New ethics complaint: Judge paid lawyers appearing before him, offered defendant $300 for nude pose
An Arkansas judge accused of offering to reduce court fines in exchange for sex is facing new allegations.
An amended complaint (PDF) alleges Judge Joseph Boeckmann Jr. of Wynne offered one defendant $300 to pose nude in the same position as Michelangelo’s statue of David, report the Associated Press, Arkansas Online and ArkansasMatters.
The complaint also alleges that Boeckmann paid several thousand dollars to lawyers in and around Wynne, including lawyers who regularly appeared before him. According to the ethics complaint, some lawyers represented Boeckmann’s employees or persons with whom the judge had a relationship. One payment was intended to benefit a ward of the lawyer. Another payment was intended to benefit a malpractice case a lawyer was handling.
“These allegations are not all inclusive,” the amended complaint says, “but are examples of the transfer of funds between Boeckmann as a judge in Cross County and attorneys who appear before him regularly.”
Sixty-eight witnesses have contacted the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission about Boeckmann, a judge in Wynne, according to commission executive director David Sachar. Some came forward after news coverage about previous allegations, he told the publications.
The original ethics complaint, released in November, had claimed Boeckmann invited male offenders to report for “substitutionary sentences” at his home, where he then solicited sexual relations in exchange for reduced court fines. He was also accused of requiring defendants to pick up cans, during which he would photograph the men bending over.
Boeckmann’s lawyer told Arkansas Online that a brief will be filed denying the allegations.
