Two state judges were censured Thursday by the Alabama Court of the Judiciary for violating the Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics.

One of the judges — Blount County Circuit Judge Steven D. King — left office in January. He was found to have he mailed an anonymous letter and recording to the media and others critical of county officials and a Warrior police officer.

The Judicial Inquiry Commission (JIC) charged that King had violated two sections of the Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics – one that requires a judge to uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary and the other that requires the judge to “avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety.”

The JIC laid out the events leading to the ethics charges.

“In 2020 Judge King authored a (anonymous) letter criticizing Blount County Commissioner Dean Calvert, one other county commissioner, and a Warrior police officer, claiming they were unfit for public office. The anonymous letter was critical of other actions taken by the Blount County Commission as well.”

“Judge King also alleged in the anonymous letter that the Warrior police officer engaged in an extra-marital affair while on vacation in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The two county commissioners were in Gulf Shores for a meeting of the Alabama Association of County Commissioners at the same time. According to the anonymous letter, they allowed the police officer to use their hotel room, which was paid for by the county, to conduct the extra-marital affair,” according to the JIC complaint.

Judge King did not sign the letter, and it was not sent on judicial letterhead and nothing indicated King was the author, the JIC complaint says.

Judge King assembled packages containing the letter, pleadings from three cases pending in Blount and Etowah counties, and thumb drives containing an audio recording referred to in one of the three cases, according to the JIC complaint. Two of the cases included in the packages were civil cases involving Calvert and the Warrior police officer that alleged Calvert and the officer fraudulently acquired property and money from an individual, according to the JIC complaint.

The third case included in the packages was a counterclaim filed by the police officer’s wife in response to a modification of their original divorce.

The audio recording, mentioned in the counterclaim, was a phone conversation between the officer and Calvert, according to the JIC complaint. During that conversation, “Commissioner Calvert can be heard using the ‘N-word.’ The police officer and Commissioner Calvert can also be heard having a vulgar and offensive discussion about women,” according to the commission’s complaint.

Calvert later apologized in a statement on Youtube after the public release of the recording.

According to the anonymous letter, the packages were mailed to 18 media organizations and to “the Blount County Circuit Judge,” according to the JIC complaint. (King is the only circuit judge in Blount County.)

On Aug. 16, 2020, the complaint said, Judge King met with an attorney who practiced law in Blount County and asked that attorney to mail the packages for him.

Mobile judge also reprimanded

Also on Thursday, the Alabama Court of the Judiciary censured Mobile County Circuit Court Judge Edmond Naman for attempting to appoint his brother-in-law to handle indigent cases over an 11-year peroid.

Naman was suspended after being charged Monday with violating the Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics by the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission. Under state law, judges are automatically suspended with pay from the bench while the charge is pending before the Alabama Court of the Judiciary. The commission and Naman requested an expedited hearing.

Naman, who has served as a juvenile court judge since 2007, used his authority to appoint his brother-in-law “on numerous occasions” over a period of 11 years to indigent cases in that court, according to the judicial commission complaint.

The brother-in-law received “substantial compensation” as a result, according to the complaint. The document did not specify an amount.

The Alabama Court of the Judiciary found Naman guilty of violating a canon of judicial ethics “by his pattern and practice of using his appointment authority to appoint his relative, i.e. his brother-in-law, as an attorney in indigent juvenile cases.”