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Pensacola judge fined $50,000 by high court
©Associated Press
January 31, 2003
TALLAHASSEE -- A Pensacola judge who promised to support police and bend over backward for crime victims during her campaign must pay a $50,000 fine, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
Escambia County Judge Patricia Kinsey also will be publicly reprimanded for violating the code of judicial conduct, which requires judges and judicial candidates to be fair and impartial.
Kinsey was accused of violating judicial standards in her 1998 campaign by pledging to be pro-prosecution and pro-law enforcement.
In its unsigned 4-3 opinion, Florida's high court agreed with the Judicial Qualifications Commission that Kinsey was guilty of "serious campaign violations." The court adopted the JQC's proposed penalty as well.
"A substantial fine is warranted in order to assure the public that justice is dispensed in a fair and unbiased manner and to warn any future judicial candidates that this court will not tolerate improper campaign statements which imply that, if elected, the judicial candidate will favor one group of citizens over another or will make rulings based upon the saw of popular sentiment in the community," the majority agreed.
Chief Justice Harry Lee Anstead, Justices Barbara Pariente, Leander Shaw and Major Lee Harding made up the majority. Justice R. Fred Lewis partially dissented, arguing that Kinsey should be removed from the bench.
Justices Charles Wells and Peggy Quince dissented, citing an opinion by the U.S. Supreme Court that struck limits in Minnesota on what judicial candidates can say.
The majority Thursday said Florida's rules are more narrowly drawn than Minnesota's.
Roy Kinsey, the attorney representing Judge Kinsey, didn't return a phone call.
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