Supreme Court Fines, Suspends Miami-Dade Judge
TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) - Pointing to a tougher stance on judges who act improperly, the Florida Supreme Court has publicly reprimanded a Miami-Dade County judge, imposed a $10,000 fine and suspended her from the bench for 30 days.
Chief Justice Jorge Labarga said the court imposed the discipline against Judge Jacqueline Schwartz after finding that earlier proposed penalties were "too light."
Schwartz, in part, was accused of misconduct for a June 2014 incident in which she used profanity and threatened to sue a convenience-store owner who had declined to allow her to display a campaign sign at the store, according to the state Judicial Qualifications Commission.
Another allegation involved notes that Schwartz wrote on paper in a court file during the course of a case. One of the parties in the case reviewed the court file and photocopied Schwartz's notes. Later, Schwartz instructed her bailiff to remove the notes after a request was made for a certified copy of the file. The notes subsequently could not be found.
Schwartz appeared Wednesday before the Supreme Court to receive the reprimand but did not comment. Along with discussing the allegations against Schwartz, Labarga addressed a broader move by the Supreme Court to crack down on judges for misconduct.
"This court is increasingly facing cases such as yours, where we are rejecting the recommended discipline in favor of harsher penalties,'' Labarga said to Schwartz. "We view this as the only way we can assure the public that misconduct, such as yours, will be taken very seriously."
Schwartz and the Judicial Qualifications Commission, which investigates judicial misconduct, initially agreed that her penalties should involve a public reprimand and a letter of apology. But the Supreme Court in April rejected that agreement, known as a stipulation, and called for the addition of a fine and a suspension.
The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.