A disciplinary board acted too harshly in suspending the law license of a former judge who pleaded guilty to ethics charges and resigned after investigators accused him of having an improper affair with a lawyer, a divided Alabama Supreme Court ruled Friday.
The court, by a 5-4 majority, sided with former Coffee County District Court Judge Christopher Kaminski, who challenged the suspension as too harsh and rejected an appeal by the Alabama State Bar, which argued Kaminski should have been punished even more.
Kaminski resigned in 2019 amid judicial ethics charges that accused him of having an affair with an attorney who was handling cases in his court. The attorney, identified in the Supreme Court’s decision as Amy Marshall, later married Kaminski, the ruling said.
Both Kaminski and Marshall pleaded guilty to violating judicial ethics standards and received suspensions as punishment. But the justices said a bar disciplinary panel went too far in suspending them because of a lack of “tangible damage resulting from their conduct” and the fact that no clients or litigants complained about their actions.
Both Kaminski and Marshall, who also challenged her suspension, should have received a public reprimand at most, the decision said.
A dissent by Justice Greg Shaw said both lawyers had a “clear” conflict of interest, and he expressed concern that the majority decision would fail to deter inappropriate conduct in the future.
Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
