LANSING [MI] — In the end, St. Joseph County Circuit Judge James Noecker was kicked off the bench Tuesday because nobody believed his version of events in a March 2003 car accident.
For the past two years, the longtime judge has maintained he wasn’t intoxicated when he slammed his Mercedes SUV into a Sturgis-area store, causing about $20,000 in damage. He said he left the scene before police arrived so he could find the husband of the store owner. He said he registered a blood-alcohol level of 0.10 two hours after the crash because he drank vodka after the accident.
Police were skeptical. The director of the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission accused Noecker of lying. A special master for the tenure commission said the judge’s story showed “contempt for the truth,” a finding unanimously backed last summer by the nine-member commission.
In a 6-1 decision announced Tuesday, the Michigan Supreme Court agreed, saying the judge’s dishonesty made him unfit for the bench. Noecker, 63, a judge for 24 years, is only the ninth Michigan jurist to be removed from office by the state Supreme Court since 1969.
Details here from the Kalamazoo Gazette.
LANSING [MI] — In the end, St. Joseph County Circuit Judge James Noecker was kicked off the bench Tuesday because nobody believed his version of events in a March 2003 car accident.
For the past two years, the longtime judge has maintained he wasn’t intoxicated when he slammed his Mercedes SUV into a Sturgis-area store, causing about $20,000 in damage. He said he left the scene before police arrived so he could find the husband of the store owner. He said he registered a blood-alcohol level of 0.10 two hours after the crash because he drank vodka after the accident.
Police were skeptical. The director of the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission accused Noecker of lying. A special master for the tenure commission said the judge’s story showed “contempt for the truth,” a finding unanimously backed last summer by the nine-member commission.
In a 6-1 decision announced Tuesday, the Michigan Supreme Court agreed, saying the judge’s dishonesty made him unfit for the bench. Noecker, 63, a judge for 24 years, is only the ninth Michigan jurist to be removed from office by the state Supreme Court since 1969.
Details here from the Kalamazoo Gazette.
LANSING [MI] — In the end, St. Joseph County Circuit Judge James Noecker was kicked off the bench Tuesday because nobody believed his version of events in a March 2003 car accident.
For the past two years, the longtime judge has maintained he wasn’t intoxicated when he slammed his Mercedes SUV into a Sturgis-area store, causing about $20,000 in damage. He said he left the scene before police arrived so he could find the husband of the store owner. He said he registered a blood-alcohol level of 0.10 two hours after the crash because he drank vodka after the accident.
Police were skeptical. The director of the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission accused Noecker of lying. A special master for the tenure commission said the judge’s story showed “contempt for the truth,” a finding unanimously backed last summer by the nine-member commission.
In a 6-1 decision announced Tuesday, the Michigan Supreme Court agreed, saying the judge’s dishonesty made him unfit for the bench. Noecker, 63, a judge for 24 years, is only the ninth Michigan jurist to be removed from office by the state Supreme Court since 1969.
Details here from the Kalamazoo Gazette.
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