Although punishment short of removal from the bench is appropriate for most misconduct cases, Gillers said, the public “would be appalled at some of the lenient treatment judges get” for substantial transgressions.Īmong the cases from the past year alone: The news agency’s findings reveal an “excessively” forgiving judicial disciplinary system, said Stephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University who writes about judicial ethics. They included a California judge who had sex in his courthouse chambers, once with his former law intern and separately with an attorney a New York judge who berated domestic violence victims and a Maryland judge who, after his arrest for driving drunk, was allowed to return to the bench provided he took a Breathalyzer test before each appearance. In addition, reporters identified another 3,613 cases from 2008 through 2018 in which states disciplined wayward judges but kept hidden from the public key details of their offenses – including the identities of the judges themselves.Īll told, 9 of every 10 judges were allowed to return to the bench after they were sanctioned for misconduct, Reuters determined. In the first comprehensive accounting of judicial misconduct nationally, Reuters identified and reviewed 1,509 cases from the last dozen years – 2008 through 2019 – in which judges resigned, retired or were publicly disciplined following accusations of misconduct. Recent media reports have documented failures in judicial oversight in South Carolina, Louisiana and Illinois. Judges have made racist statements, lied to state officials and forced defendants to languish in jail without a lawyer – and then returned to the bench, sometimes with little more than a rebuke from the state agencies overseeing their conduct. How to use the searchable database to explore the disciplinary files of judges across America Methodology and Q&A: How we examined misconduct Reuters database: Judges who were publicly disciplined – and what they did Hayes is among thousands of state and local judges across America who were allowed to keep positions of extraordinary power and prestige after violating judicial ethics rules or breaking laws they pledged to uphold, a Reuters investigation found. His sudden retirement is years too late.” “He broke the law and wanted to get away with it. “He should have been fired years ago,” said Willie Knight, pastor of North Montgomery Baptist Church. Yet the decision to leave, they say, should never have been his to make, given his record of misconduct. This week, Hayes is set to retire after 20 years as a judge. In a statement to Reuters, Hayes said he was “very remorseful” for his misdeeds.Ĭommunity activists say his departure is long overdue. Until he was disciplined, Hayes said in an interview with Reuters, “I never thought I was doing something wrong.” The former Eagle Scout would serve an 11-month unpaid suspension. Instead, the judicial commission and Hayes reached a deal. REUTERS/Chris Aluka Berryĭespite the severity of the ruling, Hayes wasn’t barred from serving as a judge. One was physically abused, court records show, and another was molested. Her daughters were cast into foster care. One of the counts was a breach of a judge’s most essential duty: failing to “respect and comply with the law.”ĭAUGHTERS ABUSED: When Marquita Johnson couldn’t afford to pay traffic fines that had accumulated for some eight years, Judge Les Hayes sentenced her to more than a year in jail. Hayes, a judge since 2000, admitted in court documents to violating 10 different parts of the state’s judicial conduct code. Among those jailed: a plumber struggling to make rent, a mother who skipped meals to cover the medical bills of her disabled son, and a hotel housekeeper working her way through college.
According to the Judicial Inquiry Commission, Hayes broke state and federal laws by jailing Johnson and hundreds of other Montgomery residents too poor to pay fines.
#HAND OF FATE TRIAL BY COMBAT CODE#
In 2016, the state agency that oversees judges charged Hayes with violating Alabama’s code of judicial conduct. There were people who had committed real crimes who got out before me.” “That’s what they called me: The Woman with All the Days. “They had a nickname for me: The Woman with All the Days,” Johnson said. “Judge Hayes took away my life and didn’t care how my children suffered,” said Johnson, now 36. “My girls will never be the same.”įellow inmates found her sentence hard to believe. One daughter was molested, state records show.
Johnson’s three children were cast into foster care while she was incarcerated. Marquita Johnson, who was locked up in April 2012, says the impact of her time in jail endures today.
Judge Les Hayes once sentenced a single mother to 496 days behind bars for failing to pay traffic tickets. The sentence was so stiff it exceeded the jail time Alabama allows for negligent homicide.
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