caught with a small a small enough bit of of drugs, and then they, you know, they can get sentenced for many years in jail. Do you where

Judge David Fleischer [00:29:15]:

do you I I you know, I think that that there’s been a lot of reform with that. You know, back in the eighties, used to have that say no to drugs and the mentality that, you know, if we find you with crack cocaine or or or the like, you’re going to prison for a very long time. And I think that studies came out saying that they did more harm than good. Right? And I think that times have changed with that as well. So, I don’t think that I definitely know that it’s not like it was back in the eighties early nineties. The public is now more enlightened and I think that, then again, you know, I I don’t see sentencing with regard to the more serious drugs because I do in the misdemeanor cases, we the most serious we get are the DWIs and maybe pill cases here and there. When you have the more serious like cocaine, you know, methamphetamine, all that is in felony court. So we don’t see that.

Judge David Fleischer [00:30:25]:

I don’t see I have no idea what sentences are and what the norm is with regard to those types of cases because I don’t know. But I think that, you know, rehabilitation is is extremely important. Because what does jail do? You know, does it do more harm than good? I I don’t know. What does the research say? You know, does it when when you if you just send a person to prison, are they gonna come out? Are they gonna do the same thing? Have they addressed the issue? I don’t know. So I I don’t know how much it serves purpose. With regards to addiction, now if you have a dangerous criminal,

Jen Hardy  [00:31:07]:

that’s That’s a whole different story. Yeah.

Judge David Fleischer [00:31:10]:

Right. Like the ag robbers or like the ag assaults, you know, that that’s that’s different, right? A dangerous person in the community is different than the addicted person. I mean, now they can overlap, right? Because

Jen Hardy  [00:31:26]:

Right.

Judge David Fleischer [00:31:27]:

And so I don’t know the answer to your question.

Jen Hardy  [00:31:30]:

Okay. Then, you know, I appreciate and respect that answer.

Judge David Fleischer [00:31:34]:

But to me, I think that rehabilitation is important. And I think that the you we you need to get down to why there’s an there’s a reason why. Yeah. You know, people use for a reason. They don’t get up one day and they go, alright. I wanna

Jen Hardy  [00:31:53]:

go here.

Judge David Fleischer [00:31:54]:

You know? No. Right? There’s a reason why. And when you get to that, you strike gold.

Jen Hardy  [00:32:03]:

I agree 100%. And speaking of drugs, how do you feel? You may not want to answer, and that’s okay, recreational marijuana is coming on the ballot in a lot of places, it’s already been passed in a lot of places, what is your thought on recreational marijuana?

Judge David Fleischer [00:32:21]:

It’s a great question, but I can’t answer it.

Jen Hardy  [00:32:25]:

That’s fair.

Judge David Fleischer [00:32:26]:

You know, I I the canons do not allow me to tell you how I would rule on a particular issue, right, especially one that’s would be in front of us, how something would impact my decision. Right? So, all I know is that in Texas, it’s illegal for the most part. I know and I’ve seen more and more because I got into this discussion with my DAs, actually, it was yesterday, where we are seeing more and more people come with medical marijuana cards. I don’t know where they’re they’re getting it. I don’t I don’t know how they get it, you know? All I know is that I put conditions on people and and I expect them to live up to it. But I I so I I I I I I don’t know if it’ll ever happen in Texas. I don’t know. But it’ll be interesting to see how they deal with it, you know, I but I don’t I don’t know.

Jen Hardy  [00:33:29]:

Okay. Let me ask you because it’s now on the ballot here in Florida, and, we have

Judge David Fleischer [00:33:35]:

Is it every is it every season on the ballot? Is it every year on the ballot too?

Jen Hardy  [00:33:39]:

I think it is. Yeah. So it’s just you know? It’s yeah. Okay. I have opinions. We don’t need to talk about my opinions because this isn’t about me. Alright. So when you’re on the bench, you are very intense.

Jen Hardy  [00:33:54]:

And so some people you can be very intense. And so some people wonder, is this who David Fletcher is all the time? And I think I’ve been watching you during this, and it is. You do. You have you have very strong you I think it’s maybe the part of the Latino, like, passion, right, comes out.

Judge David Fleischer [00:34:15]:

Yeah. Yeah. Totally. No. I didn’t. I’m I’m it’s it’s always. My wife gets so mad at me because, why are you cross examining me? It’s I’m that I’m like, yes. Everywhere.

Judge David Fleischer [00:34:31]:

At home too. And and I have to, you know, I have to be careful because I get passionate with everything that I do in in every you know, if I believe something, I’m gonna I I’m gonna go for it, and I’m gonna put my all into it. And, you know, I don’t know. I’ve said this before. I I don’t I’ve no. I have not said it to you, but, you know, in my 1st year in law school, in my 1st day in law school, we had a professor that was just great. Right? We used to make fun of him like crazy. So you know, but he said something that was so smart.

Judge David Fleischer [00:35:06]:

He says, you know, look. Become a lawyer. And you’re gonna have a great time, you’re gonna love it, but you have to be careful. If you cannot turn it off, then you will be a very miserable and unhappy person. You’ll be divorced because no one likes to argue with someone all time every time. And just constantly, it’s nauseating. So, you have to know when to turn it off. Right? And so, I’m passionate and I sometimes am so to my detriment as well, especially when I’m talking to my wife and she’ll let me know about it and and she’s right.

Judge David Fleischer [00:35:45]:

And so I’ll say, you know, look, I’m sorry. You know, I’m just and she’ll put me in my place and she’s right because you just you gotta know when to stop. But the way you see me there, I’m like that everywhere. Don’t matter where I’m at.

Jen Hardy  [00:36:03]:

So, that was really good advice. I’ve got a soon to be daughter-in-law that is finishing up law school. No, it’s wonderful. Thank you. Do you have any advice for people who are about to complete law school, maybe want to become judges? What would you tell them, knowing what you know now?

Judge David Fleischer [00:36:22]:

Do your research. Know who you’re in front of. Know when to stop. Don’t throw all the shies at the wall and and because it’s not gonna work. People see through that. Don’t. Have your argument. Be prepared.

Judge David Fleischer [00:36:40]:

And for god’s sakes, no one to turn the lawyering off because no one wants to be around a lawyer 247. It’s it’s it sucks. You know, it sucks arguing. And and, you know, I I have friends that I I’ve literally told them to, and, you know, it’s hasn’t worked. But, I mean, we all have faults. We all do things that are, you know, the idea is just to learn from it, right?

Jen Hardy  [00:37:14]:

Do you ever want to know objection in your regular life? People are driving you crazy.

Judge David Fleischer [00:37:19]:

All the time. You know what I do though? I go upset on a run. I’m always pissed off. I’m always upset. So, I go exercise, that’s how I deal with it.

Jen Hardy  [00:37:32]:

That’s another good bit of advice, actually. It really is. Alright. So, and I have another question, about the the courtroom that let’s see. What is it? I don’t know what my words are. I’m just gonna edit this out altogether. And if you so if you don’t wanna answer this, you don’t have to because I’m already gonna edit this part of me rambling. You have your own channel in the courtroom, which is unique because most of the judges don’t.

Jen Hardy  [00:38:01]:

Do you feel that that takes any of your attention away from what’s happening in the courtroom itself?

Judge David Fleischer [00:38:09]:

No. No. I turn it on, and then I go do my business. I I just I do it so that people can see and they can learn, and it’s for I I don’t gain anything from it. I don’t get anything from it. I don’t get paid. I don’t get I don’t get and there’s no benefit from me. Right? I do it for so that transparency, education, so that people can see what we’re doing, how we do it, hopes that it will teach others not to do what they see others do.

Judge David Fleischer [00:38:43]:

You know, we have, believe it or not, other teachers that have reached out to us to try to what’s it called, I guess, put it into their classroom so they can watch it as an educational tool, which is fantastic. I mean, that’s the that’s the that’s the point. So others see how defendants act, the consequence of it so that they won’t make those same decisions. That’s why I do

Jen Hardy  [00:39:21]:

And and

Judge David Fleischer [00:39:22]:

and does it help? I don’t know. Hopefully. I hope it does. It’s like the same thing I do with every every, person in our court. You know? I act the way that I do, and I do the way that I do in our methodology so that they think before they speak, think before they act so that they know what consequence will happen.

Jen Hardy  [00:39:52]:

So let’s say someone gets arrested and they’re going to go to court. Before you or somebody else, what advice would you give them on how to handle themselves in court?

Judge David Fleischer [00:40:04]:

I can’t give legal advice.

Jen Hardy  [00:40:07]:

Oh, well, that’s true.

Judge David Fleischer [00:40:08]:

You know, that would be

Jen Hardy  [00:40:09]:

I don’t mean I don’t mean legal advice, but, like, well

Judge David Fleischer [00:40:13]:

Just behave. You know? It it you know? Just if you’ve found yourself and you get charged with something, right, I would just go talk to a lawyer. I mean, you just at the bottom at at the end of the day, you just you know I I mean, I can’t give legal advice. Right? I’m not allowed to, tell you what to do or how. You know? But at the end of the day, you know, if you do something where you end up getting charged, you you gotta go, I guess, talk to a lawyer, right, and try to work through it, in hopes that, you know, you can, you know, better yourself. Sorry. I can’t give you more.

Jen Hardy  [00:40:59]:

No. That’s you know what? That’s okay. There’s rules, and we need to follow the rules. So that’s okay. Alright. And so before we go, because I’ve kept you for a long time, do you have anything else that you’d like to let people know about yourself or court or life in general?

Judge David Fleischer [00:41:14]:

No. I just I I, you know, I hope that if there are any teachers that are out there watching, I hope that they will, you know, let students know that they can watch and and learn. And, I’m always happy to have, you know, students or teachers come to the courthouse because we do that every often. Or every year, we have several classrooms that come into the courthouse into our actual courtroom and watch the proceedings. And, I wish more of that happened, but it’s difficult, I guess, for kids to get out or get the permission to get out. But to me, that’s the greatest benefit is reaching the young kids so they don’t end up in jail or with criminal charges. That’s the idea. That’s that’s my that’s my goal, and that’s I hope that is what happens.

Jen Hardy  [00:42:13]:

I think that’s a perfect place to end. Thank you so much. I appreciate your time.

Judge David Fleischer [00:42:18]:

Thanks for having me.

Jen Hardy  [00:42:20]:

Alright. I’m gonna end the recording.