Edwards, Matter of, s. 18S00-9706-JD-361
| Decision Date | 01 May 1998 |
| Docket Number | 18S00-9709-JD-482,Nos. 18S00-9706-JD-361,s. 18S00-9706-JD-361 |
| Citation | 694 N.E.2d 701 |
| Parties | In the Matter of Joseph G. EDWARDS, Judge of the Delaware Superior Court. |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
These consolidated causes come before the Court as the result of judicial disciplinary actions brought by the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications ("Commission") against the Respondent herein, Joseph G. Edwards. 1 This Court has jurisdiction pursuant to Article 7, Section 4 of the Indiana Constitution and Indiana Admission and Discipline Rule 25.
Respondent was admitted to the Indiana bar in January of 1983. He practiced law either on a full-time or part-time basis from January 1983 through December 31, 1996. Respondent served as appointed part-time commissioner for the Delaware Superior Court 4 from July 1, 1983 to May 15, 1996. He served as appointed part-time probate commissioner of the Henry Circuit Court from January 1, 1989 to mid-December 1996 and from time to time he also served as judge pro tempore for that court. As will be developed more fully below, Respondent was also appointed to serve as the full-time judge pro tempore of Delaware Superior Court 4 from May 16, 1996 through November 15, 1996.
In 1996, Respondent was elected judge of Delaware Superior Court 4 and began his term of office January 1, 1997.
The Commission filed its Notice of the Institution of Formal Proceedings and Statement of Charges on July 1, 1997 in Cause No. 18S00-9706-JD-361. Thereafter, this Court entered an order appointing three distinguished trial judges to serve as Masters in the proceeding. The Masters' role is to hear evidence relating to the charges and to report their findings and conclusions to the Court. Admis.Disc.R. 25(VIII)(I).
On August 12, 1997, the Commission filed an amended charging instrument in the above referenced cause, and filed another set of charges against Respondent in Cause No. 18S00-9709-JD-482. On August 16, 1997, this Court issued an order appointing the same Masters to hear and take evidence on the second set of charges.
The Masters conducted a consolidated trial on the two causes. 2 Respondent appeared in person and by counsel. Evidence was presented by both sides.
Promptly thereafter, the Masters submitted a report of their findings and conclusions. Admis.Disc.R. 25(VIII)(N). The Commission filed its recommendation as to the appropriate disposition of the actions. Admis.Disc.R. 25(VIII)(O). Respondent filed a petition for review and brief in support setting forth his objections to the report of the Masters. This Court then undertook its review of the two causes.
The Masters submitted a thorough report. They concluded that the charges against Respondent in both causes were proven by clear and convincing evidence, and recommended specific sanctions for the many ethical violations committed by Respondent. The recommended findings of fact and conclusions of the Masters are not binding upon the Supreme Court. Admis.Disc.R. 25(VIII)(N)(1). Our review of the Masters' report is de novo. In Re Drury, 602 N.E.2d 1000, 1002 (Ind.1992). In this case, however, we adopt all the findings of fact and most of the conclusions of law of the Masters. We will separately address the appropriate sanction.
The pertinent facts found by the Masters to have been clearly and convincingly proven are summarized below. In some instances, the factual testimony of Respondent was in conflict with the testimony of others. In their report, the Masters expressly stated, "Wherever in the record of proceedings the testimony of Judge Joseph G. Edwards contradicts the testimony of other witnesses we find that his testimony regarding such matters is less credible than the testimony of the other witnesses." The Masters were in the best position to observe and assess witness credibility and their judgment in reconciling conflicting evidence carries great weight. See generally, Matter of Frosch, 643 N.E.2d 902, 904 (Ind.1994) (). In any event, based upon our review of the record, we also concur in this finding.
In January 1991, Respondent agreed to represent Penny Adkins Lambert in the dissolution of her marriage to Michael Lambert. Michael Lambert was a suspect in the murder of a Muncie police officer and was incarcerated at that time. Penny Lambert was eighteen years old when she consulted with Respondent about her divorce.
At the time she decided to divorce Michael Lambert, Ms. Lambert frequented an establishment in Muncie called the Southside Gun Shop. Respondent had on other occasions represented the owner and two employees of the Southside Gun Shop. Ms. Lambert told Jim Crowder at the Southside Gun Shop that she did not have money for a divorce or for an attorney.
Crowder referred Ms. Lambert to Respondent to serve as her lawyer. She then made an appointment in early 1991 to see Respondent about a divorce. Based on the referral from Crowder, Ms. Lambert's expectation was that she would pay Respondent for any legal services with sexual favors.
Respondent agreed to represent Penny Lambert in a divorce proceeding and he did in fact file a dissolution petition on her behalf in Delaware Superior Court 3 on January 4, 1991. Ms. Lambert had sexual relations with Respondent in exchange for this representation and she continued to have a sexual relationship with him until sometime in 1994.
On occasion, Respondent gave Ms. Lambert cash in exchange for sex and also on occasion he gave her cash when no sex occurred. Respondent told her to use a different last name than Lambert when she called his office and she complied with this request. Respondent told Ms. Lambert that if anyone ever asked how she paid for his services, she should state that her father had paid.
After initially filing the dissolution petition on behalf of Ms. Lambert in Delaware Superior Court 3, Respondent subsequently requested and obtained its dismissal days later on January 17, 1991. Early in 1991, two newspaper articles apparently were published about Michael Lambert and the police officer shooting in which it was mentioned that Lambert's wife had sought a divorce in Delaware County and that Respondent was her lawyer.
Subsequent to the dismissal of the petition, Respondent had another discussion with Penny Lambert, advising her that he would obtain a divorce for her in Henry County because of her last name and the publicity in Muncie.
Around March of 1992, Respondent gave Ms. Lambert what appeared on its face to be a legitimate divorce decree from the Henry Circuit Court. The document purported to grant her a divorce from Michael Lambert and to give Ms. Lambert legal custody of her child. 3
The purported dissolution and custody decree facially appears to have been issued by the Henry Circuit Court. The cause number on the document is 33CO1-9201-DR-004. The clerk's file stamp over the cause number indicates the document was purportedly filed with the court on March 13, 1992. The purported decree is comprised of one single sheet of paper, in three connected sections. The third section contains the signature stamp of Respondent as if recommending approval of the decree in his capacity as part-time commissioner in that court. It also contains the signature stamp of the Circuit Court Judge, John Kellam, as if ordering the dissolution.
The document has no legal validity and is a fraudulent document. The cause number on the decree is a cause number assigned to another, unrelated case. No Lambert dissolution petition had been filed in Henry County prior to March 13, 1992, the purported date of the dissolution.
File stamps were generally accessible to officials and employees of the Henry Circuit Court, to the Henry County Clerk's office, and to Respondent. Neither the clerk nor Judge Kellam authorized the use of their file stamps on the document. The decree is on a form generally available in the offices of the Henry County Clerk and is the same general form signed and dated by Respondent on other occasions in recommending or ordering final decrees of dissolution.
The date line relating to the date of the judges' purported actions is filled in with the handwritten numbers and words "13," "March," and "92." Sgt. Frederick Panhorst of the Indiana State Police, a handwriting analysis expert, testified conclusively that the handwritten word "March" on the fraudulent decree was written by the same person whose handwriting was on the exemplars he analyzed. The exemplars used by Panhorst were taken from a collection of valid decrees and orders from the Henry Circuit Court in 1992 and 1993, each bearing the handwritten word "March." The parties stipulated that the handwritten word "March" on the exemplars was in Respondent's handwriting.
Respondent admitted that the handwritten word "March" on the fraudulent decree is in his handwriting. Although Respondent denied that the number "13" preceding the word "March" on the fraudulent decree is in his handwriting, Panhorst testified that the number "13" and the word "March" were written in ink from the same ink formula.
We agree with the conclusion of the Masters that Respondent was responsible for the preparation of the fraudulent dissolution decree.
Respondent advised Penny Lambert that this document represented that she had legitimately been divorced in the Henry Circuit Court and that she had been awarded custody of her child. Ms. Lambert believed Respondent's misrepresentations about...
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