RSS Feed
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
DuBose's request for stay in ethics case denied Attorneys representing Circuit Judge Stuart DuBose on charges of ethics violations, filed a motion to extend the 30- day deadline for answering the complaint of the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission on Feb. 20. The motion sought the extension "due to the voluminous and varied nature of the complaint." Sixty counts of wrongdoing connected to eight separate incidents are alleged in the complaint. Judge Greg Shaw, chief judge of the Court of the Judiciary, a special court that hears such complaints against judges, responded on Feb. 22, granting a 10-day extension, from March 2 to March 12. That was on Friday. On Monday, Feb. 25, DuBose's attorneys filed a "Motion to Stay" or postpone proceedings against the judge with the Alabama Court of the Judiciary Monday "until such time as the Judicial Inquiry Commission has completed the investigation of Respondent's [DuBose's] alleged conduct." The motion references a Feb. 21 letter as Exhibit Ato DuBose from Judicial Inquiry Commission Executive Director Jenny Garrett. The letter was not included on the Court of the Judiciary's Website where the motion and other legal documents are posted. The letter states that an investigation is continuing and the motion says "it would be highly prejudicial to this Respondent to be engaged in preparing an answer or other trail proceedings while the Judicial Inquiry Commission is still investigating and apparently seeking new witnesses and allegations." Judge Shaw denied the motion. In his own handwriting on the last page of the request is, "Denied 2- 26-08 Greg Shaw." That means the March 12 deadline remains in effect. DuBose is being represented by attorneys E. Farley Moody of Calera and Clarence L. McDorman of Birmingham. Neither attorney responded to requests for comment on the complaint or their motion. DuBose has been on the bench for only a little over a year. The Judicial Inquiry Commission's official complaint lists eight different counts or separate incidents of alleged wrongdoing that include legal and ethical improprieties, both as a private attorney and as a judge. The Court of the Judiciary is a specially appointed group of nine people, including five judges, two attorneys and two lay people who sit as needed to hear complaints of misconduct against judges. Chief Judge Greg Shaw's "regular" job is as a judge of the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. Other jurists include Circuit Judges David Rains of Fort Payne, J. Scott Vowell of Birmingham, John V. Denson of Opelika and District Judge John J. Dobson of Oneonta. James L. North of Birmingham and William D. Melton of Evergreen are the attorneys on the panel and Sue H. McInnish of Montgomery and Mobile Mayor Sam Jones are the lay members.
The public can keep up with the legal documents filed in the case on the Court of the Judiciary's Web site: www.judicial. state.al.us/judiciary.cfm.
|
for larger version       |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
