Joel Jacobsen

If a judge gets removed from the bench, he or she returns to the practice of law - which, some of us think, is not such a hideous fate.  I'd even be inclined to think it preferable to public humiliation.  But that's not how judges see it.  They are, as a class, insanely committed to clinging to power.  And judicial disciplinary commissions are extremely reluctant to pry away their fingers.  (See post 60.)

A couple examples.  Meet Albany's City Judge William A. Carter.  When a defendant representing himself went on about the illegality of the proceedings, as pro se defendants are wont to do, Judge Carter

became angry and, without adjourning the proceeding, abruptly removed his glasses, got up from the bench, removed his judicial robe and dropped it to the floor and proceeded rapidly in the direction of the defendant, in a manner indicating his purpose was to confront the defendant.  [Carter] was upset at the time of the incident and does not recall what he was thinking at the time he proceeded toward the defendant, but agrees that his conduct indicated his intent to confront the defendant.

            One witness present in the courtroom heard [Carter] say of or to the defendant, “You want a piece of me?”  [Carter] does not recall making this statement, because he was upset at the time of the incident, but he does not deny making the statement.

            As [Carter] left the bench, Police Officer Timothy Corbitt, who was responsible for guarding the defendant in the courtroom, quickly removed the defendant from the courtroom through a clerk’s office.  Another police officer, Mark Leonardo, physically blocked [Carter]’s path by placing himself in front of [Carter], who was headed in the direction of the clerk’s office.  [Carter] tried to go around Officer Leonardo by stepping to one side and then another, but Officer Leonardo continued to block [Carter]by sidestepping along with him each time.

See?  That's why we need cameras in the courtroom.  I've never previously heard of a deputy guarding a defendant from the judge.

In another case, Judge Carter released a repeat offender on his own recognizance in violation of New York law.  When an officer complained that the defendant, in the spirit of the judge's order, had flipped him off inside the courtroom, the judge said: "If you are so upset about it, why don’t you just thump the shit [out] of him outside the courthouse, because I am not going to do anything about it."

So: knowingly violating the law; encouraging cops to beat up prisoners; challenging a defendant to fisticuffs.  Is that the kind of thing that makes you wonder about a judge's fitness for office?  Not for a majority of the New York Commission on Judicial Conduct, who voted for the purely symbolic "punishment" of censure.

Then there's Florida's Judge Richard H. Albritton, Jr., who managed to collect a particularly colorful variety of charges against him.  The Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission charged:

8.  In a juvenile delinquency case involving a female defendant in court who had turned 18, but who had committed a crime when she was a juvenile, you made a comment from the bench as to how attractive she was.  You then gave her a lighter sentence than you ordinarily would have given. ...

10.  Following a pattern, you inquire of mothers, "What are your drugs of choice?" in open court when this has nothing to do with the matter in question.  You do this to humiliate female defendants.  ...

12.  A teenage girl had been charged with a crime and had served time in juvenile detention.  The girl told you she was pregnant.  You asked her who the father was and when she wouldn't tell you, you put her back in juvenile detention and said she could stay there until she told you who the father was.

13.  In [another case], you jailed a young mother who came before you on a dependency court hearing after stating that she had had contact with the other party in the domestic violence matter.  The attorney for the mother objected as she had no notice that the domestic violence matter would come up.  You jailed her for 15 to 20 days.

14.  You are often very demeaning to attorneys, and especially DCF attorney Tara Melton, Esquire, who is of African-American ancestry. ...

20.  You told one lady named [she doesn't need to be named here], on the record and in open court, that she needed to close her legs and stop having babies.

28.  You would allow your clerk, Sue, to make comments and act like a mini-judge.  For example, if you were talking about child support, Sue would remark under her breath, but loud enough for everyone to hear, "Obviously got money for cigarettes."  She would also participate in hearings and would remind you what had happened in a prior hearing.  For example, she would say, "remember, this is the guy who last month said ..." ...

35.  In order to avoid ex parte communications with you, the public defenders send their investigator, Jerry Glass, to talk with you about pending cases because he is not an attorney.

Sadly, though, Judge Albriton entered into a stipulation with the Commission in which he admitted various allegations against him, but the admitted allegations didn't include any of the foregoing.  This is a partial list of the charges the judge did admit:

4. ... [D]uring breaks in trials, you entered and sat in the public defender's office in the Jackson County Courthouse in your robe.

5.  ... [Y]ou required as a condition of probation that a defendant attend church.  When advised by the staff attorney that this was unconstitutional, you responded, "I know that's wrong, but the defendant doesn't know it." ...

9.  On an ongoing basis, you are late to hearings and trials.  For example, when a matter is noticed for 1:30 p.m., it will typically not begin before 2:30 p.m.  You also take purportedly short breaks of fifteen minutes and do not return for as much as one to two hours. ...

11.  ...  [Y]ou put a young mother in a holding cell for most of the day because she could not recall what her address was. ...

Then there's the judge's freeloading, which he also admitted: inviting a group out to lunch and sticking one of the attorneys with the tab; directing the same attorney to give $100 to the PD's investigator for a party in the judge's honor, then accepting a $150 gift certificate (to Wal-Mart) from the party attendees; and ordering another attorney to wrangle the judge an invitation to a party. 

And then there's his habit of coaching lawyers who appeared in front of him, telling them  how to draft proposed orders for his signature, and what objections they should make in open court.  The judge admitted all that, too.

The Florida Supreme Court noted that the judge's ethical violations were "extreme not only in their number and seriousness, but also in the plethora of code violations they encompass.  This conduct demonstrates not only a lack of judicial temperament but also, and more importantly, Judge Albritton's use of his office to pressure individuals to act for his own benefit.  This conduct clearly falls far and inexcusably short of the high standards of integrity and independence we demand of our judicial officers."

That's a pretty dramatic drumroll.  And it leads up to: a 30-day unpaid suspension, plus a $5,000 fine, costs and public humiliation. 

So we still don't know what a judge has to do to get removed from the bench, but at least we have a clearer picture of the type of judicial behavior that is tolerated.