Seminole County Circuit Court Judge Wayne Culver (YouTube/WKMG)
A state circuit court judge in Florida is facing a multi-month suspension after a state agency investigating allegations of misconduct found that he “engaged in intemperate conduct,” failed to be “faithful to the law,” and at least once, ordered a defendant to be jailed in violation of their due process rights.
The Judicial Qualifications Commission for the State of Florida on Tuesday formally recommended that Seminole County Circuit Court Judge Wayne Culver serve a 60-day suspension without pay and be publicly reprimanded.
The incidents all took place during the adjudication of cases before Culver in January and February of 2022.
The disciplinary panel and Culver in June 2022 reached a settlement similarly recommending Culver serve a 60-day suspension, but the Florida Supreme Court rejected the stipulation, saying the court disapproved of the proposed sanctions. Instead, it ordered the panel to conduct a “full hearing” on the judge’s alleged misdeeds.
In one instance that took place on Feb. 10, 2022, Culver was presiding over a defendant’s sentencing hearing when another defendant entered the courtroom and began looking for a place to sit, but could not find a seat. The panel noted that tape marked off seats every six feet for social distancing.
“Judge Culver noticed him, and yelled in a loud, aggressive voice, ‘Sir, I’m doing something here. Could you shut up and sit down,”” according to Tuesday’s recommendation.
When the defendant said he was “trying to find a seat,” Culver excoriated the man and threatened to have him thrown in jail using expletives.
“That’s not shutting up,” Culver said. “You want to be held in contempt and go to jail? I asked you a f—ing question, a——.”
The committee said that Culver even managed to shock himself with the language he used.
“Judge Culver admitted shocking himself by his use of profanity, and that members of the public would rightly be appalled,” the committee wrote. “He knew it immediately when he left the bench, telling his judicial assistant ‘I really messed up in there.’”
In another instance, Culver ordered a defendant to serve 179 days in jail for failing to complete a court-ordered domestic violence program in a timely manner. As the defendant was being led out of the courtroom, Culver also denied him the opportunity to speak on his own behalf and defend himself. Additionally, when a woman in the gallery got up and tried to address the court, Culver threatened to jail her as well.
“Ma’am, sit down or you’re going to go into custody as well,” he said.
The sentence was successfully appealed and vacated.
However, the panel also recognized that Culver was going through particularly difficult personal issues as he was “the primary caregiver for his 87 year old father, who was hospitalized, incapacitated, in the process of dying, and potentially being mistreated by a third person.”
In addition to the suspension and reprimand, the panel recommended that Culver undergo continued treatment for anger management and stress.
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