Three judges serving in Broward County have caught the attention of the Florida Supreme Court … and not in a good way.
They’re either receiving or being recommended for suspension, with the most recent suspension ordered by the court Thursday.
Two of the judges violated the rules about campaigning for office, and a third admits he sometimes cracks what he calls “bad jokes” that others found offensive.
Before he was elected to the bench in 2022, Gary Farmer Jr. was a state senator, free to express himself as a politician could.
Once he donned the black robe of a circuit judge, the Florida Supreme Court has held, a different standard applies.
And the Judicial Qualifications Commission, which recommends discipline to the court, claims that doesn’t include telling a defendant expecting three children from three mothers to wear a condom at all times -- even in jest. Or, after assigning him a female attorney, telling him not to get her pregnant.
Nor could those judicial canons allow one to make jokes about gay sex or a deputy’s long eyelashes, calling her “girl.”
What Farmer called bad jokes were actually “inappropriate, undignified, or degrading,” the JQC found, in recommending to the court that Farmer be suspended immediately indefinitely without pay while it continues proceedings against him.
Farmer responded this week, saying he has learned his lesson and that a suspension while he fights the charges was uncalled for.
The Florida Supreme Court will be the judge of that, just as it Thursday ordered a 10-day suspension without pay for Broward County Judge Mardi Levey Cohen.
She was disciplined for accusing her 2022 election opponent of fraud without evidence and reported a church where her opponent campaigned to the IRS to challenge its tax-exempt status. The court also said it would publicly reprimand her.
Also agreeing this week to a 10-day suspension: Circuit Judge Stefanie Moon who, NBC6 Investigates previously reported, questioned a lawyer from the bench about why he didn’t respond to her call seeking campaign help.
Moon also admitted making unallowed political donations and contacting on her own a future witness in a case, which the court found improper. She also consented to a public reprimand.
Calls to Moon, Levey Cohen and Farmer seeking comment have not been returned.
While it’s unusual to have three judges from one circuit facing discipline like this all at once, there are more than 90 judges in Broward, 10% of the statewide total and the most of any circuit outside Miami-Dade.
https://www.nbcmiami.com/investigations/three-broward-judges-disciplinary-complaints-reach-florida-supreme-court/3610557/
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