Judicial ethics authorities have asked the Arkansas Supreme Court to reinstate a Cabot judge more than a month after a domestic battery charge against him was dismissed.
On Friday, the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission told the state's high court that the commission had dismissed an ethics complaint filed against Lonoke County District Judge Joe O'Bryan.
O'Bryan has been on paid leave since late August, when the Supreme Court agreed to a commission request to temporarily suspend O'Bryan pending the outcome of an investigation by the commission.
The investigation was prompted by an Aug. 21 incident, when police were called to a Lonoke home. According to police reports, O'Bryan's girlfriend said she and the judge had an altercation.
O'Bryan was charged with domestic battery, a misdemeanor. The special prosecutor in the case, Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland of Conway, asked the lower court judge to dismiss the charge after the girlfriend refused to cooperate with prosecutors. On Nov. 5, special District Judge David Reynolds dismissed the charge.
O'Bryan, who was first elected as the Cabot area's district judge in 1990, is up for re-election next year. He has two opponents, Ward City Attorney Clint McGue and Cabot bankruptcy attorney John Flynn.
Metro on 12/12/2015