On the second count, the commission found that Gormley entered a change of custody order that removed a child from the custody of her father but denied the father the right to put on his own evidence. Gormley, the commission found, acted as an advocate for the mother in that case.

A Kentucky family court judge has been found guilty of two charges of judicial misconduct and suspended from judicial practice for 45 days.  Judge Tamra Gormley had a third charge dismissed.  The first charge was for denying a hearing to a man whom she had found in contempt of court.  The second was for denying a father a hearing when she removed his child from his custody.  Read about it here (Lexington Herald-Leader, 11/3/09)

I don't know about Kentucky, but here in Texas, it's mighty hard to suspend a judge because of misconduct on the bench.  Alcohol and drug abuse, yes, but not what they do in the conduct of their office.  As to attorneys generally, when the state bar disciplines one, the stated reason is almost always just the tip of the iceberg.  The bar will say it disciplined so-and-so because she "neglected a client matter, failed to return phone calls, etc."  But there are many other, often more serious charges that go unmentioned.

My guess is that the same is true of this judge.  If these three complaints are the only ones against her, I'll eat my hat.  She sounds like a rogue judge - one who thinks the robe permits her to conduct herself and her courtroom any way she chooses.  Read what the Judicial Conduct Commission said about her:

Gormley's actions "were not mere legal error," the ruling says. "A reasonably prudent and competent judge would conclude the conduct of Judge Gormley to be obviously and seriously wrong in all the circumstances of the cases." 

Those words describe a rogue judge.  Notice too that what she did was to deny due process to two men in family law matters.  I'd bet money there are plenty more where those two came from.  The good news is that, once a judge like Gormley has come to the attention of a judicial oversight body, she'll have to mind her Ps and Qs for a long time or she'll get busted again.

With any luck, the voters will save the Commission the trouble.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 7:57 pm and is filed under Family Law, Fathers' Rights/Noncustodial parents' rights. You can trackback from your own site.