Special panel upholds reprimand of Harris County District Judge Natalia Cornelio

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- A special panel upheld a reprimand of Harris County Judge Natalia Cornelio, who is accused of being an advocate for a death row inmate.

The video above is from a previous report.

The three-judge panel agreed with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct against Cornelio.

According to court documents, last October, the Commission's Public Reprimand "concluded that Judge Cornelio performed her judicial duties with bias in favor of a litigant by signing and issuing a bench warrant knowing that it contained false information about a nonexistent court appearance."

Documents alleged Cornelio favored Ronald Haskell, who was convicted in the 2014 mass murder of her ex-wife's family, whose appeal was in her court, when she signed the warrant to transfer him to Harris County for an MRI.

Court documents state that it was concluded that "Cornelio's failures in the foregoing respects constituted willful and persistent conduct that is clearly inconsistent with the proper performance of her judicial duties and cast public discredit on the judiciary and on the administration of justice."

Eyewitness News spoke with Cornelio's lawyer in February, who said the decision would impact her reputation and her ability to work in the future.

Cornelio was removed from the Haskell appeal after everything came to light but before the public reprimand was issued.