Alaska’s Supreme Court has formally disciplined Nome Superior Court Judge Timothy Dooley after an ethics panel found he repeatedly violated the state’s code of judicial conduct by making questionable comments while on the bench.
The state’s high court said in an official decision handed down Friday that it has censured Judge Dooley because of various statements he made on the record since being appointed in 2013.
In light of having faced the possibility of suspension, the Supreme Court’s decision to merely censure the judge amounts to “essentially a public statement of wrongdoing,” according to Alaska Dispatch News, where the ruling was first reported Monday.
The high court’s decision was made after the Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct conducted a probe last year that culminated with its investigators determining in December that Judge Dooley had made comments that were negligent, “undignified and discourteous” and “suggest bias or prejudice.”
Judge Dooley agreed that he acted inappropriately upon being presented with the panel’s findings in December and formally apologized. He is expected to retire in 2017.
Investigators took issue with five specific comments made by the judge during the last three years, beginning with a remark during a May 2013 court hearing.
“Has anything good ever come out of drinking other than sex with a pretty girl?” Judge Dooley asked the defendant during sentencing.
During unrelated sentencing hearing six months later, the judge once again drew criticism for remarks concerning a 14-year-old girl who was the victim of sexual assault.
“This was not someone who was, and I hate to use the phrase, ’asking for it.’ There are girls out there that seem to be temptresses. And this does not seem to be anything like that,” the judge said.
In another instance cited by the ethics committee, Judge Dooley told the court: “I’m gonna enforce these oaths and they’re enforceable with a 2-year sentence for perjury. And I’d be the sentencing judge. I also have a medieval Christianity that says if you violate an oath, you’re going to hell. You all may not share that, but I’m planning to populate hell.”
The committee’s findings were presented to the state Supreme Court and included the recommendation he be either censured or suspended.
“In light of the foregoing we accept that there is clear and convincing evidence of misconduct, and we conclude that a censure is the presumptive sanction for the misconduct rather than a suspension,” the high court ultimately ruled.
Neither Judge Dooley or his attorney were available for comment when reached Monday, Dispatch News reported.
Marla Greenstein, the executive director of the judicial commission, stated previously that a public censure is the least severe form of public discipline that her panel can recommend, according to the newspaper.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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