Burnet County Judge booked in Lampasas County Jail on felony charge

By Alexandria Randolph

Burnet County Judge James Neil Oakley was booked in Lampasas County Jail Thursday after an indictment on multiple criminal charges this week. 

On Tuesday, Oakley, 57, was indicted on a third-degree felony charge of tampering or fabricating physical evidence with intent to impair, two charges of abuse of official capacity and one charge of official oppression. He was booked into the Lampasas County Jail on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. and was released 27 minutes later.

Oakley’s bond was set at a total of $5,000 for all four charges. He is being represented by defense attorney John C. Carsey of Minton, Bassett, Flores & Carsey, P.C., an Austin law firm.
 
Burnet County Court records show that the charges stemmed from incidents on April 1 and April 2 of 2021, and Sept. 17, 2021.

According to Burnet County officials, Oakley was sworn into office as the Burnet County judge on Jan. 1, 2015.  He is a fifth-generation Burnet County resident and graduated from Burnet High School.

In 1998, Oakley was elected as a Burnet County commissioner and served eight years. He was also appointed by former Texas governors George W. Bush and Rick Perry to serve on several advisory committees, including the Regional Review Committee for the Community Block Development Grant Program from HUD, on which he still serves.

Oakley is also the Pedernales Electric Cooperative District 5 board director and a board member for the Capitol Area Metropolitan Planning Organization and the Capitol Area Council of Governments.

The Texas Constitution vests broad judicial and administrative powers in the position of county judge, who presides over a five-member commissioners court. The court has budgetary and administrative authority over county government operations. The judge is responsible for calling elections, posting election notices, and for receiving and canvassing the election returns. As county judge, Oakley presides over civil court, probate cases and guardianships. The county judge is head of civil defense and disaster relief, county welfare and is the chief budget officer.

More information will be posted as it becomes available.

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Burnet County Judge booked in Lampasas County Jail on felony charge