'Clear appearance of bias': Judge booted from defense lawyer's cases after actions 'indicative of personal animosity'

Left: Shelby County (Tenn.) General Sessions Court Judge Shelia Renfroe (Tennessee Courts). Right: The General Sessions Criminal Court Criminal Division (Shelby County, Tenn.).

A Tennessee mental health court judge has been pulled off cases involving a public defender due to an apparent personal conflict that the judge couldn’t seem to set aside.

Shelby County Judge Chris Craft yanked General Sessions Judge Shelia Renfroe off 28 cases involving public defender Melody Carlisle, who had filed a complaint in May alleging that Renfroe unnecessarily delayed rulings, potentially causing harm to Carlisle’s clients before Renfroe in mental health court.

Renfroe “has created a clear appearance of bias to the attorney, these defendants and their families, along with the rest of the public sitting in her courtroom, and has refused to promptly rule on the motion to recuse as she is obligated to do by law, and has needlessly delayed the handling of these mental health and other cases without any legal reason,” Craft wrote in his decision, according to Memphis Fox affiliate WHBQ .

Renfroe and Carlisle reportedly had multiple tense interactions over the past year, including a threat from the judge to arrest the lawyer, the Tennessee Bar Associated reported . Carlisle has also reportedly alleged that Renfroe is a danger to the community.

In one case, Craft found, Renfroe waited more than two months to rule on Carlisle’s motion that the judge recuse herself — a delay that Craft found unnecessary.

“One reason for the delay stated was due to the amount of exhibits attached, which took this court less than 5 minutes to read,” Craft wrote, according to WHBQ.

Craft said that the delay was “needless” and “may well prove to be a danger to those who have need medication or other mental health treatment.” Craft also wrote that Renfroe’s actions both in and out of the courtroom revealed her personal feelings toward the public defender.

“The judge, without apparent just cause, has ordered her to leave her courtroom with cases pending that day, threatening to incarcerate her if she didn’t leave the courtroom (using such expressions as threatening to make her ‘ride the bench’ and go ‘inside the wall,’ very sarcastic, disrespectful slang expressions), even though Ms. Carlisle was not found to have done anything contemptuous, had not been found in contempt or given any hearing on any alleged wrongdoing, and had clients present in the courtroom with their families also present, hearing this, whose cases had not yet been handled that day,” Carlisle wrote in the ruling.

Both Renfroe and Carlisle had requested to no longer work with each other, local NBC affiliate WMC reported . Craft’s ruling clearly favored Carlisle, however, with the judge noting that Renfroe had taken actions against Carlisle that were “clearly indicative of personal animosity.”

Carlisle’s 28 cases have been set for reassignment to other judges within the General Sessions Court, WHBQ reported.

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