Commission To Decide If Maryland Judge Abused Her Position By Trying To Get Fellow Judge In Trouble
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) -- A Maryland judge's professional fate is in the hands of a nine-person commission tasked with determining whether she abused her position.
Judge Devy Patterson Russell refused to comment out of court and did not testify in court as she is accused of trying repeatedly to get another judge in trouble.
That judge, Katherine O'Malley, repeated an obscenity in court in 2015. An investigative counsel said Russell wouldn't let it go, repeatedly trying to embarrass O'Malley and threatening to go to the press.
Russell's attorney claimed she was merely following procedure, letting her supervising judge know and never leaked anything to the media.
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Russell is already under suspension without pay from another case due to "uncontrollable incivility," and in February she was sharply criticized for denying a peace order request by Tyrique Hudson against his neighbor James Verombeck.
Hudson was killed two months later; Verombeck is charged in his murder.
Both of those cases are unrelated to Monday's disciplinary hearing.
Closing arguments wrapped up around 3 p.m. Monday. The commission is expected to release their findings in the coming weeks.
