Judge’s Facebook Post Draws Sanctions

March 23, 2015

The Florida Supreme Court has agreed to a 30-day suspension of a judge, according to this article in the Orlando Sentinel.

Judge Debra Krause on Friday agreed to a 30-day suspension for using her Facebook page to criticize the lawyer who defeated her husband, Mitch Krause, in a judicial race in November.

Judge Krause, 40, of Longwood, on Aug. 5 used Facebook, urging friends to “flood” the Facebook campaign page of now-Circuit Judge Susan Stacy and accuse her of misrepresenting Mitch Krause’s involvement in his wife’s previous judicial ethics case.

The Sentinel’s Rene Stutzman had this earlier report

The Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday recommended that Seminole County Judge Debra Krause be suspended without pay for 30 days for a Facebook post that suggested the woman who defeated her husband in a judicial election was a liar.

That suspension would amount to $11,500 in lost pay.

It is on top of a $25,000 fine the court wants imposed on Krause for a different set of violations, all associated with her 2012 campaign for office.

On Wednesday the high court said those two cases – the 2014 Facebook post and the 2012 campaign violations – should be handled separately and that Krause should be disciplined for each one.

In November, the state agency that polices judges, the Judicial Qualifications Commission, reached the equivalent of a plea deal with Krause and agreed to combine the two and impose no new punishment.

The sanctions they had agreed to for the first breach – a $25,000 fine and public reprimand – would cover both, the two sides said.

But the high court rejected that idea.

The court said Wednesday that the penalty for the first breach would remain the same, but she should be suspended without pay for a month for what she wrote on Facebook.

On Aug. 5 she urged people to flood the Facebook page of now-Circuit Judge Susan Stacy, who was running against Krause’s husband, Mitchell Krause, with messages accusing her of misrepresenting his role in the campaign violations Judge Krause admitted making in 2012.

Those include Judge Krause reporting that she loaned her campaign up to $82,000 when, in reality, the money was a gift from her husband.

Judge Krause did not return a phone call Wednesday.

Central Florida judges are rarely suspended. In 2010 Orange-Osceola Circuit Judge N. James Turner was suspended with pay for a year and a half by then-Chief Judge Belvin Perry Jr. while Turner was investigated for repeatedly hugging an Osceola County courthouse deputy clerk.

The Florida Supreme Court ordered him suspended without pay the following year then removed him from the bench.

In a separate case, the JQC recommended that Orange-Osceola Circuit Judge Tim Shea be suspended without pay for two months in 2012 because of complaints that he bullied attorneys, but the high court concluded that a public reprimand was sufficient.

In the cases of Judge Krause, Wednesday’s action by the high court may not be the final word.

In its order, it gave her and the JQC 30 days to accept or reject the proposed suspension.

Stutzman also had the post itself

“Susan Stacey [sic] is again misrepresenting. … to try and make Mitch look unethical and without integrity. Could you all take a minute and POST on Ms. Stacey’s [sic] campaign site that having ethics and integrity means TELLING THE TRUTH! Please post as soon as possible. I want to flood the post!”

The judge closed with, “THANK YOU and have an ethical day!!!!”

(Mike Frisch)

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Judicial Ethics and the Courts