Another Weird Judge

**Cidp24** · 11-04-07, 01:53 PM

Pants dropping, coin flipping incidents cost Virginia judge his job

RICHMOND, Virginia _ A judge who ordered a woman to drop her pants and decided a custody dispute by flipping a coin was removed from the bench by the Virginia Supreme Court on Friday.
Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Judge James Shull failed to uphold the dignity of the judiciary, the Surpeme Court said.
``Unless our citizens can trust that judges will fairly resolve the disputes brought before our courts, and treat all litigants with dignity, our courts will lose the public's respect and confidence upon which our legal system depends,'' Justice Barbara Milano Keenan wrote in the unanimous opinion.
According to the court, Shull admitted tossing a coin to determine which parent would have visitation with a child on Christmas. Shull said he was trying to encourage the parents to decide the issue themselves but later acknowledged his action was wrong.
``A judge's act of tossing a coin in a courtroom to decide a legal issue . . . suggests that courts do not decide cases on their merits but instead subject litigants to games of chance in serious matters without regard to the evidence or applicable law,'' the court said.
The pants-dropping incidents, the court said, ``were even more egregious.''
Those incidents occurred during a hearing in which a woman was seeking a protective order against a partner she accused of stabbing her in the leg. Shull knew the woman had a history of mental problems and insisted on seeing the wound, the court said.
The woman dropped her pants once to display the wound, then a second time after Shull left the bench for a closer look to determine whether the woman had received stitches.
A court bailiff testified before the commission that after the hearing, he asked Shull, ``Did you see what that lady had on?''
According to the bailiff, Shull replied: ``Yeah, a black lacy thing ... it looked good, didn't it?''
Shull denied making the comment.

**ex401mp** · 11-04-07, 02:01 PM

What can you expect from a lawyer?

**HotTamale** · 11-04-07, 02:03 PM

WTF!!!!! No wonder people hate the criminal justice system.

**Jks9199** · 11-04-07, 02:53 PM

As this is written, the coin flip doesn't seem that unreasonable. In fact, it's more fair than the decision typically would be in VA! Much of the time, the child goes with the mother almost reflexively. If you've got two parents arguing about one day, with nothing to decide between them... why not flip a coin? Each has an equal opportunity to get what they want.

The pants? I don't know. Seems like there are other, better ways to determine if she was really stabbed and needed stitches.