Judge ousted from bench
For the first time in 18 years, the Oklahoma Court on the Judiciary has removed a judge from office for misconduct.
The special court removed Oklahoma County District J udge Kendra Coleman on Friday, but did not disqualify her from holding judicial office in the future. An appeal is expected.
The court voted 6- 3 that she committed oppression in office, violated the Code of Judicial Conduct multiple
times and violated ethics reporting rules involving her campaign. The vote on discipline was five for removal, one for an unpaid two-year suspension and three against.
The decision was announced after about three hours and 30 minutes of deliberations.
Afterward, she agreed with a pastor that God will work her situation out.
“God has some miraculous, marvelous things in store for you. I know it. We all know it. ... I know you're a little hurt. ... But you got to stay up and you got to stay swinging ,” said Derrick Sc obey, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Oklahoma City. “God will fix it.”
“I know ,” she said in an exchange posted on Facebook.
Coleman told the court Thursday she did her job with integrity and good character and wanted to return to her duties.
“I love my job. I mean outside of the politics of it. I enjoy it,” she testified.
About 200 supporters showed up Thursday evening at the state Capitol for an emotional prayer rally for her. They later formed a circle around the Oklahoma Judicial Center, where the trial was held.
“She is one of us. ... We got s ome f ol k who are bringing about what I call character assassination. . . . We are angry about what's happening to our judge,” said John A. Reed Jr., the longtime pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in Oklahoma City.
Her s upporters have c o mplai ne d Okl a homa County District Attorney David Prater was behind the removal effort because she ruled against prosecutors in a fatal dog-mauling case.
I n closing arguments Friday, prosecuting attorney Tracy Schumacher asked the court to reject the idea “this is a grand conspiracy” orchestrated by the DA.
“Let me submit to you that the only person ruining Kendra Coleman's reputation is Kendra Coleman,” the prosecuting attorney said.
“The problem is, as you move from the criminal docket, to the guardianship docket, to the protective order docket, the complaints are all the same: The eye rolling, the sighing, the huffing, the cutting people off, the behavior on the bench, the not being there.”
The j udge's attorney, Joe White, told the court again Friday “she never had a chance to establish herself.”
He accused the Council of Judicial Complaints of being unfair and sloppy in investigating the accusations that led to the ouster action. He specifically criticized the council for not interviewing more witnesses.
“We aren' t Russia. We are not North Korea. We're the United States of America,” he said. “We defend and protect. And when we do it, we do it the best we can because we want to get it right. And how can you get it right, when they do not go about it with an unbiased attitude from the get-go?
“You want to mess with a vote? You got to go about it right.”
Among the most damaging revelations during the trial was that Coleman still owes the IRS, as of Monday, $100,683 in federal taxes, penalties and interest.
Recalling evidence that the judge once talked in court about the cost of her shoes, the prosecuting attorney said Friday that if “you're in the hole” to the IRS, the Oklahoma Tax Commission and the Oklahoma County treasurer “maybe you shouldn't be wearing $500 shoes.”
The trial lasted 13 days and more than 70 witnesses testified. The court ruled in Coleman's favor on one allegation, finding that the evidence was insufficient to establish gross neglect of duty.
Coleman, 44, was elected in November 2018. She got 66.7% of the vote in her district in northeast Oklahoma County. Legislators carved out the district years ago in a primarily African American area “because we were underrepresented on the bench,” former Oklahoma County District Judge Kenneth Watson testified at the trial.
Coleman took paid suspension in June after the Supreme Court asked the Court on the Judiciary to take up the accusations.
The Court on the Judiciary has removed only six other judges for oppression in office or other misconduct grounds since its creation more than 50 years ago. The last time was in 2002.
Voters in 1966 passed a constitutional amendment creating the court after a bribery scandal involving Supreme Court justices became a national embarrassment.
The court also has suspended and reprimanded judges after deciding removal wasn't warranted. A few times, it has let judges accused of misconduct retire on medical grounds instead.
Coleman faces another trial, before a jury, in November on a felony tax charge.
She is accused in the charge of intentionally evading payment of her 2017 state taxes. She has called the charge frivolous. If convicted, she would be disqualified from holding office again.