Maggio's exit from bench to be forever

Online comments by judge cited in sanctions he accepts

Circuit Judge Michael Maggio and a state agency have agreed to sanctions that would suspend him from all judicial duties until year's end and then prohibit him from ever serving as a judge again in Arkansas, the agency announced Wednesday.

The Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission's unanimous decision followed a five-month investigation of allegations that Maggio, 53, had violated judicial ethics in part by posting online comments about "a plethora of subjects," including women, sex, race, homosexuality, divorce, bestiality and a confidential adoption case involving actress Charlize Theron.

The commission's findings -- subject to the Arkansas Supreme Court's approval -- "resulted in the ultimate punishment we have," the panel's executive director, David Sachar, said in an interview Wednesday.

The allegations, which surfaced in early March, led to Maggio's withdrawal from the race for the Arkansas Court of Appeals and preceded published reports of campaign contributions he accepted last year from political action committees financed almost entirely by nursing-home owner Michael Morton of Fort Smith. The FBI is investigating those contributions and was in Maggio's Faulkner County Circuit Court office in Conway as recently as last month.

In a letter detailing the commission's decisions, Sachar told Maggio, "The volume of your comments result in much more than a problem of taste, decorum or personal opinion. It adds up to someone who demonstrates that he is unfit for the bench."

The commission found Maggio, a circuit judge since 2001, had committed 23 willful violations of three judicial canons, and issued five "undisputed" findings of fact against him.

Sachar said the first two findings -- both focused on inappropriate comments Maggio made online -- are what led to the recommendation that he never be allowed to serve as a judge again once he leaves office at year's end. The other findings, including one dealing with an effort to destroy evidence and another with a conflict-of-interest matter, led to the recommendation that he be suspended for the rest of the year with pay, Sachar said.

In a statement issued through his attorneys Wednesday, Maggio said, "I am no quitter but I have always done my utmost best to attain and promote the highest ideals of the justice system."

He noted he had apologized for the online comments and added, "I am proud of my service to my constituents, litigants, lawyers and all with whom I have interacted. ... I, along with my staff, treated all with courtesy, respect and dignity. In none of the over 45,000 cases was there a single instance of any bias or prejudice in my actions, decisions, or words."

Maggio also contended that the commission had "dismissed" a complaint about campaign contributions -- a statement that the Little Rock attorney who filed it criticized because he felt it was misleading.

"For him to say that they dismissed our cases is absolutely degrading, undermining," said Thomas Buchanan, who represents the family of a woman who died in a Morton-owned nursing home and who later sued in Maggio's court.

"It's a half-truth ... and apparently he hasn't learned anything from this. The real truth is that the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission said it was because you can't kill a judge twice," Buchanan said, referring to the fact that Maggio can't be repeatedly precluded from ever serving as a judge again.

The commission concluded that Maggio:

• 1. Commented publicly about Theron's 2012 closed adoption on a blog for Louisiana State University fans by talking about the 2012 adoption being dealt with by another judge in Faulkner County Circuit Court. Maggio talked about how Theron had appeared "in disguise" and with "an entourage" in court, and disclosed the adopted baby's race.

"You violated the trust of an adopting mother," Sachar told Maggio. "You had no valid reason to broadcast the information. This resulted in a violation of the faith the people placed in your hands upon taking the oath of your office. It cast doubt on whether information in closed proceedings is ever truly confidential."

Theron's publicist did not reply to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's requests for comment Wednesday.

• 2. Made "inappropriate statements" online about his official duties, pending cases and independent investigations of matters before the court. For example, the commission noted one comment in which Maggio said he was going to submit a divorce case to mediation.

"This case is still pending," Maggio wrote, according to the commission's summary. "I send them to mediation. ... No need to drag the kids into court if can be avoided. I will say I get tired of hearing how the husband works all the time (uhh no kidding how you think the bills get paid); that he had an affair (Ummm... the wife quits or shuts down sex to nothing, becomes unattractive, and non-supportive and then is shocked when he steps out) what did she think was going to happen."

In another online post, Maggio offered what "appears to be legal advice on how to beat a DWI when stopped and possibly over the [alcohol] limit," the commission said.

Other online comments reflected his own investigation -- separate from evidence to be presented in court -- about a case coming before him.

• 3. "Inappropriate" online statements about gender, race and sexuality.

The panel found that, as one example, Maggio wrote online:

"From my years in the courtroom:

"All women have an agenda.

"Women look at 2 bulges on a man A) the front and/or B) the back (wallet). As long as either one is big enough they can make do without the other."

• 4. Maggio acted to destroy evidence of his online posts by trying to delete or edit posts he had made online sometime after a Little Rock blog, bluehogreport.com, first reported the comments on March 3. The judicial commission disclosed its investigation that same day.

• 5. Maggio had a conflict of interest in a case involving a hot check written for child support to Maggio's girlfriend from her ex-husband, Todd Rivers.

Maggio asked April Mathis, the hot-check coordinator for the 20th Judicial Circuit to issue an arrest warrant immediately despite the circuit's protocol allowing the check writer more time. Mathis declined, and Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland and a deputy prosecutor later told Maggio that the request had been improper.

"The judge stated that he was misunderstood and there was no more conversation on the matter," the commission related. Yet later, it said, Maggio called Mathis to ask if a warrant, since signed by another judge, had been issued and said he was eager to see it served.

During this time, the hot-check case was assigned to Maggio, who handled all hot-check cases. He eventually recused but not until after he had signed a scheduling order in it.

Maggio and the girlfriend, Joan Rivers Maggio, are now married.

"The public does not expect their judicial officers to delete evidence or use their office to promote their own personal interests," the letter to Maggio said.

In the letter to Maggio, Sachar noted that Maggio had used the online moniker "geauxjudge" to make comments since 2005 on a Louisiana State University fans blog, tigerdroppings.com, and on an Arkansas sports website, Hogville.net, but had provided many clues in his posts on his true identity.

The letter gave several examples of offensive comments and said, "There were dozens, if not hundreds, of other posts identifying you [Maggio] as the poster through context and comments. Additionally, you made no secret that you were in fact a sitting judge and continually commented on your job and your role as a judge. Even your screen name indicated your official position.

"Your actions offended and, even worse, gave rise to legitimate concerns that bias would overcome fairness and due process for a large number of potential litigants and their attorneys. Even the cases that you decided based purely on the facts and the law are now suspect by parties who look at the kind of statements you made. Whether it is race, gender, sexual orientation or specific subject matter, your comments made it impossible for you to be taken seriously as a judge who would be fair and impartial. You essentially disqualified yourself from the bench," Sachar wrote.

Sachar explained in the letter that had Maggio not agreed to the sanctions and instead had pursued a challenge to the commission case in a civil trial, that it would have taken until the end of Maggio's judicial term this year "or longer to secure a final verdict."

Maggio agrees "that a suspension from office with pay is appropriate," Sachar added.

Maggio makes $138,981.96 annually.

In late March, the Supreme Court stripped Maggio of all of his cases. If the suspension takes effect, Maggio will not be allowed to perform any judicial functions -- not even sign a warrant, which he can legally do under the high court's current order, Sachar said in the interview Wednesday. The commission said it was making no finding as a result of a complaint about the PAC contributions to Maggio.

"The case was going to take considerably more time to investigate and posture for a probable cause determination than the case at bar," the letter to Maggio stated. "[That complaint] is concluded with 'no finding' due to the investigation being mooted by" disposition of the other sanctions levied against Maggio, the letter said.

Morton donated thousands of dollars to eight PACs in checks dated July 8 -- the same day Maggio heard a Morton-owned nursing home's plea to reduce a Faulkner County jury's $5.2 million judgment against a Morton-owned nursing home in a lawsuit filed over the 2008 death of patient Martha Bull, 76.

Three days after the hearing, Maggio cut the sum to $1 million. Seven of the eight PACs later contributed to Maggio's appeals-court campaign.

It was not known if Maggio's law license is under review.

Stark Ligon, director of the Arkansas Office of Professional Conduct, which has disciplinary authority over lawyers, said that because of Supreme Court confidentiality rules, he can neither confirm nor deny a grievance is pending in his office regarding any lawyer until such a matter reaches "a certain stage, which is a public hearing."

Buchanan, who represents Bull's family, called on Maggio to donate the salary he makes as a judge in the coming months to a nonprofit group called Arkansans for Nursing Home Reform.

"The people of Faulkner County rely on a judge to use good judgment in making ... discretionary calls," Buchanan said. "What's clear by Maggio's own admissions is that he doesn't have good judgment."

A section on 08/07/2014

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