Hawkins County (Tenn.) Juvenile Judge Daniel Boyd (Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office via The Rogersville Review).
An attorney who also worked as a juvenile court judge is accused of faking a signature on divorce papers for a client he was representing in court.
Daniel Boyd, 47, has been charged with forgery and bribery, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced Tuesday. According to prosecutors, TBI investigators determined that Boyd had falsified a divorce document for his client.
“During the course of the investigation, agents learned that Boyd, while working as an attorney, provided a client with a default judgment declaring her divorce to be finalized,” the TBI announcement said. “The document appeared to be signed by the Chancellor of the 3rd Judicial District. Further investigation revealed that no document existed with the Clerk and Master’s Office and that the case was never presented to the Chancellor.”
According to the local Rogersville Review news website, the alleged criminal acts took place in 2022. The juvenile judgeship, where Boyd was appointed in 2011, was not a full-time position, according to the website.
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The investigation also revealed that when Boyd’s client filed a complaint, he offered to pay her if she would withdraw it, according to the TBI.
The TBI launched its investigation into Boyd in May at the request of the 3rd Judicial District attorney general.
Boyd has been charged with three counts of forgery, one count of criminal simulation, and one count of bribery. He was booked into the Hawkins County Jail on Tuesday on $25,000 bond.
According to state records, Boyd has a history of discipline related to his work as an attorney. In 2018, he was suspended from practicing law for three years after an investigation found that he misled one client into believing that he was taking action on her behalf when he actually wasn’t and that he made similar statements to the daughters of another client. He was also publicly censured in 2019 for failing to “diligently represent his clients in a boundary line dispute” and failing to adequately communicate with them.
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