Legal Ethics
Lawyer Agrees to Reprimand for Blog Tirade About Judge
Posted Jun 11, 2008, 04:42 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A Florida lawyer has agreed to a public reprimand and ended a First Amendment fight over his critical blog post calling a judge a witch.
Sean Conway of Fort Lauderdale refused to comment for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel on his decision to resolve his case. But his lawyer, Fred Haddad, told the newspaper he would have continued to contest disciplinary action.
"Resolving the case was not my position, and it was not the position that I ever took," Haddad said. "However, the lawyer does not make all the decisions."
Writing on JAABlog, Conway had called Judge Cheryl Aleman an "evil, unfair witch,” accused her of having an "ugly, condescending attitude" and questioned her mental stability. He later said he was angry because the judge was giving defense lawyers only one week to prepare for trial.
The Florida Supreme Court still must affirm the settlement.
Aleman herself is on the hot seat. The Judicial Qualifications Commission has recommended the Miami judge receive a public reprimand for setting unreasonable time limits for defense lawyers to prepare court documents and threatening them with contempt for failing to meet the deadline.
In one instance, Aleman gave defense lawyers a 15-minute time limit to draft a motion.
Related Stories
- Deputy Calif. DA is Charged in Alleged Rape of Colleague
Nov 21, 2008, 01:15 pm CST - Woman Who Created Fictional MySpace Boy Testifies on Motive
Nov 21, 2008, 06:40 am CST - Lawyer Pleads to Tax Misdemeanors; Feds Say He Didn’t File Since ‘94
Nov 20, 2008, 04:17 pm CST - Police Bribed Judge to Get Search Warrant, Ex-Chicago Cop Testifies
Nov 20, 2008, 03:49 pm CST
Related Topics
Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.
Comments
Posted by Mark Eberly - 5 months, 1 week, 3 days, 13 hours, 46 minutes ago
Was it not a female Judge in Maryland last summer, who let a child molester of sort off due to an unspeedy trial and not having a translator. Any child molester will wait as long as needed. This Judge was out of line no matter how one slices it.