Community Court Professional Staff

Judge Michael A. Coffey, born in Austin, is the fulltime judge at the Downtown Austin Community Court (DACC). Judge Coffey took over the court fulltime in December 2002 when Judge Elizabeth Earle, the first permanent judge at the DACC, resigned to take over as judge in Travis County Court at Law Seven. Judge Coffey attended the University of Texas, Southwest Texas State University and Texas Tech University respectively, for bachelors' (economics & finance), masters (counseling) and doctor of jurisprudence (law) degrees. Judge Coffey is a certified public accountant, and prior to law school, worked in financial accounting and tax law for six years. Out of law school, he worked as a prosecutor in Williamson County for three years, and then practiced as a criminal defense attorney in Travis and Williamson counties for eight years, including a two year stint at the Travis County Juvenile Public Defender's Office, before taking the bench as an associate municipal court judge. The judge lives and works in Austin and plays softball wherever he happens to be.

Greg Toomey, Court Administrator for twelve years, the past five of which have been for the Downtown Austin Community Court. Graduate of Texas State University in San Marcos and South Texas College of Law in Houston. Member, National Association for Court Management. Completion of the National Center for State Courts' program, Leadership and Management in the Courts and Justice Environment, conducted in Santa Fe New Mexico. Law Review article focusing on the Community Court Model: Community Courts 101: A Quick Survey Course, [42 Idaho L. Rev. 383]. Article published April, 2006 in the University of Idaho Law Review, Symposium Edition.

Peter Valdez, LMSW, Deputy Court Administrator is in charge of court operations, including supervision of both the rehab and clerical teams. Peter moved to Austin, in the Fall of 2000, from Las Cruces, New Mexico where he worked as a child/adolescent and crisis therapist in a community mental health agency. While in Las Cruces, Peter also facilitated court-mandated men's groups with La Casa, Inc., a program for domestic violence victims and their families. While pursuing his masters degree at New Mexico State University, Peter worked as an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Counselor, interned with the Las Cruces Public Schools Character Building Program as a counselor for youth at-risk, and worked as a graduate assistant for New Mexico State University's Athletic Academic Program as a mentor/counselor for student-athletes. Peter is a licensed Master of Social Work (LMSW), is CPR certified and was also a part of the Dona Ana County Critical Incident Stress Management Team in New Mexico. Peter continues to facilitate domestic violence prevention groups to court-mandated individuals for the Austin Stress Clinic. Peter is also the program administrator and instructor for the Community Court’s Alcohol Education Program for Minors, and the field instructor and supervisor for the Community Court’s student interns from the University of Texas-Austin, St. Edwards University, and Texas State University. Peter is a current member of the Texas Municipal Courts Association, Texas Court Clerks Association, and the National Association for Court Management, the National Association for Social Workers (NASW) and the City of Austin International City/County Management Association (ICMA) Hispanic Network. Peter has also served as a member of the Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) Latino Advisory Council and the National Council of La Raza.

John Wall, has been the prosecutor in Community Court since the second year of the court's operation. He graduated from University of Texas at Austin with a B.A. in Psychology. Attend Texas Tech Law School where he received a Doctor of Jurisprudence. He had a private practice prior to coming to work at the Court.

Eddie Fincher, Case Manager, has managed the Community Service Restitution Program since the Downtown Austin Community Court opened its doors on October 1, 1999. Graduate of Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, with a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice. Certified: Texas Drug and Alcohol Awareness Program Administrator and Instructor, Crisis Negotiator, Post Trauma Instructor and Emergency Shelter Manager. Elected to the City Manager’s Employee Committee on Workforce Issues, 2005-2006 & 2006-2007. Member of the City Manager’s Childcare Task Force 2006. Received Public Service Recognition Award in 2004 & 2007. Named Outstanding Public Sector Partner of the Year in 2006. Prior to working for the court he was employed with Texas Department of Criminal Justice for over 10 years working in three different divisions: Ellis I Unit-Death Row-Institutional Division, Internal Affairs Division-Headquarters and the State Jail Division-Headquarters at the State Capital Complex.

John Lawyer, M.A.C., LPCI, joined the court staff in August 2005, replacing Andrea Valenti. John had served for nearly a year as a case manager intern with the DACC while working on his permanent state of Texas license as a counselor. He graduated from St. Edward’s University in Austin in 2004 with a Master of Arts degree in Counseling after working in project management and executive positions for 25 years in publishing. In addition to some continuing case management duties with the court, John is responsible for coordinating services on behalf of court clients in the areas of mental health, housing, employment, and substance abuse treatment. He also handles communications with the public and with outside agencies on behalf of DACC.

Bernard Wilson MS, LBSW, RAS, LCDC - CASE MANAGER, a licensed social worker responsible for assessing defendants, referring them to the appropriate social services, and monitoring their compliance and progress. Bernard has worked in the field of human services for over 20 years. He has worked in the psychiatric field at the Austin State Hospital, Austin State School, and ATC-MHMR during his 20 year tenure in the mental health field. His work experience also includes working in the criminal justice field at Texas Department of Criminal Justice as a Program Administrator I, Parole Officer, and Substance Abuse Case Manager. Bernard received his Masters in Sociology from Madison University in 2002, and his Bachelors of Arts degree from Huston Tillotson University in 1980. He has been a Licensed Bachelor Social Worker since 1994, Bernard received his Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor status in 1995, and he received the status of a Registered Addiction Specialist in 2000 from Breining Institute College for the Advance Study of Addiction Disorder. In 2003, he was certified by Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (TDSHS) as a DWI Intervention Administrator/Instructor, and a year later he was certified by TCADA(TDSHS) as a Texas Drug Offender Education Program Administrator/Instructor. Bernard was also trained personally by Ellen Pence of the Duluth Minnesota Men's Educational Programs for Batterers. He served as Battering Intervention Prevention Program facilitator at Child and Family Services, Inc. Family Violence Diversion Program in Austin, Texas for 8 years. He is a former Board Member of the Texas Council on Family Violence, and worked with other Travis County Citizens developing the Battering Intervention and Prevention Program (BIPP) Guidelines for programs locally, and served in the same capacity for programs for the State of Texas.

Matthew Olson, MA, NCC, LPC-Intern, Community Service Restitution Coordinator, manages the community service restitution program for the Downtown Austin Community Court. In addition, Matthew provides counseling and case management services to clients at the community court. Matthew graduated from Texas State University in San Marcos with a Masters of Arts in Professional Counseling in 2006 and received his Bachelors of Arts degree from Baylor University in 2003. While attending Texas State, Matthew worked as a Masters level counseling intern at the community court and in addition co-facilitated anger management groups at the Austin Stress Clinic. Matthew came to the DACC after working as the team leader at Project Recovery, a 180-day court mandated program for male individuals who are dully diagnosed with substance abuse and mental health issues. While at Project Recovery, Matthew functioned as the team leader, intensive case manager, and the judicial liaison. As the team leader, Matthew served as the de-facto program director to ensure that procedures and processes were carried out on a day-to-day basis to promote an effective and efficient program, collected and maintained a data base of information required by contracts, and complied regular reports as required by funders. As an intensive case manager, Matthew provided direct substance abuse and case management services and facilitated group and individual education and skills training with clients. As the judicial liaison, Matthew worked closely with Travis County Court of Law #5 to conduct assessments on potential clients and to facilitate and participate in treatment reviews with judges and other legal representatives.

Luz Lozano, is the Comunity Court's computer programmer. He graduated with a B.S. in Computer Science from Texas State University. Before coming to the court he formerly worked for a Nasa subcontractor and a Dot-Com startup. His work entails generating Ad-Hoc querys for the court, updating the Downtown Austin Comunity Court System, and keeping it up and running.

City Marshals

The City Marshals are playing a critical role in the overall success of the court in many ways. For peace officers, encouraging offenders to appear in court and stay in treatment is a new role that they have taken on quite well. The court has also received positive feedback in how firm; yet concerned the Marshals are when serving warrants, to those offenders who do not comply with court orders.

Jorge Rojas, Deputy Marshal assigned to Downtown Austin Community Court for the past three years. Prior to coming to DACC, Deputy Rojas has worked for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department as a deputy sheriff & worked with the Attorney General's Office, Internal Investigations Department. He is responsible for building security, processing prisoners, screening defendants with mental health disorders, serving subpoenas, warrant service, maintaining court decorum and addressing any law enforcement need of the court. Deputy Rojas has a Business Degree from Lamar University, Vice President of Delta Epsilon Chi, Business Fraternity. He is TCADA (Texas Commission on Alcohol & Drug Abuse) certified as an administrator/ instructor, CIT (Crisis Intervention Team) certified to deal with mental health issues, and has over 15 years of law enforcement experience.

COMMUNITY COURT ADVISORY COMMITTEE.

The Downtown Austin Community Court Advisory Committee advises the Downtown Austin Community Court on policy and operational issues. The Advisory Committee is composed of 13 members appointed by the city council, including members who are representatives of downtown businesses, public service community entities and neighborhoods within the jurisdiction of the court as well as other stakeholders in community and restorative justice. This eclectic group plays a valuable role in defining and deliberating issues to enhance the quality of court services and needs. The Advisory Committee meets once every two months. The meetings are held at City Hall, in the Boards and Commissions Room, typically from 7:30 A.M. until 9:00 A.M. on the third Wednesday of those months scheduled for meetings.

Meeting Notices are both posted at City Hall and published in the City of Austin Web Site at www.ci.austin.tx.us. Click on the link to go to City Connections, where you will find the Connection Calendar, listing all meetings of City of Austin boards and commissions. Downtown Community Court staff post the meeting notice for its Advisory Committee at least five working days prior to each meeting. You may also contact John Lawyer, Downtown Austin Community Court Resource Coordinator, at 512-974-4878 with any questions about meetings of the Advisory Committee.