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Monday, June 01, 2009

Courts - North Carolina Judge reprimanded for ex parte "friending" of attorney for the defense

Ryan Jones of the Lexington, North Carolina Dispatch, reports today:

After a formal investigation by the North Carolina Judicial Standards Commission, District Court Judge B. Carlton Terry Jr. was issued a public reprimand for using the social networking site Facebook to discuss a case being tried before him.

According to the public reprimand, which was issued April 1, Terry presided over a child custody and child support hearing from Sept. 9 to Sept. 12, 2008, in Iredell County. During this time, Terry and Charles A. Shieck, attorney for the defendant, became “friends” on Facebook and began posting messages referring to aspects of the case, such as when it would be settled and whether or not one of the parties had been guilty of an affair.

Terry was also cited for using the search engine Google to conduct independent research on the plaintiff’s business Web site even though it had never been offered or entered into evidence during the hearing. * * *

According to the reprimand, the Judicial Standards Commission found that “Judge Terry’s actions constitute conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that brings the judicial office into disrepute.”

Also according to the reprimand, Terry agreed that he would refrain from repeating such action in the future, familiarize himself with the Code of Judicial Conduct and refrain from retaliating against any person who cooperated with the commission in the matter.

As mentioned in this May 7th ILB entry, Ind. Code of Judicial Conduct Rule 2.9(C) provides:
RULE 2.9: Ex Parte Communications * * *

(C) A judge shall not investigate facts in a matter independently, and shall consider only the evidence presented and any facts that may properly be judicially noticed.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 1, 2009 01:40 PM
Posted to Courts in general