Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen's federal lawsuit accusing the Arkansas Supreme Court of violating his civil rights by banning him from hearing death-penalty cases was officially dismissed Monday.
U.S. District Judge James Moody regained jurisdiction of the case Friday from the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, and on Monday officially closed the case at the appellate court's direction.
Griffen filed the suit Oct. 5, alleging that the state's high court went too far in issuing the ban on April 17, 2017. The ban came three days after Griffen signed an order preventing the state from using one of its lethal-injection drugs in response to a lawsuit by the drug's distributor and hours later participated in a Good Friday protest against the death penalty.
Moody, a former Pulaski County Circuit judge himself, dismissed the court itself from the lawsuit, citing sovereign immunity, but allowed the case to proceed against the individual justices, in their official capacities. The justices then asked the 8th Circuit to intervene, saying Moody was ignoring the law by allowing the case to proceed, and that his order would subject the justices to "an unprecedented situation" in which the members of a state's highest court must submit to depositions and other information-gathering requests about their internal deliberations.
On July 2, a divided three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit agreed with the justices and took the rare step of ordering Moody to dismiss the case. The majority opinion noted that Arkansas law prohibits a judge from deciding any case in which he has an interest in the outcome.
Griffen then sought a rehearing by the panel or the entire 8th Circuit, but on Aug. 29, the 8th Circuit denied both reconsideration requests.
Once the case was back in the district court's jurisdiction, it could be officially dismissed, opening the possibility of an appeal. Asked if there will be any further action taken, one of Griffen's attorneys, Austin Porter Jr., said Monday, "We're still exploring that right now."
Meanwhile, Griffen, who is also a Baptist minister, is facing nine ethics charges brought by the state Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission over his public protests against the death penalty. The commission contends that Griffen "failed to uphold and promote the independence, integrity, and impartiality of the judiciary and failed to avoid not only impropriety, but the appearance of impropriety."
Metro on 09/11/2018