ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, July 10, 1996 TAG: 9607100055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
HIS JUDGMENT was bad when he signed another magistrate's name to a warrant, but his intention was not evil, the judge ruled.
A magistrate "committed a fraud upon the public" when he falsified a criminal warrant, a Roanoke judge ruled Tuesday, but he did not break the law.
Noel Painter did not have a criminal intent to defraud when he signed the name of another magistrate on a warrant charging a woman he knew with public intoxication, Circuit Judge Robert P. Doherty said.
Although he dismissed a charge of forging a public document against Painter, Doherty said that "what he did was absolutely wrong. He showed an incredible lack of good judgment."
Had Painter not resigned shortly after the allegations came to light in February, Doherty said, he would have dismissed him. Magistrates are quasi-judicial officials, appointed by Circuit Court judges. They have the power to issue warrants based on the sworn testimony of police officers who make arrests, or residents who go to the office to swear out charges themselves.
In testimony Monday, Painter, 41, said he was only trying to avoid a disturbance at the Roanoke City Jail when he signed the name of a colleague to a warrant charging Melanie Foutz with being drunk in public.
He explained that over the past few months, he had developed a relationship with the 25-year-old woman - seeking professional help for her drinking problem, finding her a place to live, letting her borrow his car and even taking her out to dinner.
But Foutz continued to call and pester him after he tried to end the relationship, Painter said. So when Foutz was brought to his office the morning of Feb. 21 charged with being drunk in public, Painter figured she would probably cause a disturbance in the jail if she learned he was the magistrate on duty.
Foutz, who frequently was charged with public intoxication, had screamed and kicked the walls of her holding cell in the past after learning that he was working by reading his signature on her arrest warrant, Painter said.
So by signing the name of another magistrate to the document, he said, "I thought I was doing everybody a favor."
Defense attorney Jonathan Rogers argued that it was clear that Painter did not have the "evil intent" required to support a conviction. Rogers pointed out that his client immediately told the arresting police officer and the magistrate whose name he signed what he had done and why he did it.
"He wasn't trying to hide it from the public," Rogers said.
During testimony Monday, Doherty was surprised to learn that people charged with public intoxication in Roanoke are seldom brought to court on the charge. Instead, the misdemeanor charge is usually dismissed after they spend several hours in jail - long enough to sober up before they are released.
Doherty also expressed concerns that in some cases, the suspects are not even brought before the magistrate and are not personally served the warrant charging them with being drunk in public.
After dismissing the charge against Painter, the judge said he had spoken with court officials and directed them to handle drunk-in-public cases the same as they would any other criminal offense.
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