Left: Jeff Ashton (Ninth Judicial Circuit). Right: Casey Anthony smiles as she returns to the defense table after being acquitted of murder charges at the Orange County Courthouse Orlando, Fla. July 5, 2011 (Pool Photo by Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via Getty Images).
A Florida judge who made a name for himself while helping lead the unsuccessful prosecution of accused child killer Casey Anthony has landed himself in hot water for allegedly acting inappropriately on the bench.
The Judicial Qualifications Commission said Wednesday that probable cause exists for formal proceedings to begin against Ninth Circuit Judge Jeff Ashton. According to documents, the commission accuses Ashton of behaving “intemperately” while sitting on the bench. That includes “shouting” at people appearing before him in the courtroom and “otherwise lacking the patience, dignity, and courtesy required by the Code of Judicial Conduct.” He also expressed bias for or against attorneys, the commission alleged.
In one case, he accused an attorney of “provoking” his “angry face.” He also allegedly raised his voice loud enough to be heard over the white-noise machine meant to shield conversations during sidebar conferences, documents said. In another case, Ashton reportedly denied a motion to disqualify him as a judge based on bias, saying it was “moot” because he would be moving to a different division and the case would be reassigned.
Ashton was overturned on appeal, and the motion to disqualify was granted. The commission also warned him to improve his courtroom etiquette, but it did not get better.
“Your repeated unwillingness or inability to govern your behavior raises questions about your fitness for judicial office,” the commission concluded.
Ashton has 20 days to respond to the allegations. The former prosecutor rose to fame during the 2011 murder trial of Anthony, who was accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee in 2008. A jury found Anthony not guilty of the murder charges. Following the trial, Ashton wrote a book and used the profits to successfully run for state attorney of Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit in 2012.
He also faced hot water while state attorney when it was divulged that he signed up for the Ashley Madison website for men looking to have an affair. He claimed he never had an affair and only signed up for the site out of curiosity, the Orlando Sentinel reported. After voters ousted him from office in 2016, Ashton was elected judge in 2019. He is up for reelection this year.
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