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In re Henson10/12/2005
Original Proceeding - Judicial Qualifications Commission
Article V, section 12 of the Florida Constitution vests this Court with the authorityto determine both whether a judge has engaged in misconduct and whether that misconduct justifies discipline or removal from office. This is a responsibility of the utmost importance to the integrity of the justice system. In this case we review the determination of the Hearing Panel of the Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC) that Circuit Judge James E. Henson violated provisions of the ethics rules governing judges and attorneys in this state, and its recommendation that he be removed from office.
We conclude, based on the evidence presented to the Hearing Panel, that Judge Henson practiced law while still a judge and that, acting as an attorney between his terms of judicial service, he advised a client in a criminal matter to flee the country rather than face prosecution. We further conclude that these two extremely serious violations of the Code of Judicial Conduct and Rules of Professional Conduct constitute "conduct unbecoming a member of the judiciary demonstrating a present unfitness to hold" the position of judge. Art. V, § 12(c)(1), Fla. Const. Neither thosewho appear before Judge Henson nor the public at large can have confidence in a judge who has committed these flagrant violations of our ethics rules. We therefore remove Judge Henson from office.
I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
The charges on which the Hearing Panel found Judge Henson guilty stem from conduct during his final weeks as a county judge in December 2000 and then into 2001 when he practiced law before returning to the bench as a circuit judge. Count I involves the allegation that Judge Henson practiced law while still a judge; Count II concerns the charge that he advised a client facing a felony trial to flee the country.
Judge Henson served as a county judge in Orange County but was defeated in a re-election bid. His term ended on January 5, 2001. He returned to the practice of law, doing criminal defense work. He won election to a new judicial post as a circuit judge, and assumed office on January 5, 2003. In the light most favorable to the findings of the Hearing Panel, the facts bearing on Judge Henson's misconduct are as follows:
Diana Jimenez was a Florida resident from Colombia who came to the United States with a valid Colombian passport. Ms. Jimenez was involved in a December 16, 2000, automobile accident in which two people were killed. She tested positive for driving while intoxicated, and gave an incriminating videotaped statement in which she admitted drinking at a bar before the accident. The State charged Ms. Jimenez with DUI manslaughter and numerous related charges, for which she faced a prison sentence of more than thirty years. Her father, Dr. Alberto Jimenez, initially hired another attorney to represent her. After hearing favorable comments about Judge Henson and learning that he was a judge, Dr. Jimenez dismissed the lawyer he had hired and retained Judge Henson to represent his daughter. Judge Henson, who had been defeated in his re-election bid in November of 2000, had cleared his judicial calendar at the courthouse and had completed his judicial duties by December 15, 2000.
When he was first contacted by Dr. Jimenez, Judge Henson stated that he could not actively participate in the case until after his term as judge ended in January 2001. On December 20, 2000, Judge Henson and Dr. Jimenez signed a contract for Henson to represent Ms. Jimenez for $40,000, and Dr. Jimenez gave Judge Henson a check for the initial $15,000. Judge Henson then went to the county jail where Ms. Jimenez w
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