Outbursts in the courtroom are generally frowned on by judges, and sometimes punished harshly. In Putnam County, West Virginia. Judge William Watkins III was the source of many of the outbursts.

Watkins, a family court judge, began presiding in 2002, and was re-elected in 2008. At some point after 2008, he seems to have run off the rails. Complaints starting pouring in.

Watkins yelled, cursed, and insulted people in court.He called people liars, and told them to shut up. Not to mention the threats.

He didn’t like it when people spoke unasked, screaming at one defendant, “…Understand that I will resign this bench and I will personally see to it that you never see a free day in your life. You understand that? You’re going to jail. I swear to God.” The defendant must have gone quiet, because Watkins did not resign.

Watkins also took up this theme with a woman seeking a protective order. “Shut up! You stupid woman. Can’t even act properly. One more word out of you that you aren’t asked a question you’re out of here and you will be found in direct contempt of court and I will fine you appropriately. So shut your mouth!”

Watkins’s style wasn’t only temporary fits of passion in a rowdy courtroom. In a letter to a man who asked that the judge recuse himself, he wrote, “Every… witness describes you as rude, obnoxious, loud, unprofessional and generally acting like the south end of a north-bound horse. I choose to believe them.”

It might sound like fun to wear a black robe and call someone the south end of a north-bound horse, but it doesn’t sound judicial. And when he didn’t have time to hone his insults, he fell back on remarks like “Why are you shooting off your fat mouth?”

(I happen to have family roots in West Virginia, especially Kanawha County, and I have hunted fireflies by the banks of the Coal River in Putnam County. It’s likely Judge Watkins has yelled at relatives of mine. Knowing my family, they have likely yelled back and been dragged away. But we’re not in touch, and this is speculation, so I feel no need to recuse myself from writing about this subject.)

You can’t get away with that garbage forever, and on November 27 Judge Watkins appeared before the state Judicial Hearing Board over in Kanawha County to face seven counts of violating judicial canons. He apologized. Feebly.

“I acknowledge that I’ve also made mistakes. I’d like have the opportunity to correct those mistakes and to prove that I can be an even better judge for Putnam County,” he said. It was reported that he apologized to four people present whom he had yelled and cursed in court.

One was Sharon Stinson, who had been in court for a custody hearing when the judge criticized her choice of a father for her child. She said, “It was an accident.” Watkins replied, “Well, honey. It ain’t an accident. You don’t get ’em off of toilet seats.” What with him cursing at her too, she had filed an ethics complaint.

After hearing testimony about this, the Special Judicial Disciplinary Counsel prompted him to apologize. Ahem ahem. “Do you have something you want to say to Ms. Stinson about your conduct in the courtroom that day?”

“Absolutely. I did not intend to demean or make people feel bad and I deeply regret that I did that,” he said.

On December 4^th the Board ruled that Watkins be suspended without pay until his term ends in 2016, saying they didn’t think he would change. (He had to pay $17,759.21 costs. The state Supreme Court will eventually decide whether he can ever return to the bench.)

They pointed out that at the November hearing, one of the complainants had asked to make a statement. Mark Halburn, once likened to aspects of a horse, asked that Watkins face him while he spoke. The Board’s chair said Watkins didn’t have to. But Watkins “turned in his chair, leaned back, crossed his arms and glared at (Halburn) in an angry and confrontational manner.” This suggested to the Board that Watkins wasn’t all that regretful.

I agree with the Board. Vaguely saying you’ve made mistakes isn’t taking responsibility for any specific actions. Watkins knew people were complaining and he went on shouting and cursing and calling them liars – demeaning people and making them feel bad was exactly the point.

One more thing. The Board wrote that Watkins had “demonstrated a preference for using threats, intimidation, profanity and shouting rather than the tools available to judges, including civil and criminal contempt, to deal with admittedly difficult litigants.”

Admittedly difficult litigants? You better not be talking about us.