Judge Suspended in Cemetery Fence Flap
A Mississippi judge has been suspended for 60 days and fined $2,000 for accompanying deputies to a woman’s home and threatening her with prosecution for taking part of a cemetery fence.
Judge Pat Carr, a judge in Lee County, Guntown and Saltillo, disagreed with the Mississippi Supreme Court’s decision in his case. “It ain’t right,” he told the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal. “This whole thing is a mess.”
The woman had taken the fence for safekeeping after several pieces of fence were stolen over the years from the cemetery where her family members are buried, according to stipulated facts cited in the court’s opinion (PDF).
“Judge Carr’s actions in engaging in ex parte communications with members of his community regarding a private matter and then using the power of his office to accomplish the return of the fence pieces gave the perception that he was lending the prestige of his office to advance the private interests of others,” the court said.
