Travis County Criminal Judge Has 'Serious Injury' After Shot Outside Austin Home

A state judge who handles Travis County’s most serious criminal cases was shot outside her Austin home and has been hospitalized with a serious injury, police said early Saturday.

The judge, Julie Kocurek, was listed in stable condition at University Medical Center-Brackenridge shortly after being shot Friday just after 10 p.m., according to Austin Police Cmdr. Mark Spangler.

“This injury, although extremely serious, does not appear to be life-threatening,” he said.

Police said Kocurek had just returned home with others when she was shot on the driveway of her house in Austin’s Tarrytown neighborhood on Scenic Drive. The first call came in at 10:16 p.m., and the first officer arrived five minutes later, police said. Nobody else was shot.

A neighbor of Kocurek’s told the American-Statesman that she “just heard four pops.”

Police said they have no suspects.

Kocurek has served as the presiding judge of the 390th District Court since being appointed by then-Gov. George W. Bush in January 1999, according to her online biography. She went on to become the only Republican elected to a state district judgeship in Travis County before switching to the Democrat party in 2006.

Most recently, she was overseeing the case of Mark Norwood, convicted in the 1986 killing of Christine Morton and is now facing charges in the 1988 death of Debra Baker, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

She also was presiding over the case of Dara Llorens, who was arrested in Mexico for the 2002 kidnapping of her daughter, Sabrina Allen, the paper reported.

District Judge David Wahlberg said he received word of the shooting after midnight.

Police are encouraging people to call 512-472-TIPS if they have any information about the case.

>>Photo of Judge Julie Kocurek from Travis County Courts.