Floresville, Texas — A Wilson County grand jury has indicted Justice of the Peace Jared Shaw on charges that he had three people arrested when he knew the arrests were unlawful. State regulators had already found he jailed one of them, a mother in a truancy case, without a hearing or a lawyer. The State Commission on Judicial Conduct suspended him without pay on Oct. 22.
What the indictment charges
The indictment, handed up Oct. 16, 2026, in the 81st/218th Judicial District Court, charges Shaw with three counts of official oppression and three counts of unlawful restraint. The commission’s suspension order describes all six as Class A misdemeanors.
Each official oppression count alleges that on or about April 7, 2025, Shaw intentionally subjected a person to an arrest he knew was unlawful while acting under color of his office as the Precinct 1 justice of the peace. The restraint counts allege he restrained the same three people without their consent. The indictment does not describe the circumstances of the other two arrests.
The commission received the indictment Oct. 21 and suspended Shaw the next afternoon, until the charges are dismissed, he is acquitted or the commission orders otherwise. Shaw, 55, declined to comment and referred questions to his defense attorney, who did not return a call, KSAT reported. The charges are allegations, and Shaw has not been convicted.
The mother jailed in a truancy hearing
At least two of the counts relate to a case the commission had already reviewed, according to KSAT. In a public reprimand issued March 9, 2026, after a review concluded at its Feb. 4-5 meeting, the commission found that a mother was summoned with her minor daughter on April 7, 2025, on a charge of Parent Contributing to Non-Attendance of a Minor. She pleaded no contest with a stated fine of $203.
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While the mother presented her case, the commission found, an assistant county attorney and a Floresville school district representative made rude and sarcastic comments and laughed at her, and Shaw did not admonish them. Shaw then told the girl, “I can’t put you in jail, but I can put your mom in jail for three days.” He held the mother in contempt and had her taken to the Wilson County Jail without a show cause hearing and without the right to counsel.
His contempt order said she had willfully failed to pay a $603 fine. The commission found that court documents contained no evidence of any earlier order for $603. Shaw visited her at the jail that evening and released her with a handwritten sticky note on the original order rather than a new order.
Three days later he met with her in his chambers without the prosecutor present, cut the fine to $100 and credited one day served. When she told him she could not pay, he did not hold the mandatory hearing on whether the fine imposed an undue hardship. He found her indigent months later, on July 18, 2025, also without a hearing.
Where the system failed
Shaw told the commission the mother and daughter had been flippant and that he wanted to send a message because it was the mother’s third time before him. The commission found he violated six canons of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct, including the duties to follow the law, to let every party be heard and to avoid ex parte communications.
The sanction for jailing a parent without a hearing was a reprimand and four hours of instruction with a mentor: three in truancy law and one in contempt law. Shaw stayed on the bench. Criminal charges came in October 2026, 18 months after the mother was booked into jail. The indictment lists Texas Ranger Brandon Tinsley as a witness.
Truancy courts sit outside the child welfare system, but parents who have faced CPS know the pattern: a judge removes a parent from a child on the spot, and the skipped rights surface later. A mentoring session is not accountability for that power. FAN’s family court guide explains the rights parents have when a judge threatens contempt or jail.
What’s next
Shaw was on the Nov. 3 ballot without an opponent for another term, KSAT reported. He remains suspended without pay while the criminal case is pending. No court date had been reported.
Key facts
- Wilson County Justice of the Peace Jared Shaw, Precinct 1, was indicted Oct. 16, 2026.
- Charges: three counts of official oppression and three counts of unlawful restraint, all Class A misdemeanors.
- The State Commission on Judicial Conduct suspended him without pay on Oct. 22, 2026.
- The commission earlier found he jailed a mother in an April 7, 2025, truancy hearing without a show cause hearing or counsel.
- His contempt order cited a $603 fine the commission found no record of.
- Shaw declined to comment; his attorney did not respond to KSAT.
Sources
- Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct — Order of Suspension and Indictment, CJC No. 27-0211 (2026-10-22)
- Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct — Public Reprimand and Order of Additional Education, CJC No. 25-0832 (2026-03-09)
- KSAT — Indictment: Wilson County justice of the peace had people arrested unlawfully (2026-10-22)
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