The question of who will be replacing retiring Judge James Rush in the 244th District Court will remain unanswered until May 22 when Cindy Weir-Nutter and Lori Ruiz-Crutcher participate in a run-off election.
As of 10 p.m. Weir-Nutter had taken home 3,963 or 45.06% of the votes in Tuesday night’s Republican primary and Ruiz-Crutcher garnered 2,841 or 32.31%. Former Odessa Municipal Court Judge Dennis Jones came in a distant third with 22.63% or 1,990 votes. In order to win outright, one of the candidates needed to take home 50% plus 1 vote.
Weir-Nutter said she had hopes of avoiding a run-off election, but knew with three candidates it was unlikely. Still, she said she was pleased with the outcome.
In the coming months Weir-Nutter said she’ll continue to share her “vision and passion.”
Weir-Nutter thanked Jones for “running a clean race.”
“I have a lot of respect for him,” she said.
Ruiz-Crutcher said she was pleased with the outcome as well and intends to keep to her original campaign strategy, which she said is clearly resonating with voters.
“I’m the only candidate with integrity,” she said.
Ruiz-Crutcher, a native of Round Rock, obtained her bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of North Texas and her law degree from Texas Tech.
Prior to moving to Odessa in 2007 to work in the child support division of the Texas Attorney General’s Office, she was a legal assistant in a criminal defense law firm.
She joined the law firm of Atkins, Hollmann, Jones, Peacock, Lewis & Lyon in 2008 and is now a partner. She assists business clients in forming their businesses, mergers and acquisitions.
Although she’s not practiced criminal law, Ruiz-Crutcher has said she’s quick learner .
“I have no doubt I’ll be able to learn criminal law rather quickly so I can merge the two and run the court efficiently.”
Weir-Nutter, a Permian High School graduate, obtained her bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Texas Permian Basin and her law degree from Texas Tech. She clerked for the late U.S. District Judge Lucius Bunton III before spending time in private practice, handling primarily civil cases, but the occasional criminal defendant. She later went to work in the Ector County District Attorney’s Office prosecuting career criminals and defendants accused of sex crimes and crimes against children.
Weir-Nutter went back into private practice after several years and began representing children and their parents in Child Protection Court. After spending four years as the Ector County Attorney she returned to that type of work in 2013 and handles such matters in nine counties.
In addition to her 31 years as an attorney, Weir-Nutter has also spent 27 years as a mediator.
Throughout her campaign Ruiz-Crutcher has hammered on Weir-Nutter’s past.
While Ector County Attorney, Weir-Nutter was accused of failing to report employee compensation time to the county and giving out more comp time than county policy allowed. After a months-long investigation by the Texas Attorney General’s Office and the Texas Rangers, an Ector County grand jury absolved her of any criminal activities, choosing instead to criticize county policy in a rare written report.
In addition, Weir-Nutter received a partially probated suspension from the Texas State Bar in 1999. She has said her offense was a minor violation she didn’t dispute because of personal issues going on in her life at the time.
She has also pointed out transactional attorneys like Ruiz-Crutcher rarely get into the courtroom so the risk of them being disciplined is a small one.
