High court getting stern with wayward judges
Florida Supreme Court often harsher than investigative panel for punishment
TALLAHASSEE — A year ago, a Brevard County judge interrupted court proceedings to scuffle with an assistant public defender after threatening to “beat your ass” in a video that quickly went viral.
Judge John C. Murphy is now facing a $50,000 fine and a fourmonth suspension without pay as the Florida Supreme Court which metes out punishments for judges and lawyers, considers sanctions proposed by the investigative panel that oversees judicial conduct.
Murphy, who took a monthlong leave of absence and issued a public apology, is in line to join dozens of judges who have been upbraided by an increasingly stern Florida Supreme Court.
The number of judges facing sanctions jumped last year and the high court is more often seeking harsher penalties than those originally proposed by the state Judicial Qualifications Commission, according to an investigation by The News Service of Florida.
“The Supreme Court is treating transgressions or judicial misconduct more seriously than they have in the past,” Michael Schneider, the panel’s executive director, said.
The Florida Supreme Court rejected a deal April 30 in which Broward Circuit Judge Cynthia Imperato, convicted of drunken driving in Palm Beach County in December, would keep her job after paying a fine and serving a 20-day suspension.
Of the 70 cases involving judges over the past 15 years, when the Supreme Court first began posting the documents online, six judges have been removed from office, 14 resigned before their punishments were meted out and just one successfully defended himself.
Broward County Judge Gisele Pollack, who led the misdemeanor drug court she helped create following her election to the bench in 2004, resigned from her post on Jan. 6. Pollack admitted showing up drunk on the job in December 2013.
On average, four judges a year have been hit with sanctions, ranging from letters of reprimand to removal from office for violating judicial canons. The cases typically drag out for years. The misconduct runs the gamut from fraudulently obtaining a $350,000 loan, used by a former appeals court judge to buy a house in Hawaii with a stripper, to purchasing a table at a partisan event.
Last year, nine judges were accused of misconduct. So far this year, cases against six circuit or county judges have been filed. This year the Florida Supreme Court has rejected the recommendations for sanctions in three cases, sending them back to the oversight panel because the penalties weren’t stiff enough.
The lone judge ordered to leave this year the by the high court was Broward Circuit Judge Laura Marie Watson.
The controversy surrounding Watson involved her actions in settling a series of complex personal injury cases on behalf of doctors who felt the insurance company, Progressive, was not paying enough on claims. Two sets of lawyers representing the same group of clients on different grounds filed suit against Progressive in 2002, and Watson’s firm eventually negotiated a $14.5 million settlement with the insurance company while freezing out one set of lawyers.
The other set of lawyers sued Watson and won in 2010.
In 2012, while she was still running for judge, the Florida Bar ruled there was probable cause to determine that Watson violated Bar rules.
“It doesn’t mean that there’s more of this behavior now than there was before. It’s just that it was almost like a good old boy’s network at one time. That is, we’re going to help the attorneys. We’re going to help the judges. We don’t really want to subject them to public ridicule. We’ll just give them the talk that you’re going to straighten up or else. Now, the philosophy is we want the attorneys and the judges to know that we’re not fooling around anymore,” former Supreme Court Justice Gerald Kogan said.
The court’s recent rejections of the stipulation agreements or recommendations approved by the JQC — something that has happened in eight of the 70 cases — depart from the justices’ nearly universal acceptance of the overseers’ suggestions during the past 15 years.
“We have used precedent for years in terms of what the appropriate sanction is for a lawyer that does something wrong, and all that precedent’s been thrown out the door because this Supreme Court, these seven justices are becoming tougher and tougher and tougher with lawyers and judges,” said Gregory Coleman, a lawyer who is finishing a one-year stint as president of The Florida Bar.
The social media effect
With about 1,000 judges in Florida, the number of judges chastised for bad behavior is relatively small. But some court watchers predict that those numbers could continue to climb, thanks to the advent of social media and websites like YouTube, where the video of Murphy giving an abrasive Andrew Weinstock a tongue-lashing went viral.
“You know if I had a rock, I would throw it at you right now. Stop pissing me off. Just sit down. I’ll take care of this. I don’t need your help. Sit down,” Murphy said in a scene captured by a Viera courtroom camera last June.
When Weinstock persisted, Murphy issued a challenge in front of a crowded courtroom.
“If you want to fight, let’s go out back and I’ll just beat your ass,” Murphy told Weinstock.
After a scuffle in the hallway, a disheveled and panting Murphy returned to the bench and continued to handle the cases of several of Weinstock’s clients, who appeared before the judge without an attorney after the altercation.
“The dispute in Judge Murphy’s courtroom and the hallway was more than inappropriate. It was aggressive and appalling,” a hearing panel of the JQC found last month. Murphy’s comments to Weinstock “were reprehensible,” the panel wrote after what was essentially a trial for the judge.
“The altercation between Weinstock and Judge Murphy created a remarkable national embarrassment for not only the judiciary of the state of Florida, but for its citizens as well,” the six-member panel — comprised of two judges, two lawyers and two lay persons — found.
“We are more aware of things going on in the highest level of government than we ever were before. In response, there’s nothing that secret. So if a judge goes off on someone, or if a judge does something that’s not kosher, everyone’s going to find out about it,” said former JQC member David Young, a former judge who is again seeking election to the bench in MiamiDade County.
Holding judges to a higher standard “is all about the appearance of impropriety,” Young said.
“As we’ve seen recently, the court has not had a lot of patience for judges who don’t act like judges. They’re not putting up with any foolishness committed by members of the judiciary,” he said. “The court is and should be concerned about the reputation of the third branch of government. Becoming a judge is a privilege, it’s not a right. ...”
Investigating complaints
The JQC investigates complaints against judges, which are kept secret unless a hearing panel finds there is probable cause of wrongdoing. The judges then are subject to what is essentially a trial, and, as in other legal cases, often reach an agreement with the JQC before that takes place. But the Supreme Court makes the final decision about the sanctions.
Minor indiscretions by a judge could also result in a meeting with the JQC for a “6C” hearing, “which means that everybody in the JQC gets to yell at that judge and hopefully teach that judge a lesson,” Young said.
Or individual members of the JQC could have private conversations, known as “Dutch uncle talks,” with errant judges, Young said.
“The purpose of that is to hopefully plant a seed in the judge’s mind not to repeat the bad behavior,” he said.
All of those talks go into the judge’s file, Young said.
Many of the judges’ sanctions involve violations of the judicial canons governing campaign activity. Circuit and county judges are elected in nonpartisan races, and judicial candidates aren’t allowed to indicate how they would rule in certain cases.