Suspended Clarke County Circuit Judge Stuart DuBose answered the 60 charges of judicial misconduct against him in March 2008 by denying every one of them — and by arguing, in the alternative, that he had been suffering from diminished capacity throughout the period in question.
DuBose “was suffering from diminished capacity to the extent that it affected his ability to make rational decisions,” his answer stated, referring to the entire span during which the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission alleged he had acted unethically. He denied each count and demanded strict proof of the allegations.
The defense
His attorneys, from Calera and Birmingham, raised five affirmative defenses, all grounded in DuBose’s mental or physical condition. They contended his state interfered with rational communication about the charges and with his ability to comprehend them. Treatment and evaluation were described as ongoing, and the defense reserved the right to supplement the answer as his condition was further assessed.
The prosecutor assigned to the case, a former district attorney from Dothan serving as a supernumerary prosecutor, noted the relative rarity of a diminished-capacity defense in a judicial ethics proceeding. He said he would confer with the commission before deciding whether to respond.
What the complaint alleged
The 113-page complaint painted a portrait of a judge who believed himself under siege and who used the powers of his office accordingly.
The core accusation was that DuBose used his position to protect himself politically and personally, through favoritism and intimidation. Among the specifics: a bitter estate dispute with a former client, in which he had acted as attorney for both the beneficiary and the estate itself. Another circuit judge, finding DuBose had violated a settlement agreement, ordered him to pay the ex-client $1.19 million and convey three parcels of land. DuBose called the order illegal and immoral, said it must not become public or he would be ruined, and — according to the commission — communicated with the judge privately in an attempt to influence the court, then lied about it to investigators.
A second episode involved a property dispute with Alabama Power Company, which claimed condemnation rights through land DuBose owned in Clarke County. In a filing he signed as circuit judge, DuBose attacked the utility’s law firm in extraordinary terms and declared that Alabama Power “may run a lot of things in this state, but they do not run the First Judicial Circuit Court.”
The complaint also described threats and profane outbursts directed at a court reporter and at a Mobile attorney, whom DuBose allegedly instructed to carry a message to Mobile judges that they should stop interfering with him. The commission said DuBose denied portions of these accounts and characterized his denials as misrepresentations of fact.
The road to the bench
DuBose won a hotly contested Democratic primary in 2006 against a fellow Jackson attorney and faced no Republican in the general election. But disputes from his private practice followed him. The state bar had accepted a conditional guilty plea over his preparation of a will for a wealthy man he never met, with a 45-day license suspension timed to fall between his election and his swearing-in — because only a licensed attorney can be elected and take office as a judge.
The Alabama Supreme Court, which reviews bar discipline, found the punishment insufficient and sent the matter back. In the interim DuBose was sworn in, which threw into doubt whether the bar — which disciplines lawyers, not judges — still had jurisdiction over him at all.
What came next
The case moved toward trial before the Alabama Court of the Judiciary, the tribunal empowered to censure, suspend or permanently remove a judge. DuBose remained suspended with pay. Prosecutors would argue that diminished capacity was not an acceptable defense to the charges.
Later that month, his personal circumstances deteriorated further when his wife filed for divorce and obtained a restraining order. The Court of the Judiciary removed him from the bench before the year was out.