Judge Had Sex in Chambers in Earshot of Clerks, Panel Says (1)

A federal district judge engaged in an extramarital affair with a law enforcement officer in chambers, and in earshot of law clerks, a judicial conduct committee found.

A special committee for the Eleventh Circuit found the judge, who isn’t named, engaged in sexual intercourse in “chambers and during business hours” over the course of a two-year relationship, according to the panel’s recently released report.

This relationship “demonstrated a gross lack of judgment” and resulted in a “chambers workplace that was extremely uncomfortable and troubling for clerks,” the report said.

The Judicial Conference’s judicial conduct and disability committee in a May 22 order affirmed a February misconduct finding by the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit’s judicial council. A December special committee report laid out the allegations against and resulting investigation into the judge. The orders and report don’t name the judge or say in which district they served.

The affair made the judge vulnerable to extortion, since their spouse was not aware of the affair, the report said. The panel noted that the judge was “routinely” hearing criminal cases while engaging in an affair “with a prominent officer of a large law enforcement agency in the judge’s district.” The affair spanned from roughly October 2023 to October 2025, the report said.

The judge was also found to have improperly attended a partisan political event hosted by a district attorney’s campaign, and to have made false statements to judges investigating the conduct.

The judge was given a private reprimand, and agreed to write letters of apology to law clerks interviewed during the judicial investigation. The judge also agreed to not serve as chief judge in the future, and to “indefinitely refrain” from serving on any committees on the Judicial Conference, the judiciary’s policy-making body.

Private Reprimand

The committee said it decided against recommending a more severe penalty, such as a public reprimand, because the judge later corrected the false statements and is unlikely to repeat the behavior in the future.

“Although the special committee is deeply troubled by the conduct in which the judge engaged, the Subject Judge has demonstrated a strong propensity for rehabilitation and continued diligent service to the judiciary,” the report says.

The misconduct was reported earlier Tuesday by Reuters.

Security footage and sign-in logs, reviewed as part of the committee’s investigation, revealed that a police department officer made “frequent visits” to the judge’s chambers, typically during lunchtime while in uniform. The officer, who is also unnamed, is described as a division commander who has worked for the police department since 1998.

All six former clerks who were interviewed described seeing the officer visit chambers, and two clerks reported hearing either “kissing sounds,” “moaning” or both from the judge’s office, while a third recounted hearing music playing during a visit, the report said.

The committee also had a stain on a sofa cushion in the judge’s chamber examined at a laboratory to determine if it was semen, and the results were negative, according to the report.

The judge didn’t preside over any cases where the officer or police department was a party, or over any trials where the officer testified, during the relationship, the special committee found. However, because the judge didn’t disclose the affair, this “appears to be the result of happenstance” and not any efforts by the judge, the report said.

The judge initially denied the allegations and suggested the clerk who reported them did so to retaliate against the judge over performance issues. However, the judge later admitted to having the affair and to having sexual intercourse in the office, and said the judge didn’t know they were overheard.

Eleventh Circuit Chief Judge William Pryor declined to comment.