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Judge With A Habit Of Showing Off His Gun -- In Court -- Suspended

This seems problematic.

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(Image via Getty)

Winnebago County, WI Circuit Judge Scott Woldt was suspended by the Wisconsin Supreme Court for “impatient, undignified, and disrespectful speech.” Oh, and his penchant for displaying his handgun.

As reported by the ABA Journal, the Wisconsin Judicial Commission’s allegations of misconduct includes some doozies:

• In 2009, Woldt told a victim of domestic abuse who asked for leniency for her boyfriend during his sentencing hearing that he was “sick and tired” of victims who called the police when they were distressed but later told the court, “Oh no, this person’s an angel.”

• During a 2015 sentencing hearing for an 18-year-old who sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl, Woldt interrupted defense counsel who said the defendant was confused by the situation. The judge responded sarcastically that when he’s “paralyzed by fear,” the first thing he does is demand sex from a girl. He called the defense counsel’s argument “stupid” and later said that attorneys who come before him need to “shut their ‘pie holes’ and get to the point.”

• In 2015, Woldt said during a postconviction motion hearing that he wanted the defendant to be found guilty and to give him a year in jail for wasting his time.

• Also in 2015, Woldt “gave a rather lengthy soliloquy about his views on courthouse security” during a sentencing hearing in a burglary case. At one point, he pulled out a handgun from under his robe, ejected the magazine and bullets and presented it as a “prop” to those in court. “You’re lucky you’re not dead because, if you would have come into my house, I keep my gun with me and you’d be dead, plain and simple,” the judge told the defendant.

• In 2016, Woldt also displayed his handgun to a group of high school students after one of them asked him a question about courthouse security during a Government Day event.

• Also in 2016, he used profanity when berating an attorney during a custody/placement modification hearing.

The commission suspended Woldt, who has been on the bench since 2004, for seven days, without pay. They wrote, “We conclude that a short suspension is necessary in this situation to assure the members of the public that judges will treat them with dignity, fairness, and respect when they enter the courtrooms of this state, and to impress upon Judge Woldt the seriousness of his misconduct and the need for him to change how he treats the jurors, lawyers, litigants, witnesses, victims, and staff with whom he interacts.”

Woldt disputed the characterization of several of the incidents, for example saying that he displayed the gun to show sympathy with burglary victims, not to intimidate the defendant. In Wisconsin, judges are permitted to carry concealed weapons, but, the commission noted, “that Judge Woldt’s comments, when combined with the unnecessary display of his personal handgun during the sentencing proceeding, constituted a failure to observe ‘high standards of conduct.’”

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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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