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24th June 2011, 10:24
FYI:
Judicial Crackups Fracture the Bench
Outlandish behavior in and out of court suggests the pressure's become too great.
BY DARRYL VAN DUCH, NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL STAFF REPORTER
The National Law Journal - Monday, April 8, 1996
JUDICIAL MELTDOWN has set in, say judges as well as the lawyers and health professionals who work with them. Unbearable stress, they say, is responsible for increasingly frequent, bizarre incidents involving a surprising number of judges, including some at the highest levels, who have been acting out of sorts, if not out of greed or lust.
How to explain the following events:
* Illinois Supreme Court Justice James D. Heiple is awaiting trial on charges of resisting arrest for trying to outrun a police officer who said he stopped him for speeding.
* Los Angeles Municipal Court Judge William Ormsby received a rare "severe public censure" March 20 from a judicial commission for temperament problems, including ordering the arrest of people who had been whispering in his courtroom.
* An elected civil trial judge in Illinois, Kane County Circuit Court Judge Michael F. O'Brien, resigned Dec. 4, 1995, after it was disclosed he had pretended for 20 years to be a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient.
* U.S. District Judge A. Andrew Hauk of Los Angeles, 83, was censured by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for making outrageous remarks toward minorities and others, leading him to agree in 1994 to stop hearing police brutality cases.
* Former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Rolf Larsen was convicted in 1994 for illegally obtaining anti-depression drugs.
* Former New York State Chief Judge Sol Wachtler was convicted in 1992 for threatening to kidnap the teen-age daughter of an ex-lover.
* Indiana's highest court dismissed Vigo County Judge William McClain last month and barred him from practicing law for two years for allegedly having "participated in sending" in 1991 a used condom to a courthouse secretary on whom he supposedly had a crush.
Injudicious judicial behavior is escalating, according to the "1994 Comprehensive Legal Needs Study" sponsored by the American Bar Association's Consortium on Legal Service and the Public: Complaints against federal judges jumped 24 percent, from 354 in 1990 to 438 in 1993.
And on the state level, complaints against state judges showed marked increases during the same period. In Texas, complaints jumped 47 percent, from 491 to 722; in New York, they're up 24 percent, from 1,171 to 1,456; and in Florida, complaints are up 16 percent, from 391 to 455.
According to an article in the December issue of the ABA Journal, in Wisconsin nearly half of the 66 formal complaints involved judicial demeanor. And in Arkansas, 33 percent of the 185 complaints included allegations of injudicious temperament.
source to read more
http://www.lectlaw.com/files/jud37.htm
Judicial Crackups Fracture the Bench
Outlandish behavior in and out of court suggests the pressure's become too great.
BY DARRYL VAN DUCH, NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL STAFF REPORTER
The National Law Journal - Monday, April 8, 1996
JUDICIAL MELTDOWN has set in, say judges as well as the lawyers and health professionals who work with them. Unbearable stress, they say, is responsible for increasingly frequent, bizarre incidents involving a surprising number of judges, including some at the highest levels, who have been acting out of sorts, if not out of greed or lust.
How to explain the following events:
* Illinois Supreme Court Justice James D. Heiple is awaiting trial on charges of resisting arrest for trying to outrun a police officer who said he stopped him for speeding.
* Los Angeles Municipal Court Judge William Ormsby received a rare "severe public censure" March 20 from a judicial commission for temperament problems, including ordering the arrest of people who had been whispering in his courtroom.
* An elected civil trial judge in Illinois, Kane County Circuit Court Judge Michael F. O'Brien, resigned Dec. 4, 1995, after it was disclosed he had pretended for 20 years to be a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient.
* U.S. District Judge A. Andrew Hauk of Los Angeles, 83, was censured by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for making outrageous remarks toward minorities and others, leading him to agree in 1994 to stop hearing police brutality cases.
* Former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Rolf Larsen was convicted in 1994 for illegally obtaining anti-depression drugs.
* Former New York State Chief Judge Sol Wachtler was convicted in 1992 for threatening to kidnap the teen-age daughter of an ex-lover.
* Indiana's highest court dismissed Vigo County Judge William McClain last month and barred him from practicing law for two years for allegedly having "participated in sending" in 1991 a used condom to a courthouse secretary on whom he supposedly had a crush.
Injudicious judicial behavior is escalating, according to the "1994 Comprehensive Legal Needs Study" sponsored by the American Bar Association's Consortium on Legal Service and the Public: Complaints against federal judges jumped 24 percent, from 354 in 1990 to 438 in 1993.
And on the state level, complaints against state judges showed marked increases during the same period. In Texas, complaints jumped 47 percent, from 491 to 722; in New York, they're up 24 percent, from 1,171 to 1,456; and in Florida, complaints are up 16 percent, from 391 to 455.
According to an article in the December issue of the ABA Journal, in Wisconsin nearly half of the 66 formal complaints involved judicial demeanor. And in Arkansas, 33 percent of the 185 complaints included allegations of injudicious temperament.
source to read more
http://www.lectlaw.com/files/jud37.htm