A legal dispute over who has the authority to serve as Fort Bend County judge erupted this week, creating uncertainty over the validity of county government actions following the felony conviction of elected County Judge KP George.
George was convicted in March on two felony counts of money laundering and tampering with campaign finance reports. In June, Judge Maggie Perez-Jaramillo sentenced him to the statutory maximum of 10 years in prison for the third-degree felony conviction. However, the sentence was probated, requiring George to serve six months in the Fort Bend County Jail followed by five years of community supervision.
Under Texas law, a county judge convicted of a felony is automatically removed from office. But because George has appealed his conviction, he remains the elected county judge while Perez-Jaramillo has suspended him from office without pay.
The legal confusion centers on Republican Daniel Wong, who was appointed interim county judge earlier this year.
Before George's sentencing, a separate civil removal lawsuit resulted in visiting Judge Jeth Jones suspending George from office in April and appointing Wong, the 2026 Republican nominee for county judge, to serve the remainder of the unexpired term.
However, that civil removal lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed on June 17. Democratic county commissioners now argue that the dismissal invalidated Wong's appointment.
The disagreement intensified Wednesday evening when County Attorney Bridgette Smith-Lawson advised commissioners by email that Wong's appointment was no longer valid because the civil removal case had been non-suited.
According to a source, an official within the county's human resources department subsequently removed Wong from an employee software system before later restoring his access.
On Thursday morning, Wong's attorney, Christopher Hilton, responded with a letter criticizing Smith-Lawson's legal interpretation. Hilton argued that the "plain text" of the Texas Local Government Code supports Wong remaining in office. He also cited the Texas Constitution's "holdover provision," which allows elected or appointed officials to continue serving "until their successors are duly qualified."
"By charging ahead with your woefully inadequate legal opinion, you have sown partisan chaos and disrupted the operation of the Fort Bend County government," Hilton wrote. "For the good of the people of Fort Bend County, we urge you to correct your position immediately."
Despite the dispute, Wong took his seat as county judge when the Fort Bend County Commissioners Court convened Thursday morning.
Democratic Commissioners Grady Prestage and Dexter McCoy sought to exclude Wong from participating in the meeting, but the proposal failed. Both commissioners then walked out.
"I'm not going to participate in an illegal meeting with an illegal county judge," Prestage said before leaving the meeting room.
McCoy, who is the Democratic nominee for county judge, is scheduled to face Wong, the Republican nominee, in the November general election.
Following the walkout, Wong remained alongside Republican Commissioners Vincent Morales and Andy Meyers to conduct county business.
In a statement, Wong said his focus remains on governing rather than politics.
"My responsibility is not to engage in political arguments," Wong said. "My responsibility is to lead this county, to support our employees, to work with my fellow commissioners whenever possible, and to ensure that the business of county government continues without interruption."
Meyers defended Wong's participation and said he would not have remained for the meeting if Wong had been excluded.
"Because Judge Wong is present for today's meeting, Commissioner Prestage's unilateral attempt to assume the role of presiding officer of Commissioners Court to me constitutes an unlawful usurpation of the county judge's statutory authority," Meyers said. "Such conduct may amount to official misconduct and could potentially provide grounds for removal from office."
Smith-Lawson acknowledged the legal uncertainty, stating she had not identified legal precedent directly addressing the situation. She said that "out of an abundance of caution" she recommended proceeding without Wong and warned that votes taken during Thursday's meeting could ultimately be found invalid.
