Judge Clark Suspended Over Alleged False 911 Report

What He Is Accused Of

The allegations trace to a single day. On February 18, 2026, according to the indictments, Clark told a Columbus police officer that a local resident had threatened him, and made a report to 911 that brought an emergency response. The resident was arrested on a breach-of-the-peace complaint. Prosecutors allege the report was knowingly false and that Clark made it with intent to deceive.

What turned this from a disputed encounter into a criminal case, according to local reporting, was the recording. The Columbus Police Department is said to have identified discrepancies between Clark’s written statement and the audio and video evidence of the incident. The Texas Rangers took over the investigation. The Colorado County Attorney recused, and the Office of the Attorney General took the prosecution.

A grand jury returned three separate indictments on June 18, 2026. Clark surrendered at the Colorado County jail on June 23 and was released on a $3,000 bond. The Commission received notice of the indictments and suspended him the same day it acted, July 2.

What Clark Has Said

October 1, 2026, he appeared at a candidate forum in Colorado County and addressed the case himself, saying he has nothing to hide, that his pretrial hearing was set for October 28, and that a resolution would likely take another five or six months. He also said he would step down if he is not allowed to serve. No plea has been reported, and a defendant has no obligation to answer an indictment publicly. What changed is that he is running for the office while suspended, which made silence impractical.

What a Criminal Suspension Actually Means

This is not a public sanction. The Commission did not investigate Clark’s conduct, hold a hearing, take evidence, or find that he violated anything. Article V, section 1-a(6)A of the Texas Constitution lets the Commission suspend a judge from office, with or without pay, as soon as that judge is indicted for a felony or charged with a misdemeanor involving official misconduct. The trigger is the charge, not proof of it.

The order says so on its face: the suspension runs “until the charges set forth in the Indictments are dismissed, Judge Clark is acquitted of all charges in the Indictments, or upon further order(s) of the Commission.” An acquittal or a dismissal ends it automatically. Nothing in the order predicts how the criminal case comes out.

The Commission can suspend without pay, and did exactly that on the same day to a justice of the peace in Kleberg County facing a third-degree felony drug charge, in a final order of suspension issued under the same provision. Clark kept his salary. Case File No. 53 compares the Commission’s with-pay and without-pay choices across the 2026 suspensions.

Official Oppression

Two of the three charges are ordinary false-report offenses that anyone can commit. The third is one only a public official can commit, and it is the one that makes this a Gavel of Shame case rather than a police blotter item.

Texas Penal Code section 39.03 makes it official oppression when “a public servant acting under color of his office or employment” intentionally subjects another person “to mistreatment or to arrest, detention, search, seizure, dispossession, assessment, or lien that he knows is unlawful.” It sits in Chapter 39 of the Penal Code, which is titled, plainly enough, Abuse of Office. It is a Class A misdemeanor.

The State will have to prove not only that the report was false, but that Clark was acting under color of his office when he made it and that he knew the arrest it produced was unlawful. That is a demanding burden, and it is where a defense would most likely concentrate. A judge who calls 911 about a personal dispute is not obviously acting under color of office at all, and a mistaken or exaggerated report is not the same thing as a knowingly false one.

If a False Report Put You in Handcuffs

The recording usually decides it. This case exists because body camera and dispatch audio did not match a written statement. Preserve and request that material early, through a public information request or a subpoena, because retention windows on police video are measured in months.

An arrest that gets dismissed is not automatically erased. In Texas, a dismissed charge stays on your record until you petition for expunction under Chapter 55A of the Code of Criminal Procedure. That is a separate filing.

Who complained matters. When the person who reported you holds public office, the conduct may be more than a false report (Chapter 39 of the Penal Code).

Anyone can file with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, free and without a lawyer, and doing so neither helps nor hurts a criminal case.

The Charges

Each of these is an allegation contained in a charging instrument. An indictment is a grand jury’s conclusion that there is enough evidence to require a trial. It is not a verdict, it is not evidence, and it decides nothing about guilt.

How It Played in the Press

The Colorado County Citizen has carried this story from the indictment forward and has been the most complete source on it, including the detail about the mismatch between the written statement and the recordings. KWHI in Brenham and Texas Scorecard covered the suspension, and the ABA Journal picked it up nationally, pairing Clark with a Kleberg County justice of the peace suspended the same day in an unrelated methamphetamine possession case. Coverage has been factual and restrained, which is the right register for a case in this posture.

Where Things Stand Now

Clark is suspended, not removed. He holds the office, draws the salary, and does not sit. Texas law lets the county judge appoint a temporary justice of the peace with at least four years of judicial experience to carry the docket in the meantime.

The criminal case is pending in Colorado County with the Attorney General’s office prosecuting, and a pretrial hearing was set for October 28, 2026. Clark himself put a resolution five or six months out. Three outcomes end the suspension on their own terms: dismissal, acquittal, or a further order from the Commission. A conviction would open a different door entirely, because a misdemeanor conviction involving official misconduct is separate grounds for the Commission to act. If any of that happens, the Gavel of Shame will follow up.

The voters get there first. Clark ran unopposed in the March 2026 Republican primary and appears on the November 3, 2026 ballot for a term that would not come up again until 2030. Two challengers are running as write-ins and will not be printed on the ballot. A temporary appointee, Judge Rodney Meyer, is carrying the Precinct 3 docket in the meantime. So the county is voting on a judge who is suspended, has not been tried, and has said he will step down if he cannot serve. Case File No. 40 raised the same tension from the other direction: the Supreme Court of Ohio held it could not order a judge off the November ballot because Ohio allows candidacy protests only before the primary. Texas has no mechanism either. An indicted judge stays on the ballot, and the electorate decides before the jury does.

Sources

PRIMARY SOURCE

• State Commission on Judicial Conduct, Final Order of Suspension, In the Matter of the Hon. Donald Clark, CJC No. 26-1213 (July 2, 2026). scjc.texas.gov
• State Commission on Judicial Conduct: suspension orders. scjc.texas.gov

NEWS COVERAGE

• Colorado County Citizen: Colorado County justice of the peace indicted on three charges. coloradocountycitizen.com
• Colorado County Citizen: New info sheds light on JP indictment. coloradocountycitizen.com
• Colorado County Citizen: State commission suspends Colorado County JP with pay. coloradocountycitizen.com
• KWHI: Colorado Co. JP suspended after indictment (July 8, 2026). kwhi.com
• ABA Journal: 2 judges suspended in separate cases after being indicted on criminal charges. abajournal.com
• Colorado County Citizen: Candidates Will Schneider, Don Clark participate in first Pct. 3 JP forum (Oct. 8, 2026), the source for Clark’s own statements, the Oct. 28 pretrial setting and the ballot posture. coloradocountycitizen.com

REFERENCE

• Texas Penal Code section 39.03, Official Oppression. law.justia.com
• Texas Penal Code section 42.0601, False Report to Induce Emergency Response. statutes.capitol.texas.gov
• Deandra Grant Law: Who Polices Texas Judges? The SCJC Explained. texasdwisite.com
• State Commission on Judicial Conduct, Final Order of Suspension, In the Matter of the Hon. Brandon W. Barrera, CJC No. 26-1214 (July 2, 2026), Justice of the Peace Pct. 2, Kleberg County, suspension without pay. scjc.texas.gov
• Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct: how to file a complaint against a Texas judge. scjc.texas.gov

This post summarizes a publicly filed suspension order, charging instruments, and news reporting for general informational purposes as of this October 2026 update. It is not legal advice. Judge Clark has been charged and not convicted. An indictment is an accusation only, he is presumed innocent, and nothing here should be read as a statement that he committed any offense. The person arrested on February 18, 2026 is not named here.