What began with high hopes in January 2021 ended in a resignation just four months later. And now, four years on, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct has issued a public admonition of former Hays County Court at Law No. 3 Judge Millie Thompson, concluding she engaged in conduct “clearly inconsistent with the proper performance of her duties” and brought “public discredit on the judiciary” .

The Commission’s 5-page findings read like a blow-by-blow of a courthouse consumed by chaos — from shouting matches and firings to trespass warnings against fellow judges and locksmiths changing office doors under threat of contempt.

Early Clashes With Staff

Thompson took office on January 4, 2021. Within weeks, friction with her staff surfaced.

On January 21, Chris Perez, the court’s lead assistant administrator, emailed Thompson to notify her that a probate case had been mistakenly placed on another court’s docket. Thompson responded curtly: “This is grounds for termination – if you are my coordinator.”

The next day, Perez was summoned into her chambers. According to sworn statements, Thompson grilled him about the probate mix-up, accused him of lying to her twice “by omission,” and repeatedly tried to pressure him into admitting dishonesty. When he pushed back and asked her to provide proof, she raised her voice and told him to leave. As he exited, she yelled: “You’re fired! Yes you are, you’re fired!”

The confrontation was overheard by Judge Robert Updegrove of County Court at Law No. 1, who later accompanied Perez to Human Resources. Perez submitted sworn complaints accusing Thompson of creating a hostile work environment. Thompson denied the claim, asserting that Perez disrespected her authority and refused to leave her chambers when ordered.

“Cease and Desist” Against Fellow Judges

Later that month, Thompson turned her ire on her colleagues. She issued a cease-and-desist order and criminal trespass warning against Judge Chris Johnson of CCL2 and Judge Updegrove, forbidding them and their staff from entering her chambers.

In a letter later quoted by the Austin American-Statesman, she wrote: “You have created a hostile work environment by entering my chambers without my consent. … I had to order a man I just fired out of my office more than four times, and he still refused to leave. … Cease and desist your retaliation against me for winning the bench.”

In her defense before the Commission, Thompson argued that Johnson and Updegrove were trying to prevent her from exercising reforms, including appointing attorneys for indigent defendants and reducing bail for misdemeanor defendants. She accused them of “taking control over CCL3 through the staff.”

The Locksmith Episode

As tensions escalated, Thompson took the extraordinary step of hiring a private locksmith to rekey her office at the Hays County Government Center. When the head of building maintenance confronted her about county policy and offered the proper forms, he said she berated him, issued a written “order,” and threatened him with contempt of court unless he complied .

Thompson disputed this version. She told the Commission that she only acted after following advice from another elected official and denied berating the staffer, instead claiming he was the one yelling and demanding a court order.

Staff Describe a Toxic Atmosphere

The Commission heard from Kyla Crumley Stoddard, Thompson’s assistant court administrator, who painted a bleak picture of the office environment.

In a statement to HR, Stoddard said she felt “alienated” from her colleagues out of fear that Thompson would punish her for fraternizing with staff from other courts. In an affidavit to the Commission, she described the atmosphere as “toxic, stressful, demeaning, and hostile,” recalling how Thompson accused Perez of trying to make her look bad and screamed so loudly that staff “all down the hallway could hear.”

Thompson countered that she treated Stoddard professionally but admitted she disliked her, calling her “the beneficiary of back-door nepotism” and “not good at her job” .

Judges Speak Out

Thompson’s colleagues also weighed in.

Judge Johnson told the Commission that, despite Thompson’s short time in office, she caused “a great deal of interruption, stress and even fear” for those working with or appearing before her.

Judge Updegrove said she made little effort to integrate with existing staff, insisted on hiring her own administrator (a break from the county’s centralized system), and created “intolerable” daily staffing crises .

The Lawsuit Against Her Colleagues

On April 8, 2021, Thompson filed a declaratory judgment lawsuit against Johnson and Updegrove. She alleged that Johnson, as Local Administrative Judge, unlawfully blocked her from appointing her own coordinator and court reporter.

Later, she expanded the lawsuit to include the Commissioners Court, demanding it provide and fund compensation for the coordinator she sought to appoint.

Thompson described the case as a whistleblower action, claiming she was being silenced as “a lone female judge” seeking reforms. But she eventually nonsuited the case, and it was dismissed .

Unexplained Recusals

The Commission also criticized Thompson for recusing herself from several attorneys’ cases without offering valid legal explanations. She defended the recusals as proper under Texas law, but the Commission concluded they violated her obligation to decide matters assigned to her .

Declining to Testify

When called before the Commission in August 2025, Thompson appeared in person but refused to testify, citing her inability to afford an attorney.

The Commission’s Final Word

The Commission concluded that Thompson violated Canon 3B(1) (duty to decide matters assigned) and Canon 3B(4) (requirement to act with patience, dignity, and courtesy) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct. It also found her actions violated Article V, Section 1-a(6)A of the Texas Constitution by engaging in “willful and persistent conduct” inconsistent with her duties .

She was formally publicly admonished — the lightest form of public discipline, but one that cements her legacy in the official record.

Fallout and Legacy

By the time she resigned on May 12, 2021, just four months into her term, Thompson’s court had already been the subject of a barrage of press coverage. Headlines in the Austin American-Statesman, Hays Free Press, and even the ABA Journal chronicled her firing of staff, “insane chaos” inside her courtroom, lock-changing disputes, and internecine battles with other judges.

With the Commission’s admonition, the official record now mirrors those headlines: a tenure marked by hostility, mistrust, and upheaval.

Yet Thompson continues to insist she was targeted by entrenched powers resistant to change. Whether she was a disruptive force who brought chaos to the court, or a reformer pushed out by those who controlled it, the outcome is the same: her judgeship ended not in reform, but in rebuke.

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