FORT SMITH, Ark. – An Arkansas panel has a given a light sanctioned to a judge who referred to her position on the bench when texting her stepsister’s former husband and telling him to return an iPad.
Judge Annie Powell Hendricks told Terry Weidman, the ex-husband of Lynn Weidman, that he needed to deliver an iPad to a third party or face criminal charges, then warned him a second time.
The Weidmans were involved in a dispute over information contained on the iPad.
“This is Judge Hendricks. Lynn’s iPAD must be delivered to Kelly Underwood’s mailbox by 9:30 a or I will turn matter over to (prosecuting) attorney,” the judge wrote to the Fort Smith man, according to the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission. Kelly Underwood is not related to the judge or Weidman; she declined comment when reached by The Associated Press.
Terry Weidman replied: “Really judge Hendricks turn it over for what. Looking at my sons iPad.” Hendricks responded: “Choose your actions wisely!”
The Times Record newspaper of Fort Smith and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette of Little Rock reported the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission sent Hendricks a letter of “informal adjustment” on Friday.
“Your willingness to make admissions and your promise to avoid such behavior in the future negated a likely recommendation of a more serious sanction,” David Sachar, the commission’s executive director, wrote to Hendricks.
Sachar said Hendricks acknowledged sending the text messages and regrets referring to herself as a judge.
Hendricks also said she sent the messages “in haste” and noted a long history of differences between Terry Weidman and her family, Sachar said.
The panel said the judge broke four rules of judicial conduct, including a failure to promote confidence in the judiciary and avoiding abuse of the prestige of the judicial office.
“This public sanction constitutes adequate discipline and no further action … is warranted,” Sachar wrote.
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