Did The Judge Really Say That?

Yup. Judge John P. Wulle, of the Clark County, Washington Superior Court, was attending a conference entitled “Planning Your Juvenile Drug Court in Los Angeles in July 2006. I know, skip the details – get to the dirt. Here’s some of what he said, as set forth in the “Stipulation” entered into by the Judge and the Commission on Judicial Conduct:

During a breakout session, the team’s facilitator wrote a star on an assignment the team completed and said jokingly, “Clark County gets a star.” Respondent [Judge Wulle] replied, “I don’t need a star, I’m not a Jew.”

Later in the week, during a break in the conference, other faculty members asked [Judge Wulle] who Clark County’s facilitator was, and he answered, “the black gay guy.”

A team member asked [Judge Wulle] to lower his voice … and he acknowledged the request by raising his middle finger at the team member.

During a breakout session … [Judge Wulle] became frustrated with the pace or direction of discussion, and announced it was time for the group to move on to the next topic. A fellow team member spoke up, “No Judge, this is important, we need to work through this,” or words to that effect. In response to this seemingly respectful entreaty, [Judge Wulle] angrily yelled, “F_ _ _ you” and threw his pen down on a table and left the room. [Regular Juice readers know that I don’t delete expletives. The Commission does, though.]

Zoinks! Maybe it’s me, but it seems like Judge Wulle wasn’t real pleased about attending the conference. If you want to read the full “Stipulation, Agreement and Order of Censure,” click here. And if you like stories about Judges, you’ll find a boatload of them here.