Calling it a “regrettable situation,” McLennan County District Attorney John Segrest said Wednesday he will ask 10th Court of Appeals Justice Felipe Reyna to remove himself from all cases involving the district attorney’s office.

Segrest said he also will file an ethics complaint based on Reyna’s conduct during his son’s campaign against Segrest.

Abel Reyna, 38, is challenging Segrest, 60, for district attorney.

10th Court of Appeals Justice Felipe Reyna (left) says he has already asked his staff to recuse his court from any cases handled by John Segrest (right) and the McLennan County District Attorney's office.

“We feel, as officers of the court and representatives of the state of Texas, that it is our duty and responsibility to take this action,” Segrest said.

“We will be filing a motion that Justice Reyna step down or recuse himself or, if he is not willing to do so, be recused from considering any and all criminal and civil matters pending in the 10th Court of Appeals that involve this office because of matters put forth concerning his public support for his son.”

Told of Segrest’s proposed actions, Felipe Reyna said, “Well, you tell Mr. District Attorney that I beat him to the punch. After the questions that came up yesterday in your newspaper article about my involvement in my son’s race, I instructed my staff attorney to recuse my chamber from handling any more cases involving McLennan County. “I have done nothing wrong, but I am doing this out of an abundance of precaution.”

Reyna, who was defeated in the March primary by Judge Al Scoggins, leaves office Dec. 31.

“Sounds like all that is between two old friends,” Abel Reyna said. “Mr. Segrest and my father have been friends for more than 25 years. But this has nothing to do with my campaign against Mr. Segrest. . . . Anything my father has done was out of love.”

The latest action by Segrest is in response to a series of entries the past few weeks on his personal and campaign Facebook page, and on those of Felipe and Abel Reyna.

Felipe Reyna’s Facebook wall, a way to communicate with his friends, reads much like a message board endorsing his son’s campaign.

In one Facebook post sent Monday, Reyna writes, “Please go support my son, Abel Reyna, at the candidate forum set for tomorrow.”

That appears to be in direct conflict with judicial canons that preclude judges from publicly endorsing candidates or lending the prestige and dignity of their office to others’ campaigns, including family members.

Felipe Reyna, a former district attorney who hired Segrest as an assistant district attorney in 1978, said he disagrees that he cannot actively support his son.

He said a more recent ruling involving Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht supersedes other judicial canons and said he can hold a press conference on the courthouse lawn and endorse his son if he wants to.

Others would disagree, including Segrest. He said he intends to report Reyna’s actions to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct.

Part of that report, besides Reyna’s public support for his son on Facebook and in other ways, also will include a private message that Felipe Reyna sent to Segrest on Monday night on their Facebook accounts.

Segrest said the message was not supposed to be made public. However, he sent it to one of his assistants, Edward Vallejo, because Reyna referred to Vallejo and his wife in the message. Segrest said it spread fast from there.

“It went viral,” Segrest said. “That was never our intention, but, unfortunately, it has been revealed, and at this point we feel that, as officers of the court, it is our duty and responsibility to report this.”

In Reyna’s private message to Segrest, copies of which were obtained by the Tribune-Herald from multiple sources, Reyna defends his son’s experience, saying Abel Reyna has defended a murder defendant and got him acquitted.

“The person charged with murder and found NOT GUILTY will be there tomorrow at the candidate forum. John, if you and your sorry ass Asst. DA Ed Vallejo and his wife do not get off my SON’s ass, it is going to get ulgy [sic]. Thanks FELIPE.”

Vallejo declined comment. However, he and his wife, Carla, reportedly were so unsettled by what they perceived as a threat that they filed a report with the sheriff’s office.

Felipe Reyna said he welcomes an ethics investigation, saying it will provide a venue for him and a path to exoneration.

He said he sent an apology to Segrest and to the Vallejos on Wednesday for the message he sent Monday night, saying it was “inappropriate in tone and in content.”

“In spite of my experience in politics, I have found myself ill-prepared for the difficulties of watching my son face the political attacks and half-truths that have unfortunately taken over this campaign,” Reyna wrote in his apology, a copy of which he provided to the Tribune-Herald .

twitherspoon@wacotrib.com

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