DALLAS — A judicial candidate for one of Dallas County’s family violence courts turned herself into jail Thursday on a family violence charge.
Elissa Wev is accused of attacking her former girlfriend in their Oak Cliff home last month during an attempt to get her partner’s phone because she suspected infidelity, according to court records.
Wev, 35, is campaigning for judge of Dallas County Criminal Court at Law 10, which handles misdemeanor domestic violence cases at the Frank Crowley Courts Building in Dallas. She is running against incumbent Etta Mullin and attorney Monique Bracey Huff. The race will be decided by the Democratic primary because there is not a Republican candidate.
In a statement provided by her lawyer, Wev said she learned about the police investigation and arrest warrant on Wednesday and is cooperating with law enforcement. She said she will “fully exercise” her rights in court and is continuing with her campaign.
“This is a very painful matter to have handled in the public eye for all parties involved, and I would like to proceed in a manner respectful to the voters and communities I have served,” Wev said.
She declined to address specific accusations that are detailed in the affidavit for an arrest warrant.
“I will not be litigating this matter in the public square,” Wev said.
In an interview with The Dallas Morning News last month, Wev said she has dedicated much of her career to domestic violence issues. She started as a public defender in Dallas County before going to the district attorney’s office, where she spent several years in the family violence division. The past two years, she has worked in the public integrity division, which handles officer-involved shootings, in-custody deaths and other misconduct of public officials. She resigned from the office Dec. 14 to run for judge.
Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot said Friday he plans to file a motion to recuse his office from prosecuting the case. If a judge grants the recusal, another county’s district attorney would handle the case.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, the attack occurred on Dec. 7, 2021. Wev’s former partner contacted Dallas police sometime later “because she was in shock and it took courage to file the report,” Dallas police Detective Victor Quezada wrote.
Wev was packing her things as she and her former partner were ending their relationship of more than seven years, according to the affidavit.
The former partner said Wev tackled her in their bedroom and tried to grab her cellphone to see who she had been communicating with, according to the affidavit. The struggle over the phone moved into the bathroom, where the former partner said Wev closed the door and again tackled her to the floor. The former partner said Wev pinned her arms and legs to the ground and pressed her head and neck against the heater, according to the affidavit.
Wev gave up and went into another room, the affidavit says, but she again attacked her former partner in the living room. The former partner recorded a video of the attack on her cellphone, which she shared with police, according to the affidavit.
The former partner told police she locked herself in another room and Wev used a broomstick handle to try to break the glass of the door, according to the affidavit.
The former partner said Wev stopped when she told her she was making a phone call. Wev eventually apologized and said she was out of her mind, the former partner told police, the affidavit says.
The former partner also shared photos taken throughout the attack as well as photos of her injuries, according to the affidavit.
The detective interviewed a friend of the former partner who said she saw that the woman’s knuckles were bloodied and bandaged a week after the incident. The former partner first said she suffered the injuries during construction work, but later said Wev attacked her.
Wev does not have a history of family violence, the detective noted in the affidavit.
Wev was released from the Dallas County jail on Thursday, shortly after turning herself in, jail records show.
———
