Judge Is Reprimanded for 'Unnecessary' Remarks Criticizing Lawyers and Witnesses
A jurist with a history of making problematic remarks has been publicly reprimanded by the Minnesota Board on Judicial Standards.
Hennepin County District Judge Stephen Aldrich agreed to the reprimand, which concerns a series of “unnecessary remarks” he made at hearings in a 2008 murder case, the Star Tribune reported.
Aldrich “belittled possible witnesses, prematurely commented on the integrity or dependability of potential evidence, and invited a lawyer representing one of the parties to contact the judge on an unrelated and undisclosed matter,” the board says in its reprimand memorandum.
The defendant, who had sought a bench trial rather than a jury trial, has now pleaded guilty to unintentional felony murder.
The board decided not to punish Aldrich for his remarks in another case (Reprimand Urged for Judge Accused of Joking About Murderous Marital Urges) because it had already been well-publicized.
