Kentucky’s new Supreme Court justice, Robert Conley, rebuked again for courtroom behavior
Kentucky’s newest state Supreme Court justice was sharply criticized Friday in a state Court of Appeals decision for losing his temper in the courtroom and violating legal procedure last December.
Greenup Circuit Judge Robert B. Conley acted “peremptorily, profanely and dyspeptically” when he shouted and cursed at defendant James Thomas Burns and angrily slammed his hand on his bench, the Court of Appeals wrote.
The appeals court reversed Conley’s order to imprison Burns for an alleged probation violation, sending the case back to Conley for a written finding of fact to justify his revocation order.
The appeals court’s decision was the second public rebuke for Conley, whom Eastern Kentucky voters last week elected to the Supreme Court’s 7th District.
Conley, a circuit judge in Greenup and Lewis counties, did not respond to calls seeking comment for this story. Conley’s courtroom conduct became an issue in his Supreme Court race against Pike County lawyer Chris Harris, who said in one ad: “You’ve seen how my opponent treats people.”
In September, the Kentucky Judicial Conduct Commission sanctioned Conley for his behavior in two other criminal cases.
In one case, Conley repeatedly raised his voice and slammed his hands on his bench, frustrated with a defendant who missed court dates and failed to pay restitution, according to the commission. In the other, he told a man in his courtroom to shut up while he was hearing a case involving failure to pay child support.
After cutting that man off again by banging his gavel, Conley sent him to jail for three days on contempt charges.
Conley failed to conduct the necessary hearing before holding the man in contempt of court, and he failed to make the necessary written findings, the commission said.
Conley “intemperately admonished everyone in the courtroom that speaking over him was contemptuous and would be treated as contempt by the court,” the commission wrote.
The commission said Conley violated judicial ethics rules requiring judges to act in way that promotes public confidence in the independence, integrity and impartiality of the judiciary; to be fair and impartial to the people appearing before them; and to be patient, dignified and courteous in the courtroom.
The Court of Appeals decision involved Burns, who was sent to prison for 10 years after Conley revoked his probation.
Burns, sentenced last year for theft and being a persistent felony offender, was having a difficult time completing the treatment he needed as a condition of his probation because of outstanding criminal charges he faced in Ohio, according to the Court of Appeals decision. At one point, Burns walked to Ohio from Greenup County to deal with his pending case there.
As Burns tried to explain his situation in court, Conley “visibly lost patience, demanding: ‘Is there ever an end to this testimony?’” the Court of Appeals wrote.
“You know what your problem is?” Conley asked Burns. “Your hands are too dirty, your hands are too dirty.”
The Court of Appeals continued: “All of a sudden, the judge loudly slammed his hand on the bench and screamed, ‘I don’t give a damn about your bonding agent over there! I don’t care about that!’”
Conley revoked Burns’ probation. However, the Court of Appeals found that Conley erred because he failed to enter specific findings of fact into the record to justify the revocation. That’s a due process right afforded to all criminal defendants, the Court of Appeals wrote.
“We are not at all convinced that Burns’s probation should have been revoked under the facts of this case, but nonetheless we must remand it to the trial court for its required compliance with (the law),” the Court of Appeals wrote.
The appeals court added that the trial court — which is to say, Conley — should “conduct itself in a manner that comports with the rules governing proper judicial conduct as to language, demeanor and dignity of the tribunal.”
As a member of the Kentucky Supreme Court, Conley will be one of seven justices overseeing the state’s court system and serving as the final interpreter of state law.
This story was originally published November 9, 2020 at 1:57 PM.
