A Harris County District Court Judge was arrested for driving while intoxicated.
According to court documents, Judge Kelli Johnson, who currently serves as the presiding judge of the 178th Criminal District Court, was arrested Tuesday at 1:55 a.m.and charged with driving while intoxicated, a misdemeanor, by the Houston Police Department. She has since made bond.
Johnson has presided over many cases in her judicial capacity, from state jail felonies to capital murder cases. She presided for all three of AJ Armstrong’s cases. The first two attempts by the prosecution were declared mistrials in 2019 and 2022 because the jury couldn’t reach a verdict. During the third trial, AJ was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.
Johnson was absent from court for most of May and several weeks this month after an April 12 traffic stop. She wasn’t go with a warning in that incident.