Judge kept chaotic Texas polygamist abuse case on track

"This is like a cattle auction. If you scratch your nose, you bought it," Walther said to a chorus of laughs.

Walther peppered the hearing with humor, easing frustrated attorneys and nervous witnesses.

When one of the lawyers sniped that he didn't understand why another attorney was following a particular line of questioning, Walther quipped, "If I knew the purpose of any lawyer's question, I wouldn't be sitting here."

To get a soft-spoken mother in a pioneer-style dress to speak loudly enough for everyone to hear, Walther leaned toward the witness box and said, "Pretend you're yelling at a child far, far away." The otherwise stoic woman smiled.

Walther, who could not be reached for comment Saturday, has a lot of experience with family law cases. Before being elected in 1992, the Southern Methodist University law graduate served as a special master in family law, a position that allowed her to hear parts of family law cases in the place of a judge.

Choate, who isn't involved in the polygamist custody case but has tried other cases before Walther, said, "She was really made for this case and I thought did a terrific job under incredibly adverse conditions."

Still, Walther made it clear she doesn't want to preside over a similar circus in the future. The hundreds of children in state custody will get individual hearings before June 5 to determine whether they'll have to remain in foster care or have a chance to go home.

"Trust me," she said Friday. "I'm going to do everything I can to avoid a mass hearing in the future."