Judge faces ethics case after jailing woman who recanted domestic violence claims
A Louisville, Kentucky, judge is facing a legal ethics case for jailing a witness in a domestic violence case after she recanted her original accusations.
Jefferson District Court Judge Sheila Collins denied any misconduct last week, in a response to a notice earlier in January by the Kentucky Judicial Conduct Commission, WDRB reports.
The commission alleges that Collins violated the constitutional due process rights of Jasmine Stone by questioning her without advising her of her rights and by ordering a court deputy to take her into custody for false swearing without holding a hearing or appointing a lawyer for her beforehand.
Stone, who was 21 at the time, was originally held in lieu of $10,000 bail, an amount set by Collins. However, she was soon released by another judge, and the charge was later dismissed by a third judge.
Attorney Stephen Ryan is representing Collins. He said the judge made a mistake by pursuing a criminal sanction against Stone rather than a contempt case, but he denies that this conduct rose to the level of an ethics violation.
“If the witness’s due process rights were violated in this instance, said violation was totally unintentional and without malice,” wrote the attorney in the filed response. “Judge Collins, in good faith, believed that the proper way to handle the witness’s statements about her intentional lies was to have her charged with false swearing. Judge Collins acknowledges that it was her mistake not holding the witness in contempt of court, with the judge had every right to do.”
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Judge jails woman who refused to testify; prosecutors, 2 other judges help win her release”
