Posted on 11/14/2006 12:56:21 PM PST by neverdem
Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY Voters removed a 3rd District judge who reduced the sentence of a sex offender and also caught the wrath of deer hunters and gun owners for an anti-hunting diatribe from the bench.
In Salt Lake, Tooele and Summit counties, 54 percent of voters Tuesday said Judge Leslie Lewis should not be retained, a rare defeat for a sitting jurist.
Lewis, a judge since 1991, was out of town and unavailable for comment, court spokeswoman Nancy Volmer said Wednesday.
“I just don’t like the way this one was done,” said Greg Skordas, one of 40 lawyers who bought a newspaper ad supporting Lewis. “I felt it was underhanded.”
Judicial elections rarely get headlines, but Lewis found herself in the crosshairs of opponents, who set up a Web site that showed her berating a man in an illegal hunting case. She also sent the man’s brother to a holding cell when he left the courtroom in a huff.
Separately, a week before the election, an attorney said Lewis had reduced the sentence of his client, a sex offender, to 20 years from 30 years and repeatedly discouraged him from telling prosecutors.
Salt Lake County prosecutors filed a complaint with the Judicial Conduct Commission. Attorney General Mark Shurtleff has asked an appeals court to reverse the reduced sentence.
“We helped make some of Utah’s deer hunters and gun owners aware of the fact that she was expressing extreme prejudice against a lawful activity that many of them engage in,” said N.W. Clayton, spokesman for a group called Gun Owners of Utah.
While the case involved poaching, which is illegal, Lewis said she was prejudiced against “people who kill deer” and recused herself.
“Have you ever actually looked at a deer when they’re alive?” Lewis asked Michael Jacobson during the February hearing.
To fill Lewis’ seat, a 3rd District nominating commission will recommend five candidates to Gov. Jon Huntsman. He will pick one and send the nomination to the Senate.
Hahaha City folks can be amazing.
Fellow judges suggested that Lewis take the week off from scheduled hearings.
She was on vacation in Italy during the Nov. 7 elections, when 54 percent of the voters in Salt Lake, Tooele and Summit counties said she should not be retained -- a rare defeat for a sitting jurist.
Lewis said she was prejudiced against "people who kill deer" ...
A lot of people denigrate one-issue voters. Gun owners prove the power of that strategy.
The Florida Supreme Court! I decide in 2000 that if i ever visited Florida again, I would probably be arrested --- for throwing one tomato at the Florida Supreme Court Building.
EXTRA ! ! Bambi blasters blast Bambi lover off the bench! ! !
;-)
Stoning is all too Islamic for my taste. I humbly suggest organ banking, followed by an open bid by Alpo and competitors for the remainder.
After all, we should recycle. Libroids say so.
;-)
"Oh yeah, I did my research on the FL SCJ's, talked to friends and family and NO ONE I talked to said they WOULD vote to keep them in office. Yet, they were re-elected by a wide margin. It makes No sense to me."
Read VoteScam.
If anyone finds a mailing address for the ex judge, I'd like to send her some deer jerky for Christmas.
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