An Arkansas senator is calling for the impeachment of a judge whose death-penalty protest in front of the governor's mansion ahead of executions last month sparked a debate over ethics and impartiality.
The display came about an hour after Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen effectively halted the state’s planned executions by ruling April 14 against the state over a paralytic used in lethal injections.
Griffen lay strapped to a cot in front of the governor's residence, The Associated Press reported. The judge said he was portraying a crucified Jesus and that his hat covered a "black leather bound King James Version of the Bible."
State Sen. Trent Garner, R-El Dorado, said in a statement Monday that the protest “reeks of bias,” adding that Griffen “selfishly disregarded his duties as a judge.”
“The Arkansas legal system was on display for the world to see and unfortunately one judge decided to use this attention to make a mockery of our judicial process,” the legislator wrote.
Griffen noted on his online blog that the ruling was about property ownership related to one of three drugs used in the state's lethal injections. It was not about capital punishment, the judge said.
Garner said that Griffen has a “long history of this kind of extreme and reckless” behavior. He cited references to police officers as “terrorist” and society as a system of “white supremacy” as examples.
The Republican lawmaker said he is now calling for the state House of Representatives to bring an article of impeachment against Griffen.
“We as the General Assembly can remove the stain that Griffen has left on our judicial integrity,” the legislator concluded.
Griffen has called for an investigation into possible ethics violations committed by Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and the Arkansas Supreme Court after he was stripped of his authority to hear death-penalty cases.
Four Arkansas inmates — Ledell Lee, Jack Jones, Marcel Williams and Kenneth Williams — were put to death over a 10-day period in April. Eight executions had initially been scheduled.
Read Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.