Montgomery County family court judge investigated for allegations of misconduct

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Montgomery County family court judge who had a lawyer handcuffed and carted off to jail is now being investigated by the Judicial Conduct Board of Pennsylvania .

Backroom conversations and retaliation are among serious allegations of judicial misconduct being made against Common Pleas Court Judge Kelly Wall .

Attorney Richard Ducote filed a complaint against Wall with the Judicial Conduct Board, accusing Wall of having improper private communications — known as ex parte communications — with at least two witnesses in his family court case.

Ducote says Wall and the witnesses admitted to the conversations in court.

"It's the second-worst thing a judge can do after taking a bribe,” Ducote said. “I asked her to recuse herself. And I told her it was my professional duty to do everything I could to have her removed from the bench. And I think she retaliated against me with this stunt."

Ducote says the judge had sheriff's deputies handcuff him and haul him off to jail where he was held for an hour before being released. Legal experts say holding a lawyer in a civil case in criminal contempt — and doing so without a hearing — is improper.

University of Pennsylvania law professor Dr. Claire Finkelstein says ex parte communications, first and foremost, undermine the court’s credibility. Ducote’s allegations raise questions about the judge’s relationship with the opposing side, Finkelstein said.

Secondly, there's evidence that after Ducote tried to expose this, the judge behaved vindictively.

“I mean, that's itself even more of an ethics breach. Profoundly problematic,” Finkelstein said. “The appearance of impropriety is so strong, it's just not going to be possible for that judge to continue."

JCB investigations are confidential, but if the Board finds evidence of misconduct, it will file formal charges in the Court of Judicial Discipline at which point the case becomes public. And if those charges are sustained, the Court can penalize a judge with as little as a reprimand or as much as removal from office.

For example, Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Lyris Younge was disciplined and barred from serving on family court for six months for wrongfully handcuffing and jailing parents and failing to be impartial to those who appeared before her bench.

Ducote, who is an early co-drafter of Kayden’s Law, a provision of the Violence Against Women Act that strengthens protection of children caught up in family court cases, says he believes Wall is trying to intimidate him and get him to quit the case. He says, in the 46 years he has been practicing law, he has never seen anything like this.

"I've never encountered a judge who has absolutely no understanding of constitutional law, due process and rules of procedure.”

Wall and the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts have declined KYW Newsradio’s requests for comment.