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Mecklenburg District Judge Timothy Smith on Thursday was reprimanded for outbursts directed at prosecutors who had won convictions in separate trials against men defended by the judge’s wife.
Smith is accused of sarcastically congratulating Assistant District Attorney Bill Bunting for wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayers’ money by jailing a drug user, and for telling Assistant District Attorney Madelaine Colbert that the police officer in her case had lied on the witness stand.
“Judge Smith allowed his family relationship to influence his conduct in a public setting, and Judge Smith knew or should have known such outbursts were both intimidating and inappropriate,” the N.C. Judicial Standards Commission wrote in its reprimand.
It’s the second time in less than year that the Judicial Standards Commission has publicly reprimanded Smith.
Last April, the commission accused Smith of misusing the power of his judicial office to help his sister. Smith asked a clerk to add his sister’s domestic violence case to an early docket, got into a confrontation with a lawyer and asked a judge to hold a hearing, according to the reprimand.
Smith cooperated in the latest commission’s investigation and accepted the public reprimand rather than face formal charges and a public disciplinary hearing. The 46-year-old judge agreed not to retaliate against anyone who cooperated with the commission in its investigation.
“Judge Smith agrees that he will not repeat such conduct in the future, mindful of the potential threat any repetition of his conduct poses to public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary and to the administration of justice,” the commission wrote in its reprimand. “Judge Smith agrees he will promptly read and familiarize himself with the Code of Judicial Conduct.”
Smith, who is seeking re-election this year to a second term, would not talk about what prompted his behavior that led to Thursday’s reprimand. “On advice of counsel, my written statement is all I can disclose about the incidents,” he told the Observer.
In the written statement, Smith said: “At no time did I try to interfere with an ongoing case and regret that my actions may have caused any member of the District Attorney’s staff or the public to feel that I was attempting to interfere with the administration of justice.
“I have known Assistant District Attorney Madelaine Colbert for approximately six years and hold her in the highest regard. She is bright, compassionate, fair and an asset to District Attorney Peter Gilchrist’s staff. I do not know Assistant District Attorney Bill Bunting very well but know that he has a reputation for being a competent prosecutor.”
