Federal judge faces blowback from 11th Circuit and US lawmakers over domestic violence arrest
It isn’t just football players who are facing career blowback over claimed domestic violence incidents. A federal judge arrested last month after a dispute with his wife in an Atlanta hotel room is facing review by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which reassigned his cases after the incident.
Meanwhile, two U.S. senators from Alabama, where 55-year-old U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller sits, have joined other federal lawmakers in calling for his resignation and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Alabama has suggested that Fuller might be impeached, reports the Montgomery Advertiser.
Fuller’s lawyer, Barry Ragsdale, declined to comment Thursday on lawmakers’ calls for the judge’s resignation and said his client is still working his way through the 11th Circuit complaint process, reports the Associated Press.
Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, publicly called for Fuller to resign and said, as far as a possible impeachment is concerned, “I will not hesitate in joining my colleagues to institute such proceedings if warranted,” reports AL.com.
Saying that Fuller had “violated the public trust,” Sewell also referenced the fact that former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice was let go because of a domestic violence incident.
“If an NFL player can lose his job because of domestic violence then a federal judge should definitely not be allowed to keep his life-time appointment to the federal bench,” Sewell said. “It is my hope that Judge Fuller would spare us the expense and further public humiliation by doing the right thing and resigning.”
Fuller appears to have resolved the criminal case that resulted from the Aug. 9 incident, in which a police report said his wife accused him of throwing her down, pulling her hair and kicking her after she confronted him over a possible affair with a law clerk.
If he successfully completes domestic violence and substance abuse programs, the misdemeanor case will be dropped.
Fuller’s wife also accused him of dragging her around the hotel room and hitting her in the mouth with his hands, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
The judge told police he defended himself after his wife threw a glass at him. She reportedly had cuts on her forehead and mouth.
