Gormley v. Judicial Conduct Commission

332 S.W.3d 717, 2010 WL 5615171
CourtKentucky Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 20, 2011
Docket2009-SC-000736-RR, 2010-SC-000010-RR
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 332 S.W.3d 717 (Gormley v. Judicial Conduct Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Kentucky Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gormley v. Judicial Conduct Commission, 332 S.W.3d 717, 2010 WL 5615171 (Ky. 2011).

Opinions

MEMORANDUM OPINION OF THE COURT

The Honorable Tamra Gormley, Judge of the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit,1 Family Court Division, pursuant to SCR 4.290, appeals from two final orders2 of the Judicial Conduct Commission, which found three counts wherein Judge Gormley violated the Kentucky Code of Judicial Con[721]*721duct.3 For the violations in Counts I and II, the Commission imposed a public reprimand and suspended Judge Gormley from her duties as Family Court Judge, without pay, for a period of forty-five days. For the violations in Count V, the Commission imposed a public reprimand. We affirm in both appeals.

COUNT I

Count I arose out of a marriage dissolution action4 and a domestic violence action5 in the Scott County Family Court. Judge Gormley received a report from the Family Violence Project on December 19, 2007, concerning a social worker’s belief of the husband’s dangerous propensities. A hearing was scheduled for February 20, 2008, to consider a pro se motion filed by the wife for a modification of the no contact provision of the domestic violence order against her husband. Although both parties had counsel of record, both parties appeared that morning without their lawyers. While the parties were waiting in the hall way of the courthouse for their case to be called, they had a conversation.

A bailiff informed Judge Gormley that witnesses had reported that the husband had contact with the wife in the hallway and had attempted to convince her to leave the courthouse. Judge Gormley interviewed two of the witnesses before the hearing and also heard that the previous night, the husband, at the wife’s invitation, had visited the wife at her home. Judge Gormley had the parties called into the courtroom.

Neither party had his/her lawyer present. Judge Gormley, without notice to the husband that a criminal contempt of court hearing was to be held, proceeded to conduct the hearing. Judge Gormley failed to advise the husband that he had the right to counsel, that he did not have to respond to questions by the Court, and that his answers to the Court’s questions might be used to subject him to criminal contempt sanctions. Judge Gormley conducted an impromptu summary hearing by calling one witness for questioning about the occurrence in the courthouse hallway. She did not allow the husband to question this witness and denied the husband’s request to review security tapes from the hallway cameras that may have provided information about the events in the courthouse hallway (then being denied by the husband). Judge Gormley questioned the husband under oath and learned that he had contact with his wife the night before and again that day in the hallway of the courthouse.

Based on the ex parte information she had obtained from the two witnesses, the bailiff, and the information obtained from the husband in her questioning, Judge Gormley found the husband in contempt of court and sentenced him to six months in jail for criminal contempt. On appeal, the Kentucky Court of Appeals reversed Judge Gormley’s contempt finding and remanded the matter to the Scott Family Court “for an appropriate evidentiary hearing concerning all the allegations of contempt.”

By a vote of 6-0, the Commission found that as to Count I:

Judge Gormley engaged in misconduct in office and failed to observe high standards of conduct in violation of Canon 1, failed to respect and comply with the law and to act in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary in viola[722]*722tion of Canon 2A, failed to adhere faithfully to the law in violation of Canon 3A and B(2), failed to accord a party (the husband) the right to be heard, considered ex parte communications with witnesses, and independently investigated facts in violation of Canon 3(B)(7), and failed to dispose of judicial matters fairly in violation of Canon 3(B)(8).

COUNT II

Count II arose out of a dissolution of marriage action in Woodford County. The parties were divorced on March 26, 1998, in Woodford County.6 The parties were awarded joint custody of their two minor children, a daughter, age four, and a son, age two. The husband was designated primary custodian of both children. Shortly after the divorce, the husband moved to Rowan County with the children; and the wife moved to Franklin County. On July 15, 2008, the husband still lived in Rowan County; and the wife still lived in Franklin County. On this date, the wife visited the Circuit Clerk in Woodford County seeking custody of the children. The wife received a blank motion form, on which she wrote the following request: “Emergency temporary custody order. Evaluation and Assessment for children for emotional, verbal and physical abuse. Medical and psychological assessments.” The wife signed the form (not verified), and it was filed with the divorce case number. The wife visited Judge Gormley the same date and requested emergency ex parte relief, stating that her daughter, now fourteen, had recently called her to state that her father, the husband, had physically abused her by yanking her - out of bed by her hair. The wife also stated that recently, when she picked up her daughter from the husband’s house to attend a church event, her daughter stated to her that she did not want to go back to her father’s house because she did not feel safe there. Based on these oral statements from the wife, Judge Gormley converted the motion for a change of custody (in the divorce case) to a petition for an emergency protective order (EPO), with a new case number.7 She issued an EPO and noticed the husband for a hearing on July 24, 2008, to consider a domestic violence order (DVO).

The husband appeared on July 24, 2008, with his attorney, who was a bit confused as to why the husband had been summoned because there was no petition for an EPO on file. Counsel’s motions to dismiss or to transfer to Rowan County (where the children lived) were denied by Judge Gormley. She did, however, continue the case until August 14, 2008, to give the attorney time to prepare for the DVO hearing.

On that date, the husband, through counsel, renewed his motions to dismiss or to transfer the case to Row an County. The motions were summarily denied. At that point, Judge Gormley announced that she was ready to go forward on the DVO but would rather get an agreement from everybody for a modification of custody in the divorce case.8 She explained that if there were an agreed order in the divorce case, she would convert the DVO to a restraining order, dismiss the DVO, and take it out of the court’s electronic database. She would then give the wife primary custody of her daughter with certain conditions for visitation with the father, such as counseling for the father and the daughter. Counsel resisted an agreed order, informing the judge that if that was [723]*723going to be the order, to enter it as the court’s order. Judge Gormley was irritated with that suggestion, insisting that it had to be an agreed order with no right to appeal and that it had to be settled that day, once and for all.

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Bluebook (online)
332 S.W.3d 717, 2010 WL 5615171, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gormley-v-judicial-conduct-commission-ky-2011.