back in November of 2021 I posted a video showing a West Virginia circuit court judge
basically flipping out at a traffic stop this was in Moorefield West Virginia what's the
problem how you doing sir Judge Williams Judson I don't why did you stop you had your cell phone
in your hand okay why are you screaming at me you have your license I'm not gonna give you my
license registration I drive by a lot of times and y'all are on yours you're never on yours
right okay I don't understand it's on yours why are you yelling at me but when he's about to get
a minor ticket for a cell phone infraction all hell breaks loose what's why you uh so uptight
huh I hear your cases every day in court okay give me a ticket there were charges there was a trial
and now a West Virginia Supreme Court decision came out yesterday deciding the fate of the judge
on July 11 2021 judge Carter Williams visited an ice cream shop with his family and then
he left the shop alone in his own vehicle while driving home he heard something drop and assuming
it to be the missing cell phone picked it up officer Devonta Johnson observed the judge with
his phone in his hand on the steering wheel and initiated a traffic stop close to 7 30 pm foreign
officer Johnson greeted the judge how you doing sir the reason I'm stopping you is but
was interrupted when the judge said I'm Judge Williams and I don't why are you stopping me
how you doing sir the reason I'm stopping Judge Williams I don't why did you stop you had your
cell phone in your hand the judge was visibly agitated and attempted to explain to officer
Johnson that he had just picked up the phone from between the door and the seat and was only holding
it not using it I had my phone like this yeah I just lost it I was just looking for it pulled
it up like this was not on the judge became more agitated as the conversation continued
and officer Johnson asked the judge why he was screaming at him go up and look okay why are
you screaming at me so those facts are Undisputed and I got those almost verbatim from the Court's
opinion which I'll post at the blog and Link in the description the situation escalated when
the judge insisted that he had done nothing wrong and initially refused to provide his license and
registration yeah I wasn't doing anything wrong I'm not gonna give you my license registration
you cannot have a handheld cell phone
the judge then stated several times that the police are often on their cell phones
and not on official business asking officer Johnson you're never on yours in an angry tone
and you all aren't ever on yours right you're never on yours I drive by a lot of times and
you're on yours you're never on yours right okay I don't understand it's on yours why are you yelling
at me sir I said you're never wrong why are you on them I'm not yelling at you yes you have been
you can be on it officer Johnson again asked why the judge was yelling the
judge then provided his license and registration His Hands and
Body noticeably were shaking I just don't know why yeah no not on official business
here sir
what what's why y'all so uptight huh
the judge then motioned for officer Johnson to go back to his vehicle and said go ahead
and give me a ticket give me a ticket what's going on give me a ticket the judge appeared
to be shaking when officer Johnson asked why he was shaking the judge answered I'm irritated
because you pulled me over for no reason the judge again attempted to explain that he only had his
phone in his hand and likened it to holding a cup why are you so shaky what's going on
I'm irritated because you pulled me over for no reason you had your sofa in your hands I picked
up my cell phone because I had it lost okay I pulled it up here and I was having my hand on
it here okay put it in here you know what you saw you know the law so what what if I have a cup in
my hand you you can't have a cell phone and said it was a Genie in your hand the judge then told
officer Johnson give me a ticket go ahead the judge stated that he would take the ticket up
to the town office and take it to trial then said it's ridiculous what you're doing give me a ticket
I just don't understand why go give me a ticket write me a ticket
and I'll take it up to their own office and I'll go to try give me a ticket go ahead he repeated
that officers are on their phones and do not get pulled over then stated and don't tell me it's
on official business I hear your cases every day in court go give me a ticket give me a ticket I'm
really irritated about this whole dot dot dot go ahead give me a ticket it's ridiculous what
you're doing how is it ridiculous it's ridiculous that you had yourself in there you all have yours
I've seen it many times y'all have yours and you don't get pulled over and tell me don't tell me
it's an official business I hear your cases every day in court okay what's that give me a ticket
I'm really irritated about this whole go ahead and give me well why are you being like this to
me I've never done nothing to you in my whole life you just pulled me over because you had yourself
on your hands whatever for no reason you got yourself in it okay Officer Johnson then returned
to his vehicle there he confirmed that the judge's license had expired a few months earlier
all right Charles Williams of Moorefield expires four of 21 on an expired class a zero points 2975
is clear dude while in the vehicle officer Johnson received a call from his supervisor
Lieutenant Melody Burroughs whom the judge had called once officer Johnson returned
to his vehicle Lieutenant Burroughs and later testimony in sworn statements elucidated that
on the call the judge told her that her quote boy had pulled him over calling officer Johnson
quote your boy several times officer Johnson is African-American Lieutenant dude hold on hello yes
oh my God
okay well he's literally just screaming at me and everything else for no reason okay
I've tried he's just screaming at me and then he said that he
said that he reviews on he or looks at our cases every day and we do wrong so
all right okay bye when officer Johnson returned to the judge's vehicle the
judge was on the phone with Lieutenant Burroughs who had apparently called the
judge back to let him know that officer Johnson would not be issuing a ticket
foreign
the judge stated to officer Johnson you can write me a ticket or not I don't care I'll take it up to
town and we'll and we'll go to trial buddy that's fine with me and I'll tell you what the next time
I see any of you on your phone I'm stopping right there and I'm calling the state police any of you
you make me take it or not I don't care I'll take it up to town we'll go to a trial buddy
that's fine with me and I'll tell you what the next time I see any of you on the phone
I'm stopping right there and call the State Police any other okay when officer Johnson
asked why are you being like this in response to the judges increasingly agitated State the judge
answered because I've seen this crap enough and I'm tired of it grabbing his registration
out of Officer Johnson's hand saying give it to me let me have my license now this is how
I had my phone I reached down and got it under my seat I pulled it up here I was driving like
this I was not talking on it you can look you can look when you pulled me over see whether
I was on my phone why are you being like this I'm being it because I've seen this crap enough
give it to me let me have my license now officer Johnson then informed him that his license was
expired and needed to be renewed the judge did not answer but grabbed the license put his car in
gear and said next time I see you as he drove off also you need to go get your license up to date
because they're expired okay next time as the West Virginia Supreme Court discussed in the opinion
that was just released it wasn't the frustration the judge expressed at the traffic stop that was
the big problem here but rather what the judge did afterwards in response to a mere traffic stop
where he wasn't even cited Judge Williams went on a campaign to retaliate against this officer
he threatened to sick the state police on the moorfield officer if he observed him driving with
a cell phone he criticized the officer to his supervisor and others he called the department
sketchy and referred to its officers as boys he called them piss poor and sloppy he called them
a bunch of thugs harassing innocent hard-working people he accused the officer of possible drug use
in reference to Prior unrelated administrative is suspension that the officer received stating
that he shouldn't have been reinstated the judge later called the prosecuting attorney and said
that the officer should not be on the police force according to the findings in the record the judge
discussed the possibility of reinstating unrelated criminal charges against the officer so let me
point this out if the judge had acknowledged that a local police officer was a bad guy who
was endangering the public in endangering the Constitution why did he not do something about
it before this interaction if there's a bad cop endangering The Peasants the high and mighty
judge doesn't care because it doesn't concern him but when he's about to get a minor ticket for a
cell phone infraction all hell breaks loose again I first exclusively obtained the body cam footage
via a foia request from that Police Department YouTube delivered judgment in the court of public
opinion and now the rest is history the Supreme Court as of yesterday finalized the whole thing
by issuing a published opinion which you can read I'll link in the description the big takeaway from
me was that the judge raised a First Amendment defense that even though he was a judge that he
has a constitutional First Amendment right to criticize law enforcement just like the
rest of us in response to that the court noted this of course we're not a police state one is
permitted to question why he's being pulled over and to contest a ticket if he believes
he's done nothing wrong judges do not lose all First Amendment protections when taking the road
there are significant limitations to that free speech that come with being a member of the the
Judiciary because a judge's speech May impugn The credibility and partiality and integrity of the
Judiciary judges like anyone else have a right to be obnoxious in their public expression they
may continue to offend so long as they refrain from violating specific provisions of the code
of judicial conduct or some other law and for that reason protected speech not addressed by the code
of judicial conduct no matter how obnoxious or offensive is addressed Through The Ballot Box not
disciplinary proceedings had the judge's conduct been limited to loudly contesting whether officer
Johnson read the cell phone statute correctly we might agree with his position consistent with
that prior case and would defer to the voters in his district to judge his conduct but the facts
of this case invite a starkly different analysis because the actions of the judge
cannot be understood to be only in his capacity as an accused he stepped out of the shoes of an
accused contesting a stop and into the shoes of a judge upon identifying himself as Judge Williams
and repeatedly invoking his office on the evening of July 11th calling officer Johnson's supervisor
during the stop can only reasonably be interpreted as coercive and the calls made thereafter were a
blatant invocation of his office in short the judge's conduct was not an invocation of his
rights as an accused to challenge a ticket he thought he didn't deserve but rather an
invocation of an abuse of The Prestige of his office the judge improperly invoked his office
employed coercive tactics in contacting contacting various public officials that
evening and suggesting that he might change his rulings in cases in retaliation for the traffic
stop further his comments could be interpreted as an attempt to have off officer Johnson fired
in retaliation for the Stop multiple rules of the code of judicial conduct were violated the
judicial hearing board previously recommended a suspension of one year with three months of that
suspension to be served without pay and the remaining nine months to be stayed so long as
the judge complied with an agreement the Supreme Court here yesterday instead opted for what they
called a more harsh sanction which was for the judge to be suspended for six months without pay
compliance with a monitor monitoring agreement for a period of two years a formal censure a
fine of five thousand dollars as well as to pay the costs of the proceedings against him
one thing you have to keep in mind is that the voters in West Virginia elect judges that they
want to elect the Supreme Court does not get to remove those elected judges they can only suspend
them which happened here but as we saw with the family court judge that I'm suing we also elect
our state legislature and they do have the the power to remove bad judges through impeachment
is that something that could happen here if not I wonder if the voters in that District
in that district will re-elect the judge do the voters ever have any idea what they're doing
when they vote in judicial elections anyways perhaps they need to start paying attention
and videos like these can help make that happen so please do your part and share also subscribe
both here and at the blog at the Civil Rights lawyer.com also thanks to the ronsford skate
shop for this week sure remember freedom is scary deal with it and I'll see you next time
oh