Ethics
Judge recuses himself after ‘impulsive comment from the bench’ about shooting attorneys
Judge J. Layne Smith of Florida’s Second Judicial Circuit has apologized and recused himself from an estate battle after telling attorneys in the case that he “would like to tell the deputy to pull his gun and shoot all three of you.” (Photo from Florida’s Second Judicial Circuit)
A judge in Wakulla County, Florida, has apologized and recused himself from an estate battle after telling attorneys in the case that he “would like to tell the deputy to pull his gun and shoot all three of you.”
Judge J. Layne Smith of Florida’s Second Judicial Circuit told the Tallahassee Democrat that he made “an impulsive comment from the bench that was unprofessional and out of character.” Smith said he “did not literally mean the comment and immediately said so.”
Smith told the Tallahassee Democrat that he apologizes to the public and the lawyers and has self-reported his conduct to judicial discipline officials, according to the Tallahassee Democrat (here and here) and Law360.
According to a transcript, Smith said: “I would like to tell the deputy to pull his gun and shoot all three of you, as far as my level of frustration. I really don’t want him to do that. But, guys, for crying out loud, what is this, the Keystone Cops, just not very funny?”
After the remark, the court reporter “motioned to indicate she was in the potential line of fire and appeared to be indicating she desired not to be shot,” according to a recusal motion filed Oct. 1 by lawyers David A. Kemp and Stephen G. Webster.
Kemp’s and Webster’s motion said Smith made “demeaning and insulting remarks to counsel” throughout the Sept. 23 hearing. Their motion said Smith “did not review or genuinely consider” a motion for sanctions filed by Kemp and Webster against the attorney for the opposing party.
The opposing party did not show up at the show-cause hearing, and Smith “became visibly frustrated and blamed counsel,” particularly Kemp and Webster, the motion said. The judge was wrong, however, because the sheriff’s office was supposed to serve the order, the motion said.
Kemp told Law360 in a statement that the judge should have recused from all cases that he and Webster had before the judge, not just the cases involving the estate battle.
“Given the judge’s obvious bias and animosity towards me, it would be unfair to my clients to appear on their behalf in front of Judge Smith, and as a result, I am now forced to turn away potential clients in my home county where I have practiced for almost 20 years,” Kemp told the publication.
The opposing lawyer, Danny Phillips, told the Tallahassee Democrat that he laughed when Smith commented about shooting the attorneys.
“The statement itself, if you look at it in isolation, one … might not ought to say that,” Phillips told the publication. “But when you take it in context, in this case, is the judge really going to have the deputy walk outside and put down three attorneys? He was really just expressing his dissatisfaction.”
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