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Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Courts - Still more on: Illinois Judge Refused Post-Wreck DUI Test While Another Judge Ditched Beer

Remember this Illinois story from 2006, which coincided with reports here of "Marion Superior Court judge accused of drunken driving."

An update today from the St. Louis Post Dispatch, reported by Nicholas J.C. Pistor:

CHICAGO — Two St. Clair County judges involved in a drunken-driving accident last year won't be stripped of their black robes.

The two, Jan V. Fiss and Patrick M. Young, stood before a seven-member judicial discipline board Monday afternoon and apologized for their roles in a drunken-driving case that threatened their jobs and reputations.

The Illinois Courts Commission reprimanded the judges at a hearing in Chicago. The reprimands carry no consequences other than public embarrassment. The two will be allowed to remain on the bench, receive their salaries and, when they retire, their pensions. They could have been censured, suspended without pay, removed from office or not penalized at all.

According to a complaint filed by the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board, Young drank eight beers and two Bloody Marys before getting behind the wheel and crashing head-on with another man's pickup.

Fiss sat in the passenger seat and was spotted by a police officer hiding a beer can in his coat after the wreck. According to the complaint, Fiss had six beers and two Bloody Marys that day. * * *

Young, 59, was charged with driving under the influence. In a plea agreement, Young was given two years of court supervision and a $1,500 fine.

Fiss, 65, pleaded guilty to a charge of illegal transportation of alcohol and was fined $500.

In the wake of the accident, Fiss stepped down as chief judge of the 20th judicial circuit.

And the Indiana incident? This May 31st ILB entry relates that: "The [Indiana] Supreme Court has issued a 2-page public reprimand of John F. Hanley, Judge of the Marion Superior Court, who was arrested for DUI on Dec. 4, 2006."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 18, 2007 03:53 PM
Posted to Courts in general