A Texas district judge was arrested and charged with family violence assault overnight Friday, NBC 5 has learned. In a statement, his attorney said the allegations made by the victim are false.
Early Saturday morning NBC 5 received the mugshot for Judge Carlos Cortez, who was booked into a Dallas jail at about 4:30 a.m.
According to a Dallas police report, Cortez and his girlfriend of 13 months got into an argument over the location of a child's medication while at an apartment on McKinney Avenue.
While talking with police, the woman told officers that they had been drinking alcohol for several hours. The woman then told police that Cortez grabbed her by her throat several times, dragged her by her hair to a balcony and leaned her over the edge while verbally threatening to kill her.
The woman, identified in the report, displayed several marks on her neck to officers before being examined and treated.
According to the report, a juvenile witnessed the entire incident.
Earlier this month, a DallasNews.com report said Cortez has spent more than three years and $135,000 in legal fees fighting to keep certain aspects of his private life from the public.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
Cortez, who was arrested and charged in the family violence case, bonded out shortly before 9:00 a.m. Saturday.
On Saturday evening, Andy "Gator" Korn, the attorney for Judge Cortez issued this statement:
Judge Cortez has not been indicted or charged with any offense. Judge Cortez will speak specifically to the arrest in any official proceeding that may result. The allegations made by the complainant are false. If necessary, it will be shown in the proper forum that Judge Cortez actually saved her life. Judge Cortez will continue to serve the State of Texas and Dallas County like he has for the last seven years - as an award winning jurist who handles his court with courtesy and dignity to all who seek Justice.
NBC 5's Eric King and Ray Villeda contributed to this report. An initial version of this story reported that Cortez had been in elected office since 1996 instead of 2006, we regret the error.
