Nome judge disciplined for 'undignified and discourteous' comments in court

Alaska's highest court ruled Friday that Nome Superior Court Judge Timothy Dooley made inappropriate comments while on the bench that harmed witnesses and victims and betrayed the public's perception of the court's integrity.

Dooley was censured — essentially a public statement of wrongdoing — by the Alaska Supreme Court in the decision, the culmination of an ethics complaint and subsequent recommendation from the Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct.

The Alaska Supreme Court accepted the commission's findings, made in its recommendation in December, that Dooley's statements in open court were negligent, "undignified and discourteous" and "suggest bias or prejudice." The actions harmed the public's perception of the court system, it wrote in the decision.

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The comments that led to the complaint against him began several weeks after his appointment by then-Gov. Sean Parnell. The first one occurred on May 29, 2013. During a sentencing, Dooley asked a defendant, "Has anything good ever come out of drinking, except for sex with a pretty girl?"

Read more: http://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2016/08/15/nome-judge-disciplined-for-undignified-and-discourteous-comments-in-court/