Effort to remove judge put on hold

“There is no evidence of any wrongdoing by this judge. Without any objection from any party involved in the case, the judge followed what is a reasonable and prudent course of action.” Al Hoch, president of the Oklahoma Criminal Defense Lawyers Association

A state legislator is dropping an effort to have a judge removed.

Rep. Mike Ritze filed a resolution Feb. 12 asking the Court on the Judiciary to initiate removal proceedings against Marshall County District Judge Wallace Coppedge.

A vote on the resolution likely would have been scheduled for later this month or in early March before the full House.

On Saturday, Ritze notified House Speaker Charles McCall he would not be moving forward with it at this time.

He told The Oklahoman he is putting the resolution on hold so the House can focus on the budget crisis and for other reasons.

“We’ve got bigger fish to fry,” the Broken Arrow Republican said.

The judge has been condemned worldwide for sentencing a church camp cook to 15 years on probation. The judge signed off on the plea deal in January at the Murray County courthouse, where he also presides.

The cook, Benjamin Lawrence Petty, 36, of Spencer, pleaded guilty to raping and sodomizing a 13-year-old girl at the Falls Creek church camp in 2016.

Ritze had described the judge’s action as unconscionable. His resolution called on the Court on the Judiciary to remove Coppedge for gross neglect of duty.

A state association of 500 defense attorneys had criticized the resolution as an unfair, uninformed and unwarranted attack on the judge.

“There is no evidence of any wrongdoing by this judge,” said Al Hoch, president of the Oklahoma Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. “Without any objection from any party involved in the case, the judge followed what is a reasonable and prudent course of action.”

Hoch said judges “deserve the support of the Legislature and not ridicule or unreasonable challenges to the work they perform.”

Coppedge has twice declined to comment to The Oklahoman. He did not respond to a phone message left last week at the Marshall County courthouse.

Ritze has sought to have a judge removed before.

In 2010, he and Rep. Mike Reynolds were pushing for adoption of a resolution asking the Court on the Judiciary to initiate proceedings against a Pittsburg County judge.

The year before, District Judge Thomas Bartheld had caused a national furor when he allowed a child rapist to serve only a year in jail. The victim was a 4-year-old girl.

The resolution never came to a vote.

Reynolds, who left the House in 2014, recalled last week that their resolution stalled because he amended it.

The amendment asked the Court on the Judiciary also to initiate removal proceedings against a Tulsa County judge who had reduced a child murderer’s prison time. Reynolds said a Tulsa representative blocked the resolution from being considered.

Reynolds later found out the representative and the Tulsa County judge were friends.