It's hard to find Beaumont senior district court judge Larry Gist's party affiliation. He gave $250 to Republican Ted Poe's reelection campaign in 2009; he has a jail named after him; he jokingly refers to his progressive son as "my son the communist." I would guess "Republican," but he may be some species of East Texas Democrat.

I mention this because the Houston Chronicle's UGOI have already started trying to brand Judge Gist "a Liberal/Progressive/Activist Democrat judge and a documented opponent of the death penalty." Why? Because Judge Gist denied the State's motion to recuse Judge Kevin Fine from the John Edward Green Case. (Brian Rogers, Houston Chronicle.)

You remember: this was the motion in which the State conceded that it had no right to due process, but argued that Judge Fine should be recused because he presumed the defendant innocent.