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Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Ind. Courts - More on Judge Pfaff removal
Updating yesterday's ILB entry re Elkhart Superior Court Judge Benjamin Pfaff, the Elkhart Truth today has a strong editorial titled "Judge should step aside." Some quotes:
Pfaff's credibility as a Superior Court judge was damaged by the original incident in December 2003, but now it is gone. Although both he and the attorneys for the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications still have time to respond before the Supreme Court makes its final decision, it would be best for this community if Pfaff resigned immediately.The judges found "Judge Pfaff's behavior .... demonstrated a pattern of improper activity," according to their findings of fact released Monday.
They found he "... did not work within the system in the search and recovery of his missing daughter, electing instead of take matters into this own hands. ..."
"Judge Pfaff ... did not allow law enforcement to do its job."
The judges also pointed out that Pfaff showed no remorse for his misconduct and that he was not truthful about confrontations which occurred on Dec. 8, 2003, and that he lied about the occupants of a home having used drugs that day, "maligning the reputation of the occupants therein."
In addition, he also turned on his ex-wife in a statement. "Judge Pfaff took painstaking efforts in one of his statements to discredit the previous statements made by his ex-wife and make her appear to be lying in some grand scheme to discredit him," the judges said. "The Masters were not impressed with this seemingly underhanded and vengeful attempt to discredit the testimony of his ex-wife," whom they said appeared reluctant to testify against Pfaff.
Vengeful. Underhanded. Not truthful.
Those are not the qualities fitting of a judge. This is disgraceful conduct.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 31, 2005 03:51 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts