Judicial ethics: Judge’s conduct deserves scrutiny

District Attorney David Roger has fired a prosecutor who became romantically involved with Family Court Judge Steven Jones while regularly appearing before the judge.

Any attorney in that situation has an obligation to make disclosure and recuse herself from arguing cases before that judge. If Lisa Willardson failed to do so promptly and in full, the district attorney had to act.

But a judge owes the public an even higher standard of openness and impartiality, and Judge Jones' conduct in this matter is even more deserving of review.

Ms. Willardson had previously been removed from handling child abuse and neglect cases before Judge Jones after two fellow prosecutors exposed her budding relationship.

Upset at Ms. Willardson's reassignment, Judge Jones acted very much like a jealous lover -- and a petty one. He sent Mr. Roger a message threatening to bar the two whistle-blowing fellow prosecutors from appearing in his court unless Mr. Roger allowed Ms. Willardson to continue appearing in cases where her relationship with the judge could destroy any public confidence in the court's impartiality.

After the district attorney refused to back down, Judge Jones issued an order barring the two whistle-blowing prosecutors from appearing before him, citing "inappropriate and unprofessional behavior" on their part.

Mr. Roger responded to Judge Jones by filing a motion in Family Court on Tuesday seeking the judge's removal from a child welfare case because of "personal bias."

"Judge Jones is being vindictive in attempting to ruin these prosecutors' careers," Roger told the Review-Journal. "He's a bully, and I'm not going to stand back and let him do this without having other entities review his conduct."

Families who appear before Judge Jones need and deserve a wise and impartial arbiter. They should not feel they've wandered into someone else's soap opera, without a program to tell them which officers of the court are playing footsies behind the scenes.

Yes, Judge Jones is an elected official; voters will eventually have recourse at the polls. But the state also has a Judicial Discipline Commission, which should now give this whole embarrassment a more than cursory look.