On March 15, 2023, the Judicial Council for the Fifth Circuit dismissed a complaint with case nos. 05-22-90124 filed against an unnamed United States District Judge.
The complainant, who is a state prisoner, has submitted a formal complaint accusing the subject United States District Judge of engaging in misconduct during a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 proceeding. The complainant alleged that the judge committed the following actions: denying his request to substitute counsel and subjecting him to literal torture. He further alleged and made inappropriate comments to the jury.
The filing states:
“Complainant complains that the judge: denied his request to substitute counsel; “literally tortur[ed]” complainant by ordering prison personnel to transport him from the prison to the courthouse, “a 4½ hour trip for three days straight… to wear me out, so that I couldn’t function effectively”; and, “made an inappropriate comment to the jury after I lost my case—almost as a celebration of his tone, he stated, “You know … this [is] what makes this a GREAAAT Count[r]y.”But would he have made that same comment IF I[had] won?”
The allegation that the judge literally tortured the complainant by ordering their transport from the prison to the courthouse for a 4½-hour trip over three consecutive days in order to exhaust the complainant and hinder his ability to function effectively, according to the Court appears to be entirely derived from the merits-related charges, and “lacking sufficient evidence to raise an inference that misconduct has occurred.”
Moreover, the court found that the allegation made by the complainant regarding the judge’s celebratory tone when addressing the jurors after accepting their verdict in favor of the defendant is contradicted by the audio recording of the three-minute hearing. The recording demonstrates that there was no discernible “celebratory” tone in the judge’s voice, but rather he expressed gratitude to the jurors for their service and praised the virtues of the jury trial system.
Accordingly, having considered that the complainant’s allegations lack supporting evidence and are merit related, the Court dismissed the complaint pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 352(b)(1)(A)(iii) and 28 U.S.C.§352(b)(1)(A)(ii), respectively.
A copy of the original filing can be found here.
