§ 8-16-4 - Employment of personnel – Investigation of unfitness.
SECTION 8-16-4
§ 8-16-4 Employment of personnel –Investigation of unfitness. – (a) The commission is empowered hereby to engage the services of legal,secretarial, clerical, and investigative employees and to make such otherexpenditures as are necessary for the effective performance of its functions.
(b) The commission, upon receiving from any person a verifiedstatement, not unfounded or frivolous, alleging facts indicating that a justiceof the supreme court, the superior court, the family court, the district court,the workers' compensation court, or the traffic tribunal, or a probate judge inany city or town in the state is guilty of a violation of the canons ofjudicial ethics, or of willful or persistent failure to perform his or herduties, disabling addiction to alcoholic beverages, drugs, or narcotics, orconduct that brings the judicial office into serious disrepute, or that such ajudge has a physical or mental disability that seriously interferes and willcontinue to interfere with the performance of his or her duties, shall make apreliminary investigation to determine whether formal proceedings shall beinstituted and a hearing held. The commission may, on its initiative, make apreliminary investigation, without receiving a verified statement, to determinewhether formal proceedings shall be instituted and a public hearing held.
(c) If the preliminary investigation discloses that a chargeof judicial unfitness of the kind mentioned in this section is supported bysubstantial evidence, it shall direct that a public hearing thereon be held,and the judge shall be notified of the investigation, the nature of the charge,and the time and place set for a hearing thereon. The judge shall have theright to counsel and to confront witnesses against him or her and shall beafforded a reasonable opportunity to present such matters in defense as he orshe may choose. The notice shall be given by prepaid registered or certifiedmail addressed to the judge at his or her chambers or his or her last knownplace of residence. The judge shall file a written answer to the charges withintwenty (20) days after the notice has been served upon him or her. Allegationscontained in the notice that are not denied in the answer shall be deemedadmitted. The notice and the answer shall be public documents. The judge shallattend the public hearing without the necessity of a subpoena being served uponhim or her; and, if he or she is called as a witness by the commission at thepublic hearing, he or she shall take the witness stand and shall testify in thesame manner as if under subpoena.
(d) If the preliminary investigation discloses that thereexists a violation of the canons of judicial ethics and that violation is notone of a serious nature, the commission may in its discretion issue a privatereprimand to the judge. The private reprimand shall caution the judge that theconduct complained of, if continued, may be the cause for discipline. Theprivate reprimand shall include a statement of the facts found by thecommission, as a result of the preliminary investigation, and may issueconfidential suggestions and recommendations with respect to the judge. Anyjudge issued a private reprimand shall have the right to appeal the privatereprimand within ten (10) days and request a hearing before the commission withthe same rights accorded by this section; provided, however, that the hearingshall not be open to the public, and all evidence and proceedings relating tothe private reprimand shall be kept confidential.
(e) Upon completion of the hearings, the commission maydismiss the case on the ground of insufficiency of proof or may recommend tothe supreme court the censure, suspension, immediate temporary suspension,reprimand, retirement, or removal from office of the judge under investigation;provided, however, that the recommendation for the removal of a justice of thesupreme court shall be subject to the provisions of § 8-16-7(b). For thepurposes of this chapter, wherever the word "judge" appears, it shall beconstrued to include probate judges in the cities and towns of this state.
(f) The commission shall have the same authority totemporarily exclude all spectators from the public hearing as is possessed byjustices of the superior court in criminal cases.