LITTLE ROCK — Federal court officials said Tuesday that they will ask for an out-of-state judge to be appointed to decide on a request by an Arkansas judge to block a judicial discipline hearing set for today.
State Circuit Judge L.T. Simes of Marianna made the request to stop the hearing of the state Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission in a lawsuit filed Friday.
The commission is to hear a complaint, referred to the commission by the Arkansas Supreme Court, that accuses Simes of abusing his discretion in awarding sanctions against former West Helena Mayor Johnny Weaver and Weaver’s attorney in 2005.
In the federal lawsuit, Simes accuses the commission of attempting to “harass” him and deprive him of his civil rights. He asked for a federal judge to stop the hearing from going forward.
Dennis Wysocki, chief deputy of operations in the U.S. District clerk’s office for the Eastern District of Arkansas, said Tuesday that every federal judge in the Eastern District recused themselves from the case, either because they knew people named as defendants in the lawsuit or were too busy to hear it.
By Tuesday afternoon, all three judges in the state’s western district had also recused. Court Clerk Chris Johnson said all the judges were busy with other cases.
Wysocki said Arkansas federal court officials would ask William Jay Riley of Omaha, Neb., chief justice of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, to appoint a judge from elsewhere in the circuit to hear the case. In addition to Arkansas, the circuit covers Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri and Minnesota.
The commission’s hearing is set for 1 p.m. today at the commission’s offices in Little Rock.
A 1st Judicial District judge since 1997, Simes was suspended without pay in November by the state Supreme Court for handling the legal affairs of an estate while serving as a judge.
He was unopposed for reelection in May and will resume his post in January when his suspension ends.
The case set before the commission today concerns Simes’ decision to award sanctions against Weaver and attorney Todd Murray in 2005.
Simes awarded the sanctions in a lawsuit filed by members of the West Helena City Council seeking to reinstate the city’s police chief and block Weaver from interfering with the dayto-day operations of the Police Department.
Weaver asked Simes to recuse himself, but Simes refused, accusing Weaver of “judge shopping.” Simes also awarded sanctions against Weaver and Murray, ordering them to pay attorneys fees to the opposing counsel.
In 2006, the state Supreme Court overturned the sanctions and said Simes had “abused his discretion” in awarding them. It forwarded a copy of its ruling to the discipline commission, which treated the ruling as a formal complaint.
In a filing in federal court Tuesday, an attorney for the commission denied that the commission had acted in bad faith and asked for Simes’ lawsuit to be dismissed.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 07/28/2010