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Judge Booted from Bench For Getting His Buddies Out of Traffic Ticket Fees
Justice is blind via Shutterstock
Justice is supposed to be blind, but one judge at the Orange County Superior Court is being booted off the bench for tilting the scales of justice in favor of his family and friends with traffic tickets.A state oversight panel is throwing Judge Richard W. Stanford Jr. off the bench for tarnishing his image of a fair and impartial judiciary by giving friends and family a special discount when they received traffic tickets, according to City News Service.
In exchange for a guilty plea and a referral to traffic school, the judge who works at the North Justice Center in Fullerton would typically waive all fines and fees except for a $51 traffic school fee, CNS reported.
Stanford's lawyer claimed the judge had no idea that he wasn't supposed to do that. He also pointed out that at least the judge knew better than to help out a brother-in-law arrested for a DUI. (For that, we salute this judge with a golf clap).
Stanford paid for all the fees he waived and then apologized, but sorry wasn't good enough for the state oversight panel. In an order, commission chair Judith D. McConnell wrote, "The public deserves protection from judges who commit serious misconduct regardless of whether the conduct is the result of malice or ignorance."
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