HOT SPRINGS -- The state auditor's office said it has paid retired judges assigned to Garland County Circuit Judge Wade Naramore's court $53,422 since he left the bench following the July 2015 death of his son.
David Sachar, executive director of the state's Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission, said earlier this week that the commission's investigation of Naramore is ongoing, with no public information available until the commission issues a final disposition.
Naramore has been suspended with pay since his February arrest on a charge of negligent homicide in the July 24, 2015, death of his 18-month-old son, Thomas, who died after being left in a hot car. A jury acquitted Naramore of the misdemeanor charge following a five-day trial in August.
"There is no update other than the case continues to be investigated," Sachar said. "The suspension by the [Arkansas] Supreme Court remains in place until the end of the investigation."
Naramore presided over Division 2 of the 18th East Judicial Circuit that encompasses Garland County. Brianne Newton, Division 2 court administrator, told the Garland County Quorum Court Finance Committee on Thursday during budget hearings that Naramore was scheduled to appear before the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission today, but the meeting was postponed. She said it was the fifth time the commission had postponed meeting with him.
Sachar said the monthly proceedings of the judge, attorney and layperson who constitute the investigative panel are confidential. Its final disposition would involve either dismissing the complaint, reaching an agreement with Naramore or referring the case to the full commission panel for a formal hearing.
"If any [commission] case is referred to the full [commission] it would be public information," Sachar said. "That occurs after a charging instrument for discipline or disability is served on the judge."
The full commission panel of three judges, three lawyers and three lay people could dismiss the complaint, prescribe corrective action or impose formal discipline. The latter outcome would result in a recommendation to the state Supreme Court that Naramore be removed from office or be suspended with or without pay. Naramore was elected to a six-year term in 2014.
Acting on the commission's recommendation, the high court suspended Naramore with pay. Rule 10 of the commission's rules of procedure keeps a suspension in place pending the outcome of a disciplinary determination. When a judge is charged with a crime, the commission has only two options -- suspend him with pay, or allow him to continue serving.
The auditor's office has released payments for 174 days of special judge assignments issued by the Arkansas Supreme Court chief justice. According to information provided by the administrative office of the courts, special judges have been assigned to serve 199 days in Division 2 since September 2015. The total includes assignments that have been scheduled through the end of November.
Some of the special judges assigned to Division 2 have been sitting circuit judges who don't receive extra pay. Retired judges receive $307.69 a day, or half the daily rate of a sitting circuit judge's $160,000 salary.
The $53,422 in payments the auditor's office has released for Division 2 doesn't include the $2,615 paid to retired Circuit Judge John Langston for presiding over Naramore's criminal trial. The auditor's office said the Legislature allocated $500,000 for special judge salaries and $200,000 for payroll taxes during the 2015-17 biennium.
Division 2 hears all of the county's juvenile cases. Only two of the assignment orders have given special judges continuing jurisdiction. They involved delinquency cases in which juveniles were charged with rape, the administrative office of the courts said.
Metro on 11/15/2016