Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance v. Patton
Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance v. Patton
Concurring in Part
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
¶ 33. I concur in part and dissent in part in this case because I would accept the Commission’s and Judge Patton’s Agreed Statement of Facts and Proposed Recommendation. As the majority appropriately points out (Maj. Op. ¶ 7), “Judge Patton has been a judge for more than twenty years, and has no prior disciplinary record.” Therefore, I would hold that a public reprimand, payment of $1,000 fine, and payment of costs of $100 is an appropriate sanction.
KITCHENS AND CHANDLER, JJ., JOIN THIS OPINION.
Opinion of the Court
for the Court:
¶ 1. The Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance recommended that Houston J. Patton, County Court Judge for Hinds County, be publicly repi'imanded and ordered to pay a fine of $1,000 and costs of $100 for engaging in ex parte communications, misusing his contempt power, failing to propeidy notice hearings, granting relief not requested, and issuing a search warrant without legal authority, all actions which the Commission found to constitute willful misconduct in office. Judge Patton joined the Commission’s recommendations and has admitted to all chai’ges of misconduct. After l-eviewing the record, we find the recommended sanctions to be insufficient, and we decline to adopt the Commission’s recommendations. We impose a sanction of suspension without pay for thirty days, a public reprimand, a fine of $1,000, and costs of $100.
STATEMENT OF FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS
¶ 2. On Febraaiy 19, 2009, the Commission filed a formal complaint, in which it alleged that Judge Patton had engaged in improper conduct in two cases involving the same defendant. In the first case,
DISCUSSION
¶ 4. This Court conducts a “ ‘de novo review of judicial misconduct proceedings, giving great deference to the findings, based on clear and convincing evidence, of the recommendations of the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance.’ ”
¶ 5. The Commission found by clear and convincing evidence that Judge Patton’s conduct was willful and prejudicial to the administration of justice under Section 177A of the Mississippi Constitution, and that it violated Canons 1, 2A, 2B, 3B(2), 3B(7), 3B(8), 3B(9),
¶ 6. Under Section 177A, this Court may “remove from office, suspend, fine or publicly censure or reprimand” a judge for misconduct.
(1) The length and character of the judge’s public service; (2) Whether there is any prior case law [sic] on point; (3) The magnitude of the offense and the harm suffered; (4) Whether the misconduct is an isolated incident or evidences a pattern of conduct; (5) Whether moral turpitude was involved; and (6) The presence or absence of mitigating or aggravating circumstances.17
And we have ruled that the “guiding factor in assigning an appropriate sanction is that if it fits the offense, and this is best measured by comparison with sanctions handed down in prior cases for the listed offense.”
1. The length and character of the judge’s public semce
¶ 7. Judge Patton has been a judge for more than twenty years, and has no prior disciplinary record. The record contains no information about the character of Judge Patton’s public service.
2. Whether there is any prior caselaw on point.
¶ 8. This Court has considered numerous judicial-misconduct cases involving abuse of contempt power and ex parte communi
¶ 9. And in Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance v. Byers, this Court sanctioned a circuit judge with a public reprimand, fine of $1,500, and costs of $2,023.59 for various improprieties, including the “serious charge” of misusing the contempt power.
¶ 10. The Court also considered a judge’s misuse of contempt in Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance v. Gunter, in which a municipal judge had a seventeen-year-old arrested for contempt and immediately brought before him for failing to appear for community service.
¶ 11. But this Court has imposed harsher sanctions in cases involving similar misconduct. In Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance v. Gordon, the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance recommended a public reprimand and assessment of costs for a municipal court judge who engaged in ex parte communications with defendants and subsequently fixed fourteen traffic tickets.
¶ 12. Likewise, in Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance v. Britton, the Court again imposed an enhanced punishment of suspension without pay for thirty days, a public reprimand, and costs, on a justice court judge when the Commission had recommended only a public reprimand and costs of $1,118.37.
¶ 13. And in Mississippi Commission on Judicial Perfomance v. Lewis, this Court accepted the Commission’s recommendation to remove a justice court judge from office and assess costs of $2,080.23.
3. The magnitude of the offense and the ham suffered
¶ 14. In this case, Judge Patton failed to follow the law regarding ex parte communications, contempt, and execution of search warrants. He failed to ensure litigants received notice of hearings, and he publicly commented on pending cases. This Court has ruled that “immeasurable harm occurs when a judge who is trusted as the gatekeeper to justice for all our citizens, fails to learn and apply fundamental tenets of the law.”
k. Whether the misconduct is an isolated incident or evinces a pattern of conduct.
¶ 15. While this is Judge Patton’s first time to be sanctioned for misconduct, this action was initiated by two formal complaints involving misconduct in three civil eases. In each case, Judge Patton engaged in ex parte communication. In two cases, he improperly used his contempt power, held hearings without notice, and wrongfully incarcerated defendants. We have held that three incidents within one formal complaint constituted a pattern.
5. Whether moral turpitude was involved.
¶ 16. This Court has ruled that moral turpitude “includes, but is not limited to, actions which involve interference with the administration of justice, misrepresentation, fraud, deceit, bribery, extortion, or other such actions which bring the judiciary into disrepute.”
[Tjhis case is not about a judge’s conduct because of a judge’s lack of judicial education or training. This case involves some of the basic tenets of daily living in a civil society, such as living by standards of fundamental decency and honesty by not abusing the judicial process, and by revering the law and the judicial system, and upholding the dignity and respect of the judiciary through appropriate conduct and behavior toward others.47
We find that Judge Patton’s conduct, which is undisputed, involves moral turpitude, as he abused the judicial process and failed to revere the law and judicial system. His actions of wrongfully incarcerating litigants, engaging in ex parte communications; failing to give notice of hearings and orders, publicly commenting on a pending case, and improperly issuing a search warrant in a civil case, certainly warrant this Court to find moral turpitude.
¶ 17. This is Judge Patton’s first time to be sanctioned. He has admitted his misconduct and has agreed to the recommended sanctions. However, his behavior was very similar in three different cases and shows a pattern of misconduct. Judge Patton has ignored the Code of Judicial Conduct, and his actions have deprived litigants of the due process of law, the gravity of which this Court takes very seriously. This Court gives great deference to the Commission’s findings with the clear charge that we must render an independent judgment.
¶ 18. While this is Judge Patton’s first disciplinary action, we find his conduct is egregious enough to warrant suspension, as imposed in Gordon and Button, in addition to the recommended sanction. After full consideration and de novo review of the record before us, we find that the Commission’s recommendation is too lenient, and we enhance the sanction to include a thirty-day suspension without pay, in addition to a public reprimand, fine of $1,000, and costs of $100.
CONCLUSION
¶ 19. Judge Patton has violated Canons 1, 2A, 2B, 3B(2), 3B(7), 3B(8), 3B(9), 3C(1) of the Code of Judicial Conduct, and his conduct violated Article 3, Section 30 of the Mississippi Constitution and is within the scope of Section 177A, subparts (b) and (e). Because of his misconduct, we impose a sanction of a suspension without pay for thirty days, a public reprimand, a fine of $1,000, and costs of $100. The public reprimand shall be read in open court on the first day of the next term of the Circuit Court of Hinds County in which a jury venire is present, with Judge Patton in attendance.
¶ 20. JUDGE HOUSTON J. PATTON, COUNTY COURT JUDGE FOR HINDS COUNTY, SHALL BE PUBLICLY REPRIMANDED IN OPEN COURT BY THE PRESIDING JUDGE OF THE HINDS COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE NEXT TERM OF THAT COURT AFTER THIS DECISION BECOMES FINAL WHEN A VENIRE PANEL IS PRESENT, IS SUSPENDED FROM OFFICE WITHOUT PAY FOR THIRTY(30) DAYS, AND IS ASSESSED A FINE IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,000 AND COSTS OF $100.
. John Woodward and Vivian Wajda v. Billy Ralph Sullivan, No. 07-1884.
. Joseph Gregory and Debra Gregory v. Billy R. Sullivan, Individually and Billy R. Sullivan d/b/a A <fe S Environmental, No. 251-07-000328-CQV.
. Miss. Const, art. 6, § 177A(b),(e).
. Vernon and Constance Hughes v. Homer "H.L.” Tillman and John Does 1-5, No. 251-07-5319-COV.
. Miss. Const, art. 3, § 30.
. Miss. Const, art. 6, § 177A(b),(e).
. Miss. Comm’n on Judicial Performance v. Sanford, 941 So.2d 209, 212 (Miss. 2006) (quoting Miss. Comm’n on Judicial Performance v. Gibson, 883 So.2d 1155, 1156 (Miss. 2004)).
. Rules of'the Miss. Comm’n on Judicial Performance 10(E).
. Gibson, 883 So.2d at 1157.
. We note that the record contains no facts that support a violation of Canon 3B(9), which generally prohibits a judge and his court personnel from publicly commenting on
. Miss. Comm’n on Judicial Performance v. U.U., 875 So.2d 1083, 1088-89 (Miss. 2004).
. Miss. Comm’n on Judicial Performance v. Vess, 10 So.3d 486, 489 (Miss. 2009).
. Id.
. Miss. Comm'n on Judicial Performance v. Walker, 565 So.2d 1117, 1124 (Miss. 1990).
. See In re Nichols, 749 So.2d 68 (Miss. 1999).
. Miss. Const, art. 6, § 177A.
. Miss. Comm'n on Judicial Performance v. Gibson, 883 So.2d 1155, 1158 (Miss. 2004).
. Miss. Comm'n on Judicial Performance v. Britton, 936 So.2d 898, 906 (Miss. 2006).
. See e.g., Vess, 10 So.3d at 488-89, 495 (ex parte communication and abuse of contempt); Britton, 936 So.2d at 906 (ex parte communication); Miss. Comm’n on Judicial Performance v. Lewis, 913 So.2d 266 (Miss. 2005) (ex parte communication); Miss. Comm’n on Judicial Performance v. Blakeney, 848 So.2d 824 (Miss. 2003) (ex parte communication); Miss. Comm’n on Judicial Performance v. Willard, 788 So.2d 736 (Miss. 2001) (ex parte communication and abuse of contempt); Miss. Comm'n on Judicial Performance v. Gunter, 797 So.2d 988, 990 (Miss. 2001) (abuse of contempt); Miss. Comm'n on Judicial Performance v. Lewis, 801 So.2d 704 (Miss. 2001) (ex parte communication); Miss. Comm’n on Judicial Performance v. Byers, 757 So.2d 961, 973 (Miss. 2000) (abuse of contempt); Miss. Comm'n on Judicial Performance v. Sanders, 749 So.2d 1062 (Miss. 1999) (ex parte communication and abuse of contempt); Walker, 565 So.2d at 1124 (abuse of contempt).
. Miss. Comm’n on Judicial Performance v. Vess, 10 So.3d 486, 488-89, 495 (Miss. 2009).
. Byers, 757 So.2d at 973.
. Id. at 970.
. Id. at 973.
. Miss. Comm’n on Judicial Performance v. Gunter, 797 So.2d 988, 990 (Miss. 2001).
. Id.
. Id. at 989.
. Miss. Comm'n on Judicial Performance v. Gordon, 955 So.2d 300, 301-02 (Miss. 2007).
. Id. at 306.
. Miss. Comm’n on Judicial Performance v. Britton, 936 So.2d 898, 906 (Miss. 2006).
.Id. at 907.
. Miss. Comm’n on Judicial Performance v. Lewis, 913 So.2d 266, 268 (Miss. 2005).
. Miss. Comm'n on Judicial Performance v. Britton, 936 So.2d 898, 906 (Miss. 2006).
. Miss. Comm'n on Judicial Performance v. Byers, 757 So.2d 961, 973 (Miss. 2000).
. Miss. Comm'n on Judicial Performance v. Cowart, 936 So.2d 343, 350 (Miss. 2006).
. Miss. Comm'n on Judicial Performance v. Bradford, 18 So.3d 251, 256 (Miss. 2009).
. Miss. Comm'n on Judicial Performance v. Gibson, 883 So.2d 1155, 1158 (Miss. 2004).
. Miss. Comm'n on Judicial Performance v. Roberts, 952 So.2d 934, 942 (Miss. 2007).
. Miss. Comm’n on Judicial Performance v. Vess, 10 So.3d 486, 493 (Miss. 2009) (quoting Miss. Comm’n on Judicial Performance v. Gordon, 955 So.2d 300, 305 (Miss. 2007)).
. Miss. Comm’n on Judicial Performance v. Sanford, 941 So.2d 209, 217 (Miss. 2006).
Concurring in Part
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
¶ 21. I must respectfully dissent from the portion of today’s opinion that adds a thirty-day suspension to the sanctions recommended by the Commission. Judge Patton agreed to the Commission’s recommendation, and the recommended sanctions are consistent with our prior rulings in similar cases. This Court, in my judgment, should accept that recommendation rather than imposing heightened sanctions that are unwarranted by the facts. I specifically take issue with the majority’s finding that Judge Patton’s conduct evinces a pattern of bad behavior and that his conduct involved moral turpitude.
¶ 23. The determination of sanctions for judicial misconduct and the appropriateness of a sanction are based on a finding of these well-known factors: (1) the length and character of the judge’s public service; (2) whether there is prior case law on point; (3) the magnitude of the offense and the harm suffered; (4) whether the misconduct is an isolated incident or evidences a pattern of conduct; (5) whether moral turpitude was involved; and (6) the presence or absence of mitigating or aggravating circumstances. Miss. Comm’n on Judicial Performance v. Gibson, 883 So.2d 1155, 1158 (Miss. 2004).
¶24. Moral turpitude is a notoriously undefined term of art, and our decisions do not shed much light on its meaning. For the purposes of judicial discipline, it “includes, but is not limited to, actions which involve interference with the administration of justice, misrepresentation, fraud, deceit, bribery, extortion, or other such actions which bring the judiciary into disrepute.” Sanford, 941 So.2d at 217 (Miss. 2006) (quoting Gibson, 883 So.2d at 1158). In the context of criminal and tort law, this Court has said that moral turpitude “has been defined as inherent baseness or vileness of principle in the human heart., It means, in general, shameful wickedness, so extreme a departure from ordinary standards of honesty, good morals, justice or ethics as to be shocking to the moral sense of the community.” Speed v. Scott, 787 So.2d 626, 633 (Miss. 2001) (quoting Restatement (Second) Torts § 571, cmt. g (1977)). In the context of attorney discipline, this Court has held, for instance, that the intentional conversion of client funds for one’s own use constitutes attorney conduct involving moral turpitude. See, e.g., Miss. Bar v. Sweeney, 849 So.2d 884, 888 (Miss. 2003); Miss. State Bar Ass’n v. Strickland, 492 So.2d 567, 571 (Miss. 1986).
¶ 25. The United States Supreme Court, in the context of deportable offenses under immigration law, has refused to assign a fixed meaning to the term “moral turpitude,” other than to hold that crimes involving an element of fraud implicate that term. Jordan v. De George, 341 U.S. 223, 232, 71 S.Ct. 703, 708, 95 L.Ed. 886 (1951). In reaching its decision that conspiracy to defraud the United States is a deportable offense involving moral turpitude, that Court stated “that fraud has consistently been regarded as such a contaminating component in any crime that American courts have, without exception, included such crimes within the scope of moral turpitude.” Id. at 228, 71 S.Ct. 703. Of course, that analysis, while incorporating fraud, brings this Court no closer to an exhaustive definition. Indeed, Justice Jackson, in his dissent to that decision, condemned the use of the term in the law as insufficiently definite' to pass constitutional muster. Id. at 232, 71 S.Ct. 703 (Jackson, J., dissenting). After noting that resort to a dictionary renders the meaning of the phrase as “morally immor
We should not forget that criminality is one thing — a matter of law — and that morality, ethics and religious teachings are another. Their relations have puzzled the best of men. Assassination, for example, whose criminality no one doubts, has been the subject of serious debate as to its morality. This does not make crime less criminal, but it shows on what treacherous grounds we tread when we undertake to translate ethical concepts into legal ones, case by case. We usually end up by condemning all that we personally disapprove and for no better reason than that we disapprove it. In fact, what better reason is there? Uniformity and equal protection of the law can come only from a statutory definition of fairly stable and confined bounds.
Id. at 241, 71 S.Ct. 703. We may take heed of Justice Jackson’s admonition without completely rejecting the idea that some acts, within the context of circumstances, deserve moral condemnation. Whatever the definition of moral turpitude should be for our purposes, it should be clear that its application as an aggravating factor should occur only where the facts warrant our strongest condemnation. In addition, if fraud is a touchstone, it indicates that a finding of moral turpitude requires this Court to look beyond the sanctionable conduct itself and examine, as well, the intent underlying the behavior in question.
¶ 26. In line with that principle, this Court has said that a finding of moral turpitude requires a determination of “whether a judge’s conduct crosses the line from simple negligence or mistake, to willful conduct which takes advantage of a judge’s position for greed or other inappropriate motives.” Miss. Comm’n on Judicial Performance v. Gordon, 955 So.2d 300, 305 (Miss. 2007) (holding that fixing tickets by passing them to the inactive files without requiring the defendants to appear in court and over the objections of the issuing officer constituted moral turpitude). Thus, heightened sanctions may be appropriate when there is a finding that the conduct “willfully subverts justice.” Id. Therefore, if the facts presented to us do not support a conclusion that the motives of the judge being sanctioned were inappropriate, we should refrain from finding that moral turpitude has been implicated.
¶ 27. The majority cites Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance v. Lewis, 913 So.2d 266 (Miss. 2005), for the proposition that sanctions beyond fines and public reprimands are appropriate where judicial misconduct involves improper ex parte communications and improper dismissals. The majority, in the present case, however, fails to recount the underlying facts that led it to a finding of moral turpitude in that case. In Lewis, 913 So.2d at 268, the judge had engaged in ex parte communications in order to make sexual advances toward several women. The improper dismissal cited by this Court was intended by him to aid the judge’s sexual advances. Id. at 269. The improper ex parte communications were not confined to meetings with the complainants in chambers but also included telephone calls, sexual in content, made by the judge to at least one of the complainants at her home. Id. at 268. The judge had been sanctioned numerous times prior to the cited action and had failed to pay fines and costs imposed for those previous sanctions. Id. It was clear in that case that the improper conduct was not only prejudicial to the administration of justice, but also in furtherance of the judge’s personal ends in conflict with his role as an officer of the
¶ 28. Here, this Court uses the inclusive definition of moral turpitude in a manner that is inconsistent with the fundamental premise underlying that factor: that some wrongful acts by judges, committed in furtherance of their private interests, are so repugnant to the basic standards of social expectations that we must condemn and punish -them more harshly than we would condemn and punish other wrongful acts. Here, the majority does not hold that Judge Patton’s conduct was in any way fraudulent, intended to further his own interests to the detriment of the judiciary, motivated by greed, or was otherwise so morally repugnant that society as a whole would find his conduct shocking. The majority simply states that, as his conduct interfered with the administration of justice, heightened sanctions are appropriate.
¶ 29. Our jurisprudence cries out for consistency on this point. Not every ex parte communication is the product of a base heart; not every improper dismissal is the product of the desire for personal gain at the expense of the impartial administration of justice. Judges are human, and therefore inherently imperfect; the Canons impose a standard of conduct that is not impossibly high, but also sanctions conduct that is the product of human flaws or frailty but is not necessarily wicked, deceitful, fraudulent or vile. We should take it as a limiting principle that even actions amounting to willful misconduct do not constitute wrongdoing that is the product of impurity or immorality unless the totality of the circumstances so indicates. Where, as here, there is no allegation and no proof that the judge subject to discipline acted in furtherance of his self-interests, with an intent to defraud, with inherent baseness or vileness of principle, with deceit — in short, with shameful wickedness — this Court should not make a finding that moral turpitude is present.
¶ 30. I also take issue with the majority opinion’s characterization of Judge Patton’s conduct as a pattern of behavior. The Commission made no ■ such finding, and the facts in the record do not support that conclusion. While I do not dispute that Judge Patton’s conduct in these three cases violated the Canons, it does not necessarily follow that improper conduct in three cases over the course of a 20-plus-year career on the bench with no prior disciplinary actions constitutes a pattern. The majority cites Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance v. Cowart, 936 So.2d 343, 350 (Miss. 2006), and Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance v. Bradford, 18 So.3d 251, 256 (Miss. 2009), for the proposition that three incidents within one formal complaint constitute a pattern. I note that, in Cowart, each of the three incidents alluded to by the majority involved substantially identical misconduct of improperly remanding traffic citations and then reinstating them on the active docket. Cowart, 936 So.2d at 345-46. If three incidents reported within one disciplinary action is the de minimis standard to be employed by this Court with respect to a finding of a pattern of conduct, then we should, at the very least, also make a finding that the conduct in question is so substantially similar, if not identical, that it warrants application of this factor' when we refuse to adopt a recommendation of the Commission.
¶ 32. For the above reasons, I respectfully concur in part and dissent in part.
CHANDLER AND PIERCE, JJ., JOIN THIS OPINION.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- MISSISSIPPI COMMISSION ON JUDICIAL PERFORMANCE v. Houston J. PATTON
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- 8 cases
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- Published