Appalling comment

I read with great interest about the case of two inmates who served 26 years of their lives in state prison after a sheriff and a prosecutor, Robin Wynne, who is now a sitting Arkansas Supreme Court justice, acted “in bad faith” by concealing and destroying evidence in securing their convictions. That was bad enough for our system of justice, but the report of our “judicial watchdog’s” answer to a question concerning a potential investigation of the judge was even more appalling.

David Sachar, director of the commission that oversees our judges, said that an investigation of something that happened 28 years ago would be “very rare unless it went to [the] core question of whether someone isn’t qualified.” I am no fan of Mr. Sachar and his commission, but with all due respect to Mr. Sachar, he needs to reread his commission’s rules.

“Whether someone isn’t qualified” is not the litmus test for Mr. Sachar and the commission doing their jobs. And the rules do not give a judge a pass because his actions as an officer of the court were not brought to light for 28 years.

Stark Ligon’s office has a reputation of vigorously upholding the Code of Professional Responsibility for lawyers, so I trust they will do so in this instance. A transgression of this magnitude should not be swept under the carpet. It is not every day that the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals expresses itself so forcefully. Deterrence as well as punishment is at stake.

As for Justice Wynne, if he were indeed the lawyer people thought he was when they elected him judge, he would step forward and insist on a thorough and transparent investigation by both agencies. Only then will people not believe that whether you are investigated by the judicial commission for the highest transgression a former prosecutor can commit depends on your position in the judiciary.

SAM PERRONI

Fayetteville