Alan Shane Britton Suspended

Brown County Judge Alan "Shane" Britton was indicted on five charges in November 2025: three third-degree felonies — tampering with a government document, assault of a public servant, and tampering with a witness in a family violence case — plus two Class A misdemeanors for abuse of official capacity and hindering apprehension or prosecution.

According to the indictment, Britton struck a prosecutor in the head in March 2024 while she was conducting plea negotiations with defense counsel. Separately, prosecutors allege Britton tried to coerce or persuade a domestic violence victim to sign an affidavit declining to prosecute rather than testify against her abuser — an attempt to derail the case from the bench. A third allegation states Britton practiced law privately in Brown County while serving as county judge, in violation of state law barring the practice.

The Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct suspended Britton without pay, finding he failed to show that his continued service wouldn't jeopardize the interests of parties in proceedings before him or damage public confidence in the judiciary. As of last check, the Commission has kept that suspension in place and the underlying criminal case remains pending.

These are charges, not a conviction — but Texas's own judicial conduct commission didn't wait for a verdict to conclude Britton's continued service posed a real risk, and made an affirmative finding to that effect in suspending him without pay. Striking a prosecutor and pressuring a domestic violence victim not to testify, if proven, would be about as direct an obstruction of the justice system as a judge can commit.