Judge Gina Kay Calvert s popatagonia wetsuits new0litical talk on the bench leads to deptuy getting suspended
In open court, a judge facing re election beckoned defense lawyers who support her to the bench to discuss her failure to win a key endorsement and its implications for her campaign.Despite a judicial canon that says judges shall refrain from inappropriate political activity, Jefferson District Judge Gina Kay Calvert showed the lawyers a handwritten note saying, The FOP did not endorse me!! Can you believe that? Calvert asked attorney David Lambertus, according patagonia wetsuits newpatagonia new wetsuit 2013to the courtroom video, which recorded the conversations on Marcpatagonia vest discounth 27. Well, they re dumb bastards anyway, Lambertus responded.Northwestern University law professor Steven Lubet, who teaches judicial ethics, said that under the Code of Judicial Conduct, which also requires judges to maintain the dignity of the office, There should be no campaign discussion of any support from the bench. Calvert, who is completing her first term, said in an interview that she shouldn t have discussed her campaign in court. In retrospect, I could have handled it differently, she said.She said she was upset because she had learned that morning that she didn t get the endorsement of the eight Jefferson County Fraternal Order of Police lodges, despite her cooperation with police, which she said included signing search warrants at home when she was not on call.She also said she thought the conversations wouldn t be recorded when she turned on a noise machine designed to keep spectators and jurors from hearing conversations at the bench.Calvert s courtroom conversations with Lambertus and two other defense lawyers, Tim Denison and Jeff Skora, came to light after she asked Sheriff John Aubrey to reasspatagonia arizona real estate for saleign her courtropatagonia wetsuits new2om deputy. Aubrey initiated an investigation of whether Deputy Sheriff William Ziegler took a copy of the note and showed it to prosecutors, including Calvert s opponent, Assistant County Attorney Susan Jones.CRIME/COURTS: Judge s remarks show she often assumes guiltCRIME/COURTS: Louisville s Robin Hood drug dealer diesAubrey suspended Ziegler for 20 days, which was reduced to 15 days last month by the Deputy Sheriff Merit Board, which found Ziegler had read and copied the contents of the note rather than removed it from the bench.Ziegler intends to appeal the sanction to Jefferson Circuit Court, according to his lawyer, Thomas Clay, who said his client was concerned Calvert might be campaigning from the bench improperly and thought he had a duty to report it. I don t think he did anything wrong, Clay said.Ziegler told investigators for the sheriff s department that he reported Calvert s conduct to Jones, who was in a nearby conference room, because he wanted to know whether it was illegal or unethical.He said she told him she wasn t spatagonia austin store hoursure if it was illegal but that she thought it was unethical, according to the board s findingspatagonia wetsuits new1. He said when he was assured that a crime hadn t occurred, he dropped the matter.Jones testified patagonia discount code intuitat a board hearing that Ziegler was angry about Calvert s conduct in court because he thought it might be inappropriate. She said two other prosecupatagonia discount code sportstors Nader Shunnarah and Norma Miller were in the conference room and the consensus was that what the judge did was wrong. I would not do it, she testified. I try to avoid campaigning in court. She declined to be interviewed, said Jessie Halladay, a spokeswoman for the county attorney s office.The merit board rejected Ziegler s claims that he was acting as a whistleblower, noting he could have brought his concerns to supervisors in the sheriff s office or to the Judicipatagonia everlong review vacationsal Conduct Commission, rather than to Jones, a courthouse friend who is Calvert s opponent.Zpatagonia wetsuits new3iegler, who had no prior disciplinary infractions in 27 years of service, was found to have violated department rules by not being completely truthful and for making known to a third party information he received in the court of his official duties in a way which placed him and the sheriff s office in a partisan position with regard to a political race. CRIME/COURTS: Doctpatagonia guide jacket quiltor charged with fatal Medicare fraudCRIME/COURTS: Court: Ky. police liable for informant s murderClay said Ziegler has been reassigned from Calvert s courtroom.Calvert said she discussed the endorsement with the three lawyers because she considered them political supporters and advisers and because I was having a pretty rough emotional time. She said she should have contacted them outside court, after the close of the business day.The courtroom video shows that Lambertus appeared on a routine motion to dismiss a case, then Calvert asked to talk to him about a a different matter. She told him she was furious that police had decided tpatagonia luggage wholesaleo support her opponent despite her support for them.
