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Sunday, March 05, 2006

Courts - More on: Kentucky Judge Resigns Amid Accusations He Profited From Fen-Phen Case

[First, note that the ILB has a new category, "Courts in General", so that everything about courts and judges nationwide not longer will have to be filed under the "Indiana Courts" category. I intend at some point to go back and recategorize past stories that should be moved to the "Courts in General" category.]

Today the Cincinnati Enquirer's Jim Hannah is reporting:

Experts on judicial ethics say misdeeds such as those spawning the public reprimand last week of Circuit Judge Joseph "Jay" Bamberger of Florence undermine the public's trust of the judiciary.

Trial judges are the face of the justice system for most Americans, said Stephen Gillers, a law professor and ethics expert at New York University.

"If trial judges engaged in conduct that is questionable, it undermines the confidence of the public in judges generally," Gillers said. "If you are a litigant in the case and you remember such incidents, your respect in the court is likely to be thrown into some uncertainty, especially if it happens in your own county."

Bamberger resigned last week to avoid being removed by Kentucky's Judicial Conduct Commission for alleged misconduct in a $200 million fen-phen settlement for defective diet pills.

The 63-year-old Bamberger was the only circuit judge in Boone and Gallatin counties for more than a decade.

Kentucky's Judicial Conduct Commission said Bamberger's actions "shocked the conscience" of its members. The commission fields complaints against the state's judges. Its investigations are conducted in secret and released only after a judge has been given the opportunity to respond.

For earlier stories, see this ILB entry from March 1st.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 5, 2006 10:54 AM
Posted to Courts in general