Judge removed from bench for promoting ministry is suspended from law practice
The Florida Supreme Court has suspended a former judge from law practice for nine months for using her position as a judge to promote her ministry.
The judge, Judith Hawkins of Leon County, was removed from the bench last October. The Florida Supreme Court ordered her suspension (PDF) on Sept. 25, the Tallahassee Democrat reports.
The court agreed with the recommendation of a judicial referee, who noted Florida Supreme Court findings last year (PDF) in Hawkins’ removal case. The court found in the removal case that Hawkins had: sold copies of her book to citizens in her courtroom, used her judicial assistant to help operate the ministry during business hours on state-owned business equipment, failed to pay state sales tax on the sale of her business products, deleted financial data from her computer though she had agreed to produce it, and appeared in judicial robes in a picture on her business website.
The referee referred to character witnesses who testified to Hawkins’ religious faith and conviction, and noted other evidence of her faith. “For the better part of a year now,” the referee wrote in his report (PDF), “Ms. Hawkins has lived with the shame and the pain of having been removed from the office of Leon County Judge. From her calm appearance and presentation at these bar proceedings, she has nonetheless persevered, apparently through the strength of her faith.”
