Last update: May 13, 2009 - 12:22 AM
Board calls for removing judge over financial gain
The state Supreme Court will decide the fate for Thomas Blakely sending business to his divorce attorney.
District Judge Timothy Blakely used his position for financial gain and should be removed from office, the Minnesota Board on Judicial Standards has ruled. If the Supreme Court agrees, he would become just the fourth judge in the state to be kicked off the bench since 1976.
Blakely -- who sits primarily in Dakota and Goodhue counties -- admittedly directed more than 20 clients from his courtroom to his own divorce attorney, the board said in recommendations filed Monday with the Minnesota Supreme Court. The lawyer, Christine Stroemer of St. Paul, cut $63,503 from Blakely's divorce bill, amid the judge's promises to continue referring clients to her, the board said.
The board found that Blakely's actions "deprived citizens of their right to the honest service expected of a public official, possibly in violation of state or federal laws," according to the ruling.
The board also said that "Blakely failed to admit that his conduct was improper and did not take responsibility for his actions."
The sanction would be harsher than the penalty suggested by a three-member fact-finding panel appointed by the state Supreme Court, which had recommended a six-month suspension and a censure.
The final decision on the judge's discipline will rest with the Minnesota Supreme Court. That process can take months, during which time Blakely will remain in office, his attorney, Thomas M. Kelly, said Tuesday.
"We're hopeful that the Supreme Court will look at this independently and objectively," Kelly said.
The last judge removed in Minnesota was Hennepin County District Judge Harvey Ginsberg in 2004, according to the Board on Judicial Standards. The Supreme Court said Ginsberg suffered from three diagnosed mental illnesses that prevented him from functioning as a judge.
Blakely, 46, of Eagan, has been on the bench since 1998 in the First Judicial District, presiding in Dakota and Goodhue as well as McLeod, Carver, Scott, Sibley and Le Sueur counties.
He was on the bench in Apple Valley on Tuesday and did not return a reporter's call.
Lawyer under scrutiny, too
Neither did Stroemer, who specializes in family law and has served on a Ramsey County lawyers' ethics committee. She is under scrutiny by the Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board, its director, Martin Cole, said.
"There is an investigation pending concerning Ms. Stroemer's involvement in the same matter that has led to the judicial disciplinary action against Judge Blakely," Cole confirmed.
At issue, Cole said, is whether Stroemer violated lawyers' rules of professional conduct and another rule that bans lawyers from helping a judge to violate the state's Judicial Code of Conduct.
Cole said he has yet to decide whether possible discipline against Stroemer will come before or after the Supreme Court decides Blakely's case.
The complaint of misconduct by Blakely was lodged in March 2007 with the Board on Judicial Standards by Blakely's former wife, from whom he had a contentious divorce in 2002.
The board opened an investigation in April 2007. The Minnesota Supreme Court appointed its fact-finding panel, composed of a retired district court judge, a retired Supreme Court justice and a citizen.
At least six possible violations
The panel obtained many e-mails between Blakely and Stroemer, who represented parties in divorces and also provided mediation services through a firm she helped create, CBSH. The panel found at least six instances in which Blakely allegedly violated canons of the Judicial Code of Conduct. Among the findings:
While Stroemer was representing Blakely in his divorce, he first issued an order appointing her to mediate a 2003 Scott County divorce. At that point, Blakely owed CBSH Mediation Services more than $42,000 and had paid only $800, though he had retained Stroemer a year earlier.
She made many attempts to collect on Blakely's bill, which had reached $98,000 by the time his divorce was final in September 2004. With interest and costs, the bill climbed to nearly $109,000.
Blakely was unable to secure a loan or refinance his home to obtain money to pay his bill, and he told Stroemer that it was because his former wife had filed for bankruptcy. As he ordered parties in divorce cases he was handling to mediate at the direction of Stroemer, she said she would reconsider the interest charges.
In February 2006, Blakely informed Stroemer of the pending sale of his home and offered to settle his debt with a lump sum of $31,000.
"I recognize that this may not be a small compromise in your view," his e-mail said. "On the other hand, a sizable lump sum now may be preferable to very long-term payments. There is also very substantial past, and future, benefit to you from significant business referrals we have made in excess of the compromise we are asking for."
She accepted the offer and said she appreciated the referrals. Blakely went on to refer more cases to Stroemer for mediation and other kinds of representation, according to the panel's findings, which were reported to the 10-member Board on Judicial Standards.
Board split on the discipline
Blakely requested a formal hearing before the board. During it, he acknowledged getting a $68,503 reduction on his $108,876 bill.
All 10 members of the board agreed that Blakely violated judicial standards, as determined by the panel. But the board split 8-2 on the level of discipline. Two members recommended suspension and censure rather than removal.
The Supreme Court will consider the recommendations from both the board and the panel, said David Paull, executive secretary of the Minnesota Board on Judicial Standards.
Joy Powell • 952-882-9017
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