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Thursday, September 24, 2009

Ind. Courts - More on: Madison Circuit Court Judge Fredrick R. Spencer is resigning effective September 25, 2009

Updating yesterday's ILB entry, this story from the Anderson Herald Bulletin, reported by Aleasha Sandley, provides additional information:

Madison Circuit Court Judge Fredrick Spencer will resign Friday amid an investigation of his alleged misconduct in a 2007 murder trial.

The Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications was investigating Spencer’s conduct regarding the 2007 State v. Ward case, in which Kathy Jo Ward was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the death of her husband. * * *

Spencer said he would retire effective 11:59 p.m. Friday with full benefits, including 60 percent of his salary. He is a Democrat with 26 years on the bench.

“I have almost 40 years of public service,” he wrote in his resignation letter sent to Gov. Mitch Daniels on Tuesday. “I have served my county, my state, my country and my hometown. “I look forward to a less stressful life.”

Spencer would not comment on the Commission on Judicial Qualification’s investigation, nor on the State v. Ward case. “I’m not interested at all in discussing this situation,” he said. “There are good reasons for it.”

Allegations of misconduct against Spencer in the State v. Ward case include initiating ex parte communications concerning matters pending in his court, deciding issues prematurely and on the basis of improper considerations and attempting to deprive Ward of her constitutional right to appeal and her statutory right to seek modification of her sentence, according to a letter sent by Anderson attorney Jeff Lockwood to the commission in August 2008.

Lockwood, along with attorney Bryan Williams, was the defense counsel for Ward in the trial, which concluded with Ward’s conviction on June 29, 2007.

According to Lockwood’s letter, on July 1, 2007, “Spencer engaged Mr. Williams in an ex parte conversation declaring he had already decided what Ms. Ward’s sentence would be.”

He allegedly told Williams that because Ward was white and had killed her husband, who was black, “he intended to impose the advisory sentence of 30 years so that the decedent’s family members from Chicago would not be upset with the leniency of his sentence.”

Lockwood’s letter said Spencer further told Williams he would modify Ward’s sentence to the minimum 20 years if she waived her right to appeal the sentence. Lockwood and Williams later told Spencer they couldn’t advise their client to give up her appeal.

“We did not believe his reliance upon the imagined reaction of the victim’s family was a proper sentencing consideration and that we could not in good conscience advise our client to waive her constitutionally guaranteed right of appeal in return for a judicial promise that could not be enforced,” Lockwood wrote.

Spencer sentenced Ward to 30 years in prison, and her sentence appeal was later denied by the Indiana Court of Appeals. Spencer then declined to modify Ward’s sentence because “(defense counsel) had toyed with him by allowing Ms. Ward to appeal her conviction,” Lockwood wrote.

On Wednesday, Lockwood said he didn’t know whether the investigation into Spencer’s misconduct had prompted his resignation. “Regardless of what allegations were made against him, to my knowledge he’s never admitted any misconduct,” Lockwood said. “He might be resigning because of ill health or because he thinks it’s time to leave. He’s still a sitting judge, and he’s entitled to all the respect due his office.”

Lockwood said he would not pursue any additional actions against Spencer in the State v. Ward case. “Since that investigation is closed, it’s over as far as I’m concerned,” he said. “There wouldn’t be anything else I could do or would care to do. I did what I thought I needed to do under the circumstances.”

Lockwood said, despite his allegations against Spencer, it did not make him happy to see the judge resign. “I wrote the letter because I felt that I had to,” he said. “I don’t take any pleasure in it. It’s one of the worst things and most unpleasant things I’ve had to do in my career.

“Obviously, I thought that he was wrong or I wouldn’t have written the letter.” Lockwood and Williams still represent Ward and expect a hearing date within the next couple of months on a petition to modify her sentence. The case has been moved to Madison Superior Court 3 under Judge Thomas Newman.

A side-bar to the Herald Tribune story:
Past problems plague Spencer

• Judge Fredrick Spencer was suspended for 30 days in 2003 after he appointed a special prosecutor without having a hearing in a 2001 case involving the placing of explosives around attorney John Blevins’ home by a group of teens.
• Spencer was publicly reprimanded by the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications in 2001 after a re-election television ad allegedly violated the Code of Judicial Conduct, which prohibits judicial candidates from making promises of conduct in office, making statements to commit them to issues likely to come before the court and failing to maintain the dignity of the office.
• In 1999, Spencer received a public admonition from the commission for allegedly entertaining and granting an ex parte petition for change of child custody without notice to the custodial father and for failing to communicate with a Florida judge who had assumed jurisdiction over the case.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 24, 2009 08:12 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts