Justice is 7th to see an ethics case filed
Complaint linked to Griffen claims
Ethics charges were filed against Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Shawn Womack on Thursday, making him the seventh and final judge on the high court to be accused of judicial misconduct in dealing with Pulaski County Judge Wendell Griffen.
Six other members of the court were handed similar complaints late last month based on a complaint filed by Griffen, whom the state Supreme Court stripped of his ability to handle death-penalty cases in 2017.
The case is the latest involving dueling complaints stemming from Griffen’s decision to attend a Good Friday protest against the death penalty in April 2017, just hours after he issued a ruling that threatened to halt a series of executions.
The filing of the ethics complaint against Womack prompted the justice to file a third ethics complaint, this one against Circuit Judge David Guthrie of El Dorado, whom Womack said had “tainted” the investigation against himself and the other justices.
Griffen — who also is facing formal ethics charges for his actions — alleged that the Supreme Court never gave him a proper chance to defend himself before the justices acted to bar him from hearing death-penalty cases.
An investigatory panel of the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission looked into Griffen’s complaint and found probable cause to move forward with the allegations that the justices violated Arkansas’ judicial cannons, according to commission documents.
Guthrie, as well as Attorney Blake Hendrix and citizen Angela Hopkins, served on the investigative panel.
If any of the justices are found to have acted improperly, they could face a range of punishments, including
admonishment, reprimand or censure. Recommendations for suspension or removal from the bench are reviewed by the Supreme Court, which in this case would require an entirely new panel of special justices to be appointed by the governor.
“Judge Griffen was given an opportunity to respond,” to the Supreme Court, the allegations against Justice Womack state. “The Panel, however, does not find that the notice to Judge Griffen and his ability to respond were sufficient.”
The charges were lodged by J. Brent Standridge, an attorney from Benton hired to serve as special counsel for the disciplinary commission after its regular staff attorneys recused.
Standridge could not be reached for comment Thursday.
The statement of allegations filed against Womack on Thursday were not substantially different from similar allegations filed against the other six justices on Sept. 20. Asked why he was singled out, Womack said during a brief phone conversation that it had to do with a letter mailed to each of the justices notifying them of the complaint against them.
“The short answer,” Womack said, “They sent mine to the wrong place, and I didn’t get it for a couple of weeks.”
Chief Justice Dan Kemp told a legislative panel this week that he believed the complaint over the handling of Griffen’s case is a legal issue, not an ethical issue under the commission’s authority.
In a longer written response released Thursday evening, Womack revealed that he had filed his own ethics complaint against Guthrie in late September, over Guthrie’s participation in the three-person panel investigating the seven justices.
According to Womack’s complaint, which he released to the press, Guthrie has been at odds with several members of the court over a law that forces judges to forfeit retirement benefits if they start a new term past the age of 70. Womack said Guthrie, who is 70, wants to run for another term in 2020.
In his complaint, Womack accused Guthrie of continuing “to harbor resentment” toward him for opposing a change to the law as a member of the
Judicial Council. No formal charges have been filed based on Womack’s complaint.
Reached at his home Thursday, Guthrie said he had not received a copy of Womack’s complaint and declined to comment.
The charges against Womack and his colleagues are the first time in the 30-year history of the the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission that formal charges of misconduct have been brought against a sitting justice, let alone the entire court.
The justices have 30 days to respond to the charges and will have a hearing before the full, nine-member commission. The other justices are Rhonda Wood, Robin Wynne, Courtney Goodson, Josephine “Jo” Hart and Karen Baker.
According to the statement of allegations, Attorney General Leslie Rutledge filed an emergency request to vacate Griffen’s order to halt the April 2017 executions on a Saturday, the day after Griffen’s protest. In the petition, Rutledge said Griffen “cannot be considered remotely impartial on issues related to the death penalty,” and asked that he be removed from the case.
The Supreme Court’s clerk sent Griffen notice of that petition over the weekend, but the judge did not respond. At 10:30 a.m. that Monday, the court removed Griffen from all death-penalty cases, and later vacated his ruling halting the executions.
Later that month, the state carried out four of eight scheduled executions. The rest were stopped by various courts, including the Arkansas Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, the ethics charges against Griffen are still pending. A hearing originally set for today had previously been delayed until the spring because the special counsel investigating Griffen was called away on military duty.