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la crooked judge watch in re: john b. whitaker

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In re: Fuselier, 02-1661 (La. 1/28/03), 837 So. 2d 1257, an Oakdale City Court judge engaged in a pattern and practice of legal error in not following the law. Judge Fuselier held a witness in contempt for failing to appear in court pursuant to a subpoena, even though the witness had not been properly subpoenaed. He also wrote to the witness’ employer to complain, leading to the termination of her employment. Judge Fuselier abused his judicial authority by conducting arraignments and accepting guilty pleas in criminal cases when no prosecutor was present. He also engaged in ex parte communications by accepting requests to “fix” traffic tickets and/or other offenses by having a court employee contact the District Attorney or City Attorney to relay the messages. In addition, Judge Fuselier instituted an improper procedure for collecting worthless checks whereby merchants would simply deliver NSF checks to a court employee who would prepare demand letters on court stationery. If the maker of the check failed to pay the amount of the dishonored check plus collection fees, the clerk would prepare an arrest warrant and prepare a probable cause affidavit on behalf of the merchant, using a facsimile signature stamp, without the merchant ever having to review the affidavit or attest to the facts stated therein. Arrests were made as a result of the issuance of these warrants. Considering the numerous prior complaints that Judge Fuselier had exceeded his role as a neutral arbiter, and also considering that he had not used his position for personal financial gain, we accepted the Judiciary Commission’s recommendation of a 120-day suspension.

In In re: Landry, 01-0657 (La. 6/29/01), 789 So. 2d 1271, a justice of the peace improperly entered a default judgment in the amount of $1,800 against a small claims defendant who had never been properly served, without the plaintiff establishing a prima facie case, and without a hearing. Six prior complaints had been filed against Justice of the Peace Landry. Considering his intentional disregard of lawful procedure which struck at the core of a defendant’s fundamental right to be heard, along with his prior disciplinary complaints, we accepted the Judiciary Commission’s recommendation of a six-month suspension.

The ODC cites In re: Jefferson, 99-1313 (La. 1/19/00), 753 So. 2d 181, in support of its argument that respondent should be disbarred. Judge Jefferson, a Monroe City Court judge, was removed from the bench for his reckless and bad faith handling of contempt proceedings, unauthorized practice of law, and failure to cooperate with an appointed supernumerary judge. On two occasions, Judge Jefferson improperly held a city prosecutor in contempt, resulting in the prosecutor’s detention. He improperly banned the prosecutor from his courtroom, then dismissed the charges in forty-one cases assigned to that prosecutor when the prosecutor did not appear in court. He also abused his authority in interrogating the Clerk of Court regarding paychecks and other administrative matters in a belligerent and argumentative manner, holding her in contempt for failing to answer and causing her to be transported to jail and booked. Judge Jefferson also continued to represent a plaintiff in a legal matter that he had handled as an attorney prior to assuming the bench and deliberately disobeyed the orders of the supernumerary judge appointed
to handle administrative matters in his court. We noted Judge Jefferson’s persistent pattern of reckless, disrespectful, injudicious, and abusive behavior in our decision to remove him from the bench.