A judge in Texas has intervened in a child sex trafficking case to tell the jury that God told him that they should deliver a not guilty verdict.
Jack Robinson, a district judge in the city of New Braunfels, took it upon himself to tell the jury, who were already deliberating in the case.
Gloria Romero-Perez was accused of trafficking her teenage niece into the United States from Honduras and then subsequently selling her on to a man in Texas for $6,000.
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She was arrested in Comal County, of which New Braunfels is the seat, in August 2016 with bail set at $500,000.
"When God tells me I gotta do something, I gotta do it," Robinson said, reports the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung. He then recused himself from the trial.
The jury ignored his divine intervention and pronounced Romero-Perez, the defendant, guilty. She was later given 25 years in jail for her part in the crime.
She was convicted of trafficking the child, who was just 15 when she was brought to the United States, but acquitted of selling the child.
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The man to whom she attempted to sell her niece, Julio Jimenez-Ramirez, later impregnated the girl, who has subsequently given birth. Jimenez-Ramirez been incarcerated for his role in the affair.
Ms Romero-Perez claimed that she smuggled the girl to the United States with her grandmother, only for her to run off with Mr Jimenez-Ramirez.
Ms Romero-Perez alleges that the $6,000 that she asked for the girl was merely to cover the costs incurred in bringing her niece into America.
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Ms Romero-Perez actually reported herself to the police in Comal County when she contacted them to find the girl, whom she claimed had run away.
When the police arrived to take the teenager back to her aunt, the girl claimed that her aunt had sold her to Mr Jimenez-Ramirez.
"The child said, well no, wait, my aunt sold me to him. At which point she showed some receipts with the Aunt's name on it and a handwritten contract," said Detective Anthony Moreno of Comal County Sheriff's Office.
Romero-Perez's lawyer, Sylvia Cavazos, is to ask for a mistrial to be declared in her client's case because of the actions of the judge, despite him apparently attempting to intervene on her behalf.
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The court has yet to comment on whether re-trial will be ordered.
The judge is due to return to duty at the end of January.
Featured Image Credit: Comal County Sheriff's Office