Shelby County judge reprimanded for comments in man’s re-sentencing
Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Paula Skahan was reprimanded last week for comments made when she overturned a man’s 162-year sentence for a string of non-violent offenses.
The Board of Judicial Conduct, the state board that reviews complaints made against judges and is in place to review potential ethical violations, said Skahan’s comments about the original judge in the case and original prosecutor, former Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich, were why she was being reprimanded.
The board also noted that Skahan appeared to have predetermined how she wanted the case to go.
“These comments by the trial court only further the concerns relating to bias or prejudice to one party, as well as, cast doubt on the integrity and impartiality of the judicial system,” the board wrote in the reprimand. “In short, these comments, especially when viewed in light of a court acting without jurisdiction and other comments noted above, are contrary to the spirit of the Code of Judicial Conduct, if not directly in violation of it.”
The sentence that Skahan altered was that of Courtney Anderson. He was convicted in the late 1990s for multiple counts of felony theft, felony forgery and a single count of misdemeanor possession of a handgun in a public space.
At Anderson’s sentencing, thenshelby County Criminal Court Judge Joseph Dailey sentenced Anderson to the maximum time for each count, which, following a few modifications, was ultimately
set at 162 years, 11 months and 29 days.
Skahan changed that sentence in December 2022, sentencing him to time served. Saying in court that the original sentence was “too much time.”
“So, it was all timing with Amy Weirich out of the office and the right judge who might be willing to do something to help you,” Skahan told Anderson at the
re-sentencing. “It was all timing. It’s just the way, I guess, God looking down on you... But that’s too much time, obviously, way too much time. And I know how Judge Dailey was. Believe me, I practiced in there. It was not fun. They just piled up on people.”
Skahan also warned Anderson to not find his way back into the criminal justice system during his re-sentencing.
Less than a year later, in October 2023, the Tennessee Criminal Court of Appeals reversed Skahan’s ruling, saying it was “nothing more than an improper attempt to commute the petitioner’s sentence under the guise of a motion to re-open” Anderson’s postconviction proceedings and that Anderson should serve the entirety of his original sentence.
This was Skahan’s first reprimand, and the board said she took “full responsibility” and “offered no excuses for [her] actions.”
Skahan’s reprimand on Feb. 14 makes her the fourth Shelby County judge to receive a reprimand from the board within a year. Judge Melissa Boyd, whom the state legislature is currently looking to remove from office, was reprimanded and later charged criminally for conduct outside of the courtroom.
Judge James Jones Jr. was then reprimanded for writing a character letter for friends being sentenced in a criminal case in Florida.
Judge Bill Anderson was reprimanded just over a week before Skahan for comments he made about the bail bonding system to the Shelby County Board of Commissioners during a presentation.
Both Skahan and Anderson were reprimanded months after Sen. Brent Taylor, a Memphis Republican who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote to the board requesting investigations.
Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.finton@commercialappeal.com, or (901)208-3922, and followed on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lucasfinton.