Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 11, 1992 TAG: 9201110206
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
6 JUDGE CASES IN HIGH COURT
Since the Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission began to investigate allegations of misconduct by judges in 1971, only six cases have reached the Virginia Supreme Court.The commission handles some cases privately, but the most serious ones are ultimately decided when a complaint is filed with the Supreme Court - unless the judge decides to resign before it reaches that stage.
One judge has been removed from office; the others were censured. The most recent censure came Friday, when Judge Fred L. Hoback Jr. was reprimanded for smelling of alcohol while in the Roanoke County courthouse.
In other cases heard by the Supreme Court:
In 1973, Circuit Judge William Southall Jordan was censured for representing his son on traffic charges in Roanoke County, and for assisting in the prosecution of a man accused in an accident involving his son-in-law in Montgomery County.
In 1976, General District Judge Thomas Andrews was censured for sending people convicted of misdemeanors to the Suffolk jail for failing to pay fines, without first appointing lawyers to represent them or determining if they were indigent.
In 1977, General District Judge H. Ratcliffe Turner was censured for making improper comments from the bench in Henrico County, for requiring defendants to post bonds in order to have their cases continued, and for assuring defendants charged with two offenses that that the second would be dismissed if they promised not to appeal the first. Other charges against Turner were dismissed.
In 1977, General District Judge Harold C. Maurice was removed from office for drinking confiscated beer in a room that held seized property in the Richmond courthouse, and for taking alcohol and firearms seized as evidence in cases for his own or others' use.
In 1979, General District Judge Joseph A. Jordan was censured for ordering people who wanted to appeal their misdemeanor convictions to be jailed until appeal bonds were set after the day's docket was completed - effectively punishing people for exercising their right to appeal - and for improperly convicting people on bench warrants in his Norfolk court.