This is sort of an update of events from previous postings about an ongoing case (or set of related cases). What pisses me off is the way WaPo spun the awwwww poor wittle judgy-wudgy had to put up with the negative press while being investigated for misconduct (in more than one area mind you.) To bring anyone who missed the beginnings of this mess up to date, here is a re-cap. This is the judge who lifted the protection order on a woman who was subsequently set on fire by her pig of a husband.
more w/links below
Yvette Cade got a protection order against her husband (Hargrave) which was supposed to last for a year. A couple of months into the order, Hargrave sent a handwritten letter to the Prince Georges County District Court of Maryland saying that his wife was the best thing that ever happened to him and that he wanted to start councelling with his wife. There was a trial on his so-called motion to reconsider at which Cade pleaded with Judge Palumbo not to lift the order and to grant an absolute divorce (Maryland law permits this in cases of domestic violence). Palumbo responded by telling her that he "would like to be 6 feet tall but that wouldn't happen either." He also went on to make a statement about how women are like busses and a new one comes along every 10 minutes. The order was lifted and 3 weeks later Ms. Cade was set on fire at her place of employment by her estranged husband.
These events took place in October and since then Palumbo has been under investigation for this and two other cases like this one (there were hints of a regular pattern) and also for weaseling out of one speeding ticket and one ticket for rear-ending another car. Here is the WaPo article http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Palumbo is accused of disparaging three women seeking protective orders by likening them to buses that come along every 10 minutes. Palumbo's written response says his statement was intended as a "homespun and colloquial metaphor."
The commission's 11-page filing says Palumbo, who was appointed to the bench in 2001, engaged in a broad pattern of misconduct when considering protective orders in domestic violence cases.
The commission also alleges misconduct by Palumbo in connection with two traffic incidents: a speeding arrest and a two-car accident.
The charges against Palumbo are to be considered by the commission at a public hearing set for Aug. 28 and 29. If the 11-member commission recommends disciplinary action on one or more of the charges, it could suggest a wide range of measures, from a warning or a reprimand to removal from the bench.
For those of you (like me) who don't like to spend 2 hours following links, I will sum up what the two traffic incidents were about.
The first was a speeding ticket where Palumbo interupted the officer as he was explaining his rights to him to tell the cop that he was a district court judge (this is the court that also handles traffic tickets). The cop supposedly came to Palumbo's office later and took the ticket back. (In my opinion this one isn't too bad, only pscyo-cops give tickets to traffic court judges - they tend to lead to alot of tickets that the psyco-cop writes being thrown out of court)
The second was worse. Palumbo rear-ended a woman than told her she was "in big trouble because of his status as a judge". Then when the police showed up he made sure to tell the officer that he was a District court Judge and that he knew the officers' commanding officer. Even though Palumbo was found to be at fault, no ticket was issued. Poor woman is probably haveing one hell of a fight getting his insurance to pay considering he wasn't ticketed.
So if your within reasonable driving distance and would like to see at least one corrupt judge sweat through a trial, why not stop on by and show your support to his victims.