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2023 threat probe reveals deeper conflict between JP, ex-judge

Lisa Whitehead, James Oakley

Burnet County Precinct 2 Justice of the Peace Lisa Whitehead reportedly made life-threatening statements against former Burnet County Judge James Oakley in 2023. The two public officials have a history of animosity, which culminated in Oakley resigning after a public reprimand for courthouse security violations and sexual harassment of Whitehead and other women in Burnet County government. File photos

A recently surfaced 2023 Burnet County Sheriff’s Office investigation revealed another layer to an ongoing conflict between two county officials. The probe began after a third official reported serious concerns over life-threatening statements made by Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace Lisa Whitehead against former Burnet County Judge James Oakley.

On Oct. 11, 2023, Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace Roxanne Nelson told Burnet County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Amy Willeke that, on numerous occasions, Whitehead said she was going to “shoot County Judge James Oakley” and that Nelson was worried about Whitehead’s mental health. 

Nelson walked back the remarks when questioned by BCSO in a follow-up investigation. 

Willeke’s incident report was part of the timeline of conflict between Whitehead and the former county judge that culminated in Oakley’s resignation on Dec. 18, 2024, in the aftermath of a public reprimand from the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct for courthouse security violations and numerous instances of sexual harassment against Whitehead and other women in Burnet County government spanning multiple years.

Following the report to BCSO, an investigation was carried out by Investigator Chris King but no charges were filed. It was not until after the commission’s reprimand that Willeke’s report and King’s investigation were shared with DailyTrib.com as well as on social media by Oakley.

Read the full public reprimand and investigative report from the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct here.

Read the full Oct. 11, 2023, incident report from Sgt. Willeke and King’s investigative report here.

The opening statement of Willeke’s report reads: “On October 11, 2023, Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 Judge Roxanne Nelson advised me that she has been told by Justice of the Peace Precinct 2 Judge Lisa Whitehead on numerous occasions that Judge Whitehead is going to shoot County Judge James Oakley.”

The report continues:

“Judge Nelson is worried about Judge Whitehead’s mental health since … Judge Whitehead has become extremely easy to anger over small things, and she has become so fixated upon injuring or killing Judge Oakley which has gone beyond just politics.”

King interviewed Nelson, Oakley, and Whitehead in his proceeding investigation, finding some level of historical animosity between Whitehead and the former judge, but nothing came of it.

“Nelson advised me when Whitehead made the remarks (about shooting Oakley), they were always conditional,” reads a Nov. 2, 2023, excerpt from King’s report. “She advised me that she never said it directly as to kill Oakley, it was if Oakley did something to her or something then she would take action.”

King’s interview with Whitehead hinted at the specifics of her concerns.

“I made contact with Lisa Whitehead (her) office and spoke with her about the accusations that were made,” reads a Nov. 8, 2023, excerpt from King’s report. “She advised me that she has been scared of what Oakley has done to her in the past like sitting in the courtroom in the dark and other things.”

Whitehead was referring to a contentious incident from Jan. 6, 2023, where she was in her office and discovered Oakley sitting in her courtroom alone without announcing his presence to her. The incident was included in the judicial conduct commission’s December 2024 reprimand of Oakley.

“It was unclear how long Judge Oakley sat in that manner,” reads a line from the reprimand. “Judge Oakley’s presence startled and frightened Judge Whitehead.”

Oakley has publicly rejected Whitehead’s perception of the day’s events, posting on his personal Facebook page on Jan. 10 that he was just waiting in the courtroom for an appointment with a real estate appraiser. 

“The allegation that I was hiding in a darkened courtroom to scare Whitehead is ridiculous,” reads an excerpt from the Facebook post.

Whitehead sent DailyTrib.com a statement regarding the recent circulation of the 2023 Willeke and King reports.

“At no point was I a threat to James Oakley,” she said. “I felt threatened every day I went to my office. The Commission found that his behavior was unacceptable and he was publicly reprimanded. I am grateful for the hard work done by the Commission and their staff, and look forward to working with other elected officials and (county employees) to continue to serve the people of Burnet County.

Documented conflict between Whitehead and Oakley goes back to at least November 2022, when Oakley removed the locks from Whitehead’s courtroom doors and had another lock installed in the floor to keep them perpetually open. This violated courthouse security standards and was part of Oakley’s public reprimand from the judicial conduct commission. 

Whitehead also reported several instances of bullying and sexual harassment against herself and other women in county government by Oakley over the span of several years. The commission found merit in these allegations and included them in their reprimand.

“(This reprimand is for Oakley’s) failure to perform his judicial duties without bias or prejudice and/or manifested bias or prejudice towards Judge Whitehead through his words and conduct and his pattern of sexual harassment towards other women in Burnet County,” reads the conclusion of the commission’s reprimand. “Judge Oakley’s failure in these respects constituted willful or persistent conduct that is clearly inconsistent with the proper performance of his duties and cast public discredit upon the judiciary or the administration of justices. …”

dakota@thepicayune.com

16 thoughts on “2023 threat probe reveals deeper conflict between JP, ex-judge

  1. Is anybody truly surprised? Smoke has been billowing out of the Burnet County Courthouse for years now. Very few seemed to care. After all 5,400+ Burnet County citizens rubber stamped this clown show even though this unprofessional act was known to a huge number of folks years ago.

    Well, you wanted this fiasco to continue, you got it. You got what you deserved.

    The Burnet County Republican groups heard the grumbling. They rubber stamped him on to commit more transgressions.

    The Commissioners were certainly privy to this putrid leadership. They did nothing. More rubber stamping. Did they ever stand up against anything much less the spending sprees?

    Good people were left on an island to fend for themselves while the 7th grade bully got away with it.

    It’s almost as if the Biden Administration was operating here in Burnet County.

    Investigate. Ask questions. Get involved.

  2. Pardon me, I need to self-correct. “Condone” means to accept & allow – harassment of any kind should NOT be condoned at all, in any circumstance and especially not by someone in a position of power and authority.

    To rephrase: Why hasn’t the County publicly CONDEMNED this harassment by an elected official? We need to know that steps are being taken to make sure this situation never ever happens again.

    What say you, Commissioners?

  3. Anyone who knows the layout of the courthouse knows that Oakley could have sat on the bench in the hallway OUTSIDE the JP courtroom to wait for the realtor. The only reason he waited INSIDE the JP courtroom was to harass & intimidate JP Whitehead.

    I don’t understand why the County is silent on this sordid situation. Why hasn’t a statement been issued condoning harassment of any kind but especially standing up against sexual harassment? Who is protecting the women in the county’s employ?

  4. Oakley’s creepy actions are nothing new to many women in Burnet. It was always brushed of as “its just James.” This JP had the courage to stand up to him (unlike some of our current commissioners).

  5. Thank you Daily Trib for the rest of the story! Seems there is always another side to the story.

  6. How many women do you have to harass before it’s considered sexual harassment. I guarantee you there are more out there that have had similar experiences with Oakley.
    He was not “hounded out “. If you look into his history, you’ll see a pattern of dubious behavior.
    Glad he’s gone. Hopefully the remaining commissioner’s will get the county back on track.

  7. Pure example of abuse of power by Oakley. Read the reprimand handed down by the Judicial Commission. There were multiple women not just Whitehead. More to surface with names if he did not resign. Others were behind them. He was told to resign or he would be removed based on being a safety threat to women employees of the county and probably elsewhere. As he should be. All he knows how to do is retaliate and not take any responsibility for his actions. This article is proof of that. These poor women were afraid to speak up in fear of losing their jobs. Awful! Good for Whitehead for standing up to it and getting others to speak out. Thank goodness we can move on to better leadership. I hope.

    1. The Burnet County Commissioners and County Attorney are oddly quiet about this persistent and unacceptable behaviour.

  8. I thought Dakota did a good job of providing facts and evidence.

  9. I had a much longer comment but it would not post.

    Are you telling me that “the woman must be crazy” is the narrative that this newspaper is choosing to push? Considering Whitehead is not Oakley’s only accuser, this whole mess looks to me like a politician trying to save face. It’s sad that instead of giving us the news, the Daily Tribune is being used by Oakley to further manipulate and discredit victims.

  10. Is this a serious news article? Has our local newspaper declined so drastically that our stories are now the equivalent of Facebook drama? This was essentially a rant trying to portray JP Whitehead as the crazed scorned woman because she had the audacity to stand up to her abuser who held a position of power. I think I’ve seen this film before…

    Oakley has been terminated from his position due to not only Whitehead’s allegations, but the allegations of multiple women. To shift the focus away from his heinous acts to essentially call his victims crazy, although cliche, is unacceptable.

    Additionally, Dakota, if you had bothered to do any bit of research before deciding to put all your effort into collecting workplace gossip, you would know that Whitehead showing symptoms of irritability, withdrawal from work, and anger are the basic symptoms that present themselves in people who are victims of workplace sexual harassment.

    I am beyond disappointed for this community if this is truly what represents the voice of our locals.

    1. Howdy Savannah,

      I agree with you about the effects of harassment over time. And yes, Oakley is clearing just trying to wriggle out again from under his egregious misdeeds, now that he got caught. But Dakota is merely quoting the statements of Willeke, Nelson, King. He’s doing a lot better than our other local newspaper twins, both of whom studiously ignore or whitewash any offenses by Oakley.

      For example, when all 4 of our women JPs suffered a roughly 20% compensation cut by Oakley, and filed a formal grievance hearing, there was testimony in court that Oakley had been manipulating their compensation elements for several years in a successful effort to give himself a raise. Shocker.

      What was the Bulletin’s headline on that? “Accounting Mishap” – lol, whoops I did it again! Their reporter was right there in the front row listening to testimony, but that was his headline. What a joke.

      The DailyTrib is doing actual reporting.

      1. “Reporting” involves doing research to fact check the comments people give you, not just writing whatever town gossip you hear.

        Give us some serious local high school students to do this job, it would be much less filled with petty gossip.

  11. I do not know what happened with this situation. It’s a lot of he said, she said. It does kinda look like they hounded this man out of his job. Just sayin’.

    1. He overstepped when he removed the courtroom door lock and padlocked the courtroom door open. After reading the entire Reprimand you really think those women hounded him out of office?

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