Judge suspended 30 days without pay for coming to courthouse intoxicated
An Iowa judge has been suspended without pay for 30 days because she showed up intoxicated at the courthouse at which she worked one day during May 2012.
Although District Associate Judge Emily Dean did not go on the bench, because a court employee convinced her she wasn’t fit to work, “On that day, Judge Dean did not promote public confidence in the independence, integrity and impartiality of the judiciary and did not perform her duties competently or diligently,” the Iowa Supreme Court said in its Friday opinion (PDF).
She was hospitalized for the next three days for alcohol poisoning, according to the Associated Press, the Des Moines Register and WHO.
The opinion says Dean was temporarily suspended, but returned to the bench later in 2012 after rehabilitation and agreed to a two-year monitoriing period.
The Iowa Commission on Judicial Qualifications had sought a three-month suspension. However, the court said Dean deserved credit for cooperating with the ethics investigation, entering rehabilitation and “confront[ing] her disease and … demonstrat[ing] a deep personal commitment to recovery.” The judge’s lawyer, Elaine Gray, said Dean has been in recovery for two years.
“She appears to have overcome the denial, recovered from the embarrassment, recognized the depth of the problem … and most importantly has been able to establish the kind of supportive framework associated with successful recovery over a lifetime,” the court wrote.
Dean had no prior disciplinary complaints, the court noted, although several incidents at work prior to her rehabilitation, including one in which she pressed a panic button to see whether law enforcement officers would respond (they did), may have been alcohol-related.
