Judge reprimanded for using profanity against alleged victim
Posted on Saturday, April 5, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/221815/
On second thought, Springdale District Court Judge Stanley Ludwig said, he shouldn’t have referred to an alleged victim in his courtroom with a vulgarity.
“I was completely wrong. I lost my temper... and called him an asshole. I can’t do that,” Ludwig said Friday after the state Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission issued a letter of reprimand against the veteran judge for displaying “lapses in demeanor” in the 2007 case.
The alleged victim had accused his wife of beating him, Ludwig said. Ludwig said he found the woman innocent, believing the man’s injuries to be self-inflicted.
“You’re a controlling asshole who went to Honduras to find a submissive Hispanic woman to marry,” Ludwig recalled telling the man. “I guess I can call him a liar, but not an asshole.”
The commission also rebuked Ludwig for writing a 2006 letter on his judicial letterhead opposing parole for a state prison inmate who had been the opposing party to a divorce client from Ludwig’s private law practice.
“It was really wrong, but it was an innocent mistake. I honestly thought I could do it,” Ludwig said, adding that the inmate has been paroled.
David A. Stewart, the commission’s executive director, seemed to agree in the Wednesday letter, stating that “[Ludwig ] did not have any reason to lend the prestige of [his ] office to the interest of a private client.”
Stewart said only about 5 percent of the roughly 300 complaints filed with the commission each year end with disciplinary action.
Often, cases that stick have to do with judges losing their cool in court, Stewart said.
“Usually it involves profanity or characterization of a witness, party or attorney that is highly inappropriate. The judicial canons require that judges maintain decorum, respect for everyone in courtroom,” Stewart said. “Sometimes that’s difficult to do. People can create a hostile atmosphere.”
Judges are human, said Stewart, and sometimes they fall short of their sworn duties.
“That would apply in this instance,” said Stewart.
Springdale City Attorney Jeff Harper said he has worked regularly with Ludwig for more than two decades without seeing anything he thought would warrant a sanction.
“I’ve got a high opinion of him. He always seems fair to me,” said Harper, who said he didn’t know the details of the accusations.
As a district judge, Ludwig handles mostly misdemeanor cases, traffic violations and city code infractions, Harper said.
The commission’s investigations are confidential. Although Ludwig identified two of the people who filed complaints against him, they could not be immediately located for comment.
No further action against Ludwig was warranted, the commission ruled.
Ludwig said he was grateful that he had only received a public reprimand: his first in 25 years as a municipal and district judge.
“I’ve been pretty clean,” he said, although he conceded that his temper sometimes get the best of him.
“I’ve probably said more outrageous things over the years. I was probably due,” he said.