An ethics complaint filed on Christmas Eve against Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Rhonda Wood has been dismissed by the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission.
"The investigation initiated by this complaint did not reveal or find sufficient facts to support a claim of judicial misconduct, wrong-doing or incapacity within the Commission's jurisdiction," according to a letter that David J. Sachar, executive director of the commission, sent to Wood on Friday.
"As a result of this finding, there is insufficient cause to proceed and this complaint is dismissed," wrote Sachar.
The complaint was filed by the nonprofit Arkansas Public Law Center and signed by Ernie Dumas, a member of the law center's board.
"The JDDC's dismissal of Ernie Dumas' complaint confirms that it was baseless, without merit and politically motivated," Wood said Tuesday in a statement emailed from her campaign manager. "It's disappointing that these false and misleading accusations received attention before they were fairly examined by the JDDC. Fortunately, in the justice system, the truth matters. I have been nothing but forthcoming about the truth and have always acted with integrity through this very difficult process and confident justice would prevail. I'm proud to serve on the Arkansas Supreme Court and will continue to uphold the highest ethical standards on the court for the next eight years."
Dumas said he hadn't received a copy of Sachar's letter as of Tuesday afternoon.
"The complaint was based entirely on testimony adduced at the bribery trial of former state Republican Chairman Gilbert Baker and taken from the official transcript of the trial," Dumas wrote in an email on Tuesday. He then outlined some of the allegations of the complaint.
"I thought the commission might deal with each of the complaints and explain its findings, as courts, including the Supreme Court, ordinarily do," wrote Dumas.
Sachar issued a statement Tuesday afternoon.
"JDDC Case #22-101 was dismissed on April 7, 2022, by Investigation Panel 1 by a vote of 2-0 (with one recusal)," wrote Sachar. "The complaint was received on December 31, 2021, and contained numerous documents and transcripts. The Panel reviewed the complaint and discussed it during three monthly meetings.
"The complaint was the subject of press coverage after it was filed with the JDDC," wrote Sachar. "The allegations related to matters that occurred during the 2013-2014 election cycle as well as a federal criminal trial that occurred in July 2022. The issues alleged had been vetted by the U.S. Department of Justice.
"Additionally, the Executive Director of the JDDC is permitted by Rule to initiate an investigation (see Rule 8 A). Although some of the allegations were the subject of notoriety at the time, no such inquiry was initiated by the Director. After conducting the investigation and reviewing the documents and transcripts, the JDDC Investigation Panel did not find sufficient cause to proceed. The matter has been dismissed."
The commission received 226 complaints in 2020 and sanctioned one judge that year. In other recent years, the number sanctioned has been as high as seven.
The law center's complaint cited, among other things, Wood's asking an embattled candidate for an appeals court judgeship to delete text messages to and from her in 2014.
But that's because Wood was disturbed by the "inappropriate and offensive comments" that Mike Maggio had been posting online, Robert Coon, a spokesperson for Wood's reelection campaign, said in January. So she asked Maggio to delete their personal correspondence and sever communications with her, according to Coon.
Wood was serving as a judge on the Arkansas Court of Appeals and running for the Supreme Court in 2014.
Maggio, a Faulkner County circuit judge, was running for a seat on the state appeals court. He withdrew from the race in March 2014 after a scandal about his anonymous social media posts pertaining to women, homosexuals, bestiality, incest and an adoption case involving the actress Charlize Theron.
In the complaint, the law center said Wood's actions "reflected adversely on her honesty or fitness to serve as a judge" and "undermined the integrity of the judiciary."
Wood testified last summer in the federal court trial of Gilbert Baker -- a former state senator, lobbyist and chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party. Baker was acquitted of conspiracy to commit bribery. The jury deadlocked on another eight charges. A retrial on those charges is scheduled for May 17 in U.S. District Court in Little Rock.
Baker, Maggio and Wood are all from Conway.
Wood and Maggio served together as Faulkner County circuit court judges.
In the Baker trial, Wood testified that she asked Maggio to delete text messages to and from her "in regards to why he withdrew" from the appeals court race. She said she didn't ask Maggio to delete texts regarding donations. Wood also testified that she didn't ask him to delete texts between himself and Baker.
During the same trial, however, Maggio testified that Wood did ask him to delete texts to and from Baker, and he followed her advice.
The law center's complaint states that Wood asked Maggio to delete text messages after news broke about Maggio and campaign donations. But exactly when Wood asked Maggio to delete the texts wasn't clear from the trial testimony.
On March 3, 2014, Blue Hog Report, a liberal blog, ran an article about comments Maggio had posted on tigerdroppings.com, a Louisiana State University sports fan website with public forums. That same day, Sachar confirmed that Maggio was under investigation regarding those posts.
On March 6, 2014, Maggio withdrew from the appeals court race.
On March 11, 2014, Blue Hog Report broke the story that Maggio had lowered a jury award from $5.2 million to $1 million after receiving donations from political action committees associated with Michael Morton of Fort Smith and his nursing homes.
The case involved the April 7, 2008, death of Martha Bull. She died two weeks after being admitted for a one-month rehabilitation stint at Greenbrier Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, which is owned by Morton.
On March 13, 2014, Bull's family filed a complaint asking the Judicial Discipline & Disability Commission to look into Maggio's actions regarding the case.
Eventually, Maggio pleaded guilty to bribery in 2015 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but he was released early.
Morton hasn't been charged with any crimes and has denied any wrongdoing in the matter.
Baker was accused of acting as a middleman to bribe Maggio to reduce the jury award in the Bull case.
In addition to other allegations, the law center's complaint also concerned post-dated campaign checks. According to the transcript from Baker's trial, he admitted in an earlier deposition that he changed the dates on the checks to comply with election finance laws. Baker was helping raise funds for Wood's campaign. Wood testified that she would not have accepted the checks if she had known that Baker changed the dates.