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In the Matter of Fournier

Supreme Court of South Carolina
Jan 27, 1997
480 S.E.2d 739 (S.C. 1997)

Summary

disciplining judge who regularly met with a woman and engaged in sexual activity in his car in a business's parking lot

Summary of this case from In re Wilfong

Opinion

Opinion No. 24569

Submitted January 7, 1997

Filed January 27, 1997

Public Reprimand.

Attorney General Charles Molony Condon, and Senior Assistant Attorney General Nathan Kaminski, Jr., of Columbia, for examiner.

Gordon B. Jenkinson, of Jenkinson Jenkinson, of Kingstree, for respondent.


In this judicial disciplinary action, respondent, a former Jamestown municipal judge, admits he committed acts of misconduct while in office in violation of the Code of Judicial Conduct contained in Rule 501, SCACR. He consents to a public reprimand.

The Judicial Standards Commission received a complaint from the manager of a retail business advising them respondent was regularly meeting a woman in the business's parking lot and engaging in sexual activity in his car. As a result of this information, agents of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division conducted an investigation and observed respondent engaging in sexual activities in the parking lot. The license plate on the vehicle driven by respondent read "Summary Court 8N." Respondent was arrested and charged with indecent exposure.

Respondent violated Canons 1 and 2(A) of the Code of Judicial Conduct by wilfully failing to comply with the law and by failing to observe high standards of conduct in order to preserve the integrity of the judiciary. Public confidence in the judiciary is eroded by improper conduct like that displayed by respondent.

Because respondent has resigned from office during the pendency of this matter, the most severe sanction we can impose in this judicial disciplinary proceeding is a public reprimand. Accordingly, we accept respondent's admission and publicly reprimand him for his misconduct.

PUBLIC REPRIMAND.


Summaries of

In the Matter of Fournier

Supreme Court of South Carolina
Jan 27, 1997
480 S.E.2d 739 (S.C. 1997)

disciplining judge who regularly met with a woman and engaged in sexual activity in his car in a business's parking lot

Summary of this case from In re Wilfong
Case details for

In the Matter of Fournier

Case Details

Full title:In the Matter of Delano R. Fournier, Respondent

Court:Supreme Court of South Carolina

Date published: Jan 27, 1997

Citations

480 S.E.2d 739 (S.C. 1997)
480 S.E.2d 739

Citing Cases

In re Wilfong

See, e.g., In re Lee, 336 So.2d 1175 (Fla.1976) (disciplining judge for engaging in sexual activities in an…