Judge Collins Reprimanded by the Florida Supreme Court

[Music] the first case this morning is the reprimand of Judge Jerry Collins Rajesh Kahn's if you please stand judge Collins we had summoned you here today because of conduct which this Court has determined to be a violation of the Code of Judicial Conduct and which now requires us to impose appropriate discipline as a preamble to the Code of Judicial Conduct recognizes judges individually and collectively must respect and honor the judicial office as a public trust and strive to enhance and maintain confidence in our legal system the effectiveness of our judiciary rests ultimately on the trust and confidence that the people confer upon judges as a result one of this Court's most important duties is to carry out the responsibilities given to us in the Florida Constitution to discipline judges or misconduct judge Collins you violated canons one Canon two a and three B sub four of the Code of Judicial Conduct in the course of presiding over the case of state versus Myles Brennan in Seminole County it occurred when you berate it and belittled a victim of domestic violence for failing to respond to a subpoena issued by the state attorney to testify in the trial against her abuser who is the father of her child as a result of the victims failure to appear the state was unable to proceed with the trial consequently the state dismissed the charge against the defendant for dangerous exhibition of a weapon and the defendant accepted a plea to a reduced charge a simple battery which callings you issued an order to show cause why the victim should not be held in contempt of court for violating the trial subpoena by failing to appear for trial when the victim appeared before you you instituted direct criminal content proceedings in which the victim was not represented by counsel the advice of her right to present evidence or testimony on her own behalf during the contempt proceedings you would discourteous an impatient toward the distraught victim the victim apologized for failing to appear selling anxiety depression in a desire to move on from contact with her abuser as reasons why she did not appear for trial meanwhile judge Collins you raised your voice used sarcasm for harshly an interrupted victim you found the victim in contempt of court and sentence her to spend three days in jail even though the victim pleaded with you that she needed to take care of her one-year-old child brought a more your behavior created the appears of partiality toward the state while in this incident you entered into a stipulation with the judicial qualifications Commission admitting your misconduct and stipulating to a public reprimand you explained your good faith belief that you were exercising appropriate legal authority in holding the victim and direct criminal contempt for failing to appear in response to a subpoena you acknowledge they should have been more patient used less inflammatory in sarcastic language and used a less aggressive tone during the proceedings you accepted full responsibility for your conduct and expressed remorse a year intemperate conduct brought unnecessary criticism will find your court in the entire judiciary and could impairs the public's perception of the fairness and impartiality of Florida's judicial system we ordered you to complete an anger management course in attend a domestic violence course provided by the Florida judicial College we further ordered you appear here today to be publicly reprimanded on live television that the people of Florida know and understand now conduct such as yours will not be tolerated judge Collins this is indeed a sad day for you a sad day for the people of Florida in a sad day for the judiciary from which our people depend for justice I cannot emphasize enough how intolerable your behavior was in this case finally I also advise you to consult the lengthy body of case law issued by this court in dealing with repeated cases of judicial misconduct by a single judge you will find that this Court has view any later violations by the same judge very harshly indeed dear Freda leaf you [Music]

Channel: Orlando Sentinel

Views: 1,451,426

Rating: 4.7489948 out of 5

Keywords: Orlando Sentinel (Newspaper), News (TV Genre), Newspaper (Website Category), Florida (US State), Orlando, Florida Supreme Court, Judge Jerri Collins

Id: gM7Q5M2Yuy0

Length: 5min 6sec (306 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 31 2016