America's Worst Judges

Our Broken Gavel Award winners, and the damage they do.

Less Than Ethical

Imagine you've been the victim of a vicious crime. The perpetrator is arrested, and you finally get a trial date. So you head off to court, willing to face your attacker to see justice done. Now imagine your dismay when the judge, who you trusted to be honest and fair, turns out to be less than competent. Or worse, less than ethical. How could you ever have confidence in our court system again?

When judges betray our trust, they threaten one of the pillars of our democracy. And they deserve to be exposed. Some of the worst offenders earn a dubious distinction: We select them for our annual Broken Gavel Awards.

The conduct we reviewed potentially violates the ethical standards set by the American Bar Association and state judicial codes of conduct. Should this year's winners be kicked off the bench? You be the judge.



Deborah P. O'Neill
Columbus, Ohio
Leslie Seals and daughter Laura sat patiently in the courtroom of Judge Deborah P. O'Neill, hoping to see the criminal justice system in action. Laura's ex-boyfriend, Andre Cribb, had beaten the mother and daughter; clumps of Leslie's hair had been torn out and Cribb had smashed a toilet top over her head, cutting her neck with shards of broken porcelain. Cribb was charged with multiple counts of attempted murder, felonious assault and abduction. As the prosecutor rose to read the plea agreement to Judge O'Neill, Leslie and Laura whispered with a friend about the proceeding. The judge yelled in an explosive voice that there was no talking in the courtroom and ordered them out. The prosecutor escorted the party to the witness room, returning to the courtroom with Leslie, who as a victim was exercising her right under Ohio law to be present for the plea.

"I said, 'Out of the courtroom!' " the judge angrily reiterated.

"Judge, this is the victim," the prosecutor protested, but the judge refused to let Leslie stay.

Once back in the conference room, Leslie completely broke down; Laura was equally distraught. As victims of abuse from the defendant, they felt newly abused by the judge. The prosecutor had never seen a crime victim treated this way by a judge.

Welcome to the courtroom of Judge Deborah O'Neill, who has an obsession with handling cases rapidly. According to many who have seen her on the bench and testified in an ethics hearing -- including other judges, lawyers and crime victims -- O'Neill is rude in the courtroom, forces guilty pleas and lacks credibility.

When Jewish defendants protested that for religious reasons they could not appear in court on the first day of Passover, O'Neill proceeded anyway and granted a judgment in favor of the plaintiff. A newspaper highlighted the move under the headline "Debbie Doesn't Do Passover." Subsequently, O'Neill suggested it was the defense attorney's fault for "fail[ing] to zealously defend his clients." Her decision was reversed on appeal as an abuse of discretion.

In another case, an 18-year-old boy, homebound after a liver transplant, was charged with a felony sexual offense: corruption of a 13-year-old girl. But the prosecutor, Angela Bolognone, had doubts about the defendant's culpability, so she asked for a pre-sentence investigation (PSI). On the day of the hearing, O'Neill showed up more than two hours late, appearing agitated and angry. She refused the PSI request and sentenced the 18-year-old to jail. Bolognone's supervisor later testified that O'Neill admitted that the defendant shouldn't have spent a day behind bars, but she was compelled to jail him because Bolognone wouldn't waive the PSI request. According to the supervisor, O'Neill was basically saying that a seriously ill defendant had been jailed because she wanted to clear the case off her docket.

O'Neill became the subject of a multi-charge judicial misconduct complaint. In sworn testimony, 76 litigants, judges, lawyers and others testified about her actions, including her dishonesty and failure to exercise judicial discretion. Five of O'Neill's fellow judges testified that she tended to create her own version of events, and couldn't be trusted to tell the truth. One of them, Judge Michael H. Watson, who served as the Administrative Judge over O'Neill for two years, testified, "She's the most effective prevaricator I have ever seen." Disciplinary Counsel Jonathan Coughlan asked the panel to strip her of her license to practice law. While O'Neill conceded a lack of diplomacy, she denied all allegations of misconduct.

Last May, a panel appointed by the Ohio Supreme Court determined that most of the accounts of misconduct against O'Neill were factual. But O'Neill suffered only a two-year suspension of her license with one year stayed. By fall of 2005 she could be eligible to run for another judicial post.



Douglas Combs, Jr.
Hazard, Kentucky
In the spring of 2003, Judge Douglas Combs, Jr., found himself under investigation by Kentucky's Judicial Conduct Commission. The state commission accused Combs of 13 counts of judicial misconduct, including failing to preserve the integrity and security of the evidence room. At one point, his small courthouse was missing $1,000 worth of OxyContin pills, as well as other evidence.

The state investigators alleged that the judge didn't show up for scheduled sessions of court for 157 days from January 1999 through August 2003, which meant he was inexplicably absent an average of almost three days every month. When the judge did show up, the state charged that he was "chronically and excessively late" and would also "frequently" step off the bench "for excessive periods while litigants, jurors, witnesses, lawyers, and others were required to wait for [his] return." Combs acknowledged absences and recesses, saying that there were "a number of reasons" for this.

Despite his frequent absences, Judge Combs maintained that he was so busy that, in addition to his full-time court reporter and secretary, he needed to hire a series of "substitute court reporters." Though there were more than 100 circuit-court judges in Kentucky, Combs hired nearly one-third of all substitute court reporters paid by the state -- including his own wife, who was paid $75 per day as a substitute court reporter even though she had a full-time $64,000-a-year job as a clinical psychologist. The commission charged that Combs's temporary employees "did not perform" the duties he claimed and were often paid for days when they were not needed.

The state also charged that Combs had handpicked at least one grand jury, ignoring the state-mandated random selection process. Combs denied the allegation. Interestingly, it was a confrontation with the grand jury that resulted in another charge against Combs. After the foreman of a jury, local lawyer Hoover Haynes, criticized Combs for his disappearing acts, the judge reportedly fined Haynes $100 for contempt, removed him as foreman and sent the other 11 jurors to the grand jury room for an hour after they had completed their service before releasing them.

Combs insisted he acted appropriately and even "exercised discretion and reserve" in the matter. However, the judicial commission was already fed up. By then, Combs had been stripped of his duties -- but still drew his pay. Just four days before the hearing was to begin in April 2004, Combs resigned. He agreed to an order of public reprimand -- the most severe sanction he could receive, since he no longer worked for the state. And yet, that same month, Combs secured another position as a judge. The Social Security Administration hired him in April 2004 as an Administrative Law Judge in Kansas City, Kansas. Currently there is no national database of judicial misconduct hearings.

So, having enjoyed a lucrative job paid for by Kentucky taxpayers, he moved on to rake in $101,724 per year from federal taxpayers.

Failure to Preserve Integrity

Laura D. Blackburne
Queens, New York
It is a rare day in America when a sitting judge helps a criminal suspected of a violent crime flee a courtroom to elude a detective waiting to arrest him. Yet that's exactly what Queens Supreme Court Justice Laura Blackburne did on June 10, 2004.

On that day, convicted cocaine dealer Derek Sterling, 23, appeared before Judge Blackburne to report on his progress in overcoming a drug addiction. At the same time, New York City police detective Leonard Devlin arrived at the courthouse to arrest Sterling as a suspect in a brutal robbery and beating that occurred three weeks before. Arrests in courthouses are not uncommon and are considered far safer than confronting suspects in their homes; a high level of security is in place, and suspects have gone through metal detectors.

The detective observed protocol by informing one of Blackburne's court officers and the prosecutor that he was there to question Sterling. Blackburne, angered by what she called a "ruse" by the detective, told Sterling, "I have directed that you be escorted out of the building." With that, a court officer took Sterling out a rear door. Though Detective Devlin raced down three flights of stairs in the block-long building, he lost the suspect outside.

As news of the extraordinary event spread, angry reactions were swift. Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly called it "beyond the pale for a sitting jurist." Mayor Michael Bloomberg agreed it "was an outrage, and she should be ashamed." The next day, Michael J. Palladino, president of the Detectives' Endowment Association, took part in a scathing press conference regarding Blackburne. Palladino said the judge "turned the controlled situation [of a courthouse arrest] into a potentially dangerous one." Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, also alluded to the case of William Hodges. Hodges was charged with shooting a police officer but was freed on a technicality by Blackburne in 2002 when she dismissed the charges against him -- infuriating police union officials. However, Blackburne's controversial decision was overturned in November 2004, and Hodges will soon stand trial for the cop-shooting charges.

That Blackburne might be accused of misconduct is not surprising given her checkered past. In 1990, Blackburne headed the New York City Housing Authority, which sheltered 600,000 people with a budget of $1.3 billion. It was the profligate spending of funds during Blackburne's tenure that led to her resignation in 1992. Among other things, she reportedly spent $13,000 on an inaugural bash for herself; more than $25,000 on travel, which included lavish hotel stays and a trip to South Africa; and $38,000 to redecorate her office with a $3,070 pink leather couch and $5,500 for matching pink venetian blinds. Blackburne denied any wrongdoing.

After the Sterling incident, Blackburne was transferred to civil court. At the request of Mayor Bloomberg and other complainants, the Commission on Judicial Conduct started an investigation of Blackburne in June 2004. In the meantime, she is still on the bench.

Benchable Offenses
• Criminal conduct
• Unprofessional behavior inside or outside the courtroom
• Demonstration of bias
• Sexual misconduct
• Substance abuse
• Undisclosed conflicts
• Failure to follow the law
• Use of office to grant or receive favors
• Lack of candor or cooperation with authorities