Ex-Judge Gets 3-Month Suspension for Alcohol Issues and Criticizing Another Judge
A former Iowa judge, after a second conviction for operating a vehicle while intoxicated, is being barred from practicing law for three months partly because he criticized the judge presiding over his case.
The Iowa Supreme Court’s ruling (PDF) Friday cited the convictions and two statements former Muscatine Judge James Weaver made to a newspaper following his OWI prosecution, the Quad-City Times reports.
In a matter of first impression for the Iowa court, the justices decided to use an objective standard when reviewing cases in which lawyers are accused of ethics violations when they criticize judicial officers.
At issue are statements Weaver made to the Muscatine Journal, including comments about the reasons a judge canceled one of his hearings.
“At the time … Weaver was upset that the judge would not reconsider his sentence unless he had served some portion of it. In an attempt to characterize himself as the victim of unfair treatment by the court, he publicly claimed the judge had canceled the hearing upon receipt of Weaver’s records, implying the judge wanted to avoid a hearing on Weaver’s sentence because the records would have shown the sentence was not justified,” the court reasoned in its opinion.
“Clearly, Weaver’s statement left the impression that courts do not do justice, but rather make decisions for undisclosed and improper reasons. When the public loses confidence in the integrity of the courts, the administration of justice is prejudiced.”
But the court made clear that just saying something critical about a judge isn’t enough to get a lawyer sanctioned.
Weaver was before the court on his second drunken-driving charge at the time of the statements. And he had previously been reprimanded by the Iowa Supreme Court in 2004. In the second case, Judge Denver Dillard rejected a plea agreement that would have resulted in Weaver paying a $1,500 fine and spending seven days in jail. Instead, Dillard wanted Weaver to be sentenced to no more than two years in jail.
