The Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission is considering Friday whether to drop ethics charges against Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen stemming from his Good Friday protest against the death penalty in 2017.
Griffen’s attorney, Austin Porter Jr., argued at a hearing Friday before the commission that the U.S. Supreme Court has been clear in its stance that judges retain their First Amendment right to speak out on issues of public concern.
He said Griffen’s views on the death penalty — which the judge says are religious in nature — do not preclude Griffen from fairly considering cases involving executions.
"This is a case really about optics and not about ethics," Porter told the commission.
On the same day as his protest in April 2017, Griffen ruled in a case involving the state’s execution drugs. The ruling temporarily threatened to halt scheduled executions from taking place. Griffen’s order was overturned and assigned to another judge, who reached the same conclusion. That judge also was overturned.
Rachel Michel, a special prosecutor from Mississippi hired by the disciplinary commission to investigate Griffen’s actions, said at Friday’s hearing that the actions clearly violated Arkansas’ judicial canons barring activities that would “appear to a reasonable person to undermine the judge’s independence.”
The commission went into deliberations after the hearing, which lasted less than an hour, but did not issue a ruling by Friday afternoon. The full commission is expected to hold a hearing this fall on Griffen if the case isn't dismissed and could recommend the State Supreme Court suspend or remove the judge if it finds he violated judicial rules of conduct.
Read Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.