MY TURN
Conduct committee takes job seriously
August 26, 2012
As chairman of the New Hampshire Judicial Conduct Committee, it does not surprise me that there is public confusion over the role of the House Committee for Redress of Grievances as it may relate to judicial matters.
The New Hampshire Constitution, while establishing the three branches of government - executive, legislative, and judicial - heavily weighted the scope of governance to the side of the Legislature. It established two articles for the purpose of accountability for "the wrongs that the people suffer" at the hands of government.
Dormant for many years, the Committee for Redress of Grievances was re-established in 2011. Many of its hearings have dealt with citizens unhappy with judicial decisions and the judiciary in general. Sometimes, with the encouragement of legislators, aggrieved former litigants tell their story to the committee, but the committee goes no further to investigate a claim of judicial malfeasance. In some instances, the committee votes overwhelmingly in favor of the grievant and threatens to bring a bill to the House to impeach the judge.
I find this disturbing, because the public hears only one side of what is often a complex and emotionally charged story.
In 2006, the appointing bodies were changed so that the speaker of the House and the Senate president each appoint one lay member; the governor appoints two lay members; the New Hampshire Bar Association appoints two members, one of whom must be a lay person; and the Supreme Court appoints five members: one representing each of the three lower courts, a clerk of court and one lay member. There is also an alternate panel, which hears cases involving a member of the standing committee.
Every state has a similar committee to handle complaints of judicial misconduct using a code of judicial conduct. The New Hampshire code was developed over many years to define how judges, masters, clerks and court reporters will conduct themselves to assure the public that it can feel confident cases will be judged fairly.
The JCC meets at least monthly and, after a thorough investigation of a report of misconduct, will either dismiss the report or carry the matter forward.
Should the committee find that a judge, master, clerk, etc., violated the code, it will determine an appropriate sanction, even so far as recommending suspension to the Supreme Court. But the JCC cannot overturn a judicial decision. That remedy is accorded only to an appellate court, which in New Hampshire is the state Supreme Court.
It is not uncommon for someone reporting what he or she believes to be judicial misconduct - often submitting 20 to 100 pages or more, photographs, and recordings to document their report - only to learn that the committee did not agree and cannot change the ruling or substitute another judge to hear their case.
If litigants report to the JCC that a judge yelled at them, or was biased in some way, was rude or demeaned their testimony or didn't follow the law, the JCC may ask its executive secretary to obtain the sound recording of the trial and/or the transcript for the members to hear and read for themselves.
If the committee votes to move to the next stage of inquiry - a complaint - it will ask for a response from the judge, master, clerk, etc. Should the committee be dissatisfied with the response, it can conduct an additional investigation, leading to the filing of a statement of formal charges and a public hearing, should there be clear and convincing evidence of judicial misconduct. Reaching that level is rare - perhaps once or twice a year out of 80 or 90 reports of judicial misconduct.
A trend nationally and in New Hampshire is that litigants are appearing pro se before a judge or master (in other words, without a lawyer to assist them), all too often for marital and child custody cases that are emotionally charged.
Not understanding court procedure and how evidence should be presented is often an insurmountable barrier. Litigants can feel disadvantaged, even when the judge goes out of his or her way to help them through their presentation.
I hope this clarifies the distinction between the Legislature's Committee for the Redress of Grievances and the Judicial Conduct Committee. The JCC is governed by Supreme Court Rules 38, 39, and 40. It cannot change a judicial decision. The highest level of sanction for judicial misconduct is to recommend to the Supreme Court suspension from the court system. The Supreme Court has that power, but not the power to dismiss a judge from office. Only the Legislature has that power: to impeach, convict and remove.
There will always be a certain level of tension between the three branches of government as evidenced by comments from the Redress of Grievances Committee chairman and the attorney general. But we cannot forget that our system of governance is based upon the rule of law, and the public must be assured that the administration of justice is monitored independently and diligently. The JCC takes that responsibility with the utmost seriousness, evaluating every single report with respect and thorough consideration.
(Dr. Robert O. Wilson of Hopkinton is chairman of the state Judicial Conduct Committee.)
The New Hampshire Constitution, while establishing the three branches of government - executive, legislative, and judicial - heavily weighted the scope of governance to the side of the Legislature. It established two articles for the purpose of accountability for "the wrongs that the people suffer" at the hands of government.
Dormant for many years, the Committee for Redress of Grievances was re-established in 2011. Many of its hearings have dealt with citizens unhappy with judicial decisions and the judiciary in general. Sometimes, with the encouragement of legislators, aggrieved former litigants tell their story to the committee, but the committee goes no further to investigate a claim of judicial malfeasance. In some instances, the committee votes overwhelmingly in favor of the grievant and threatens to bring a bill to the House to impeach the judge.
I find this disturbing, because the public hears only one side of what is often a complex and emotionally charged story.
A long history
The Judicial Conduct Committee was established more than 35 years ago as an independent, lay-dominated body charged with investigating complaints against judicial officers and, where appropriate, imposing or recommending discipline for misconduct as defined by the Code of Judicial Conduct.In 2006, the appointing bodies were changed so that the speaker of the House and the Senate president each appoint one lay member; the governor appoints two lay members; the New Hampshire Bar Association appoints two members, one of whom must be a lay person; and the Supreme Court appoints five members: one representing each of the three lower courts, a clerk of court and one lay member. There is also an alternate panel, which hears cases involving a member of the standing committee.
Every state has a similar committee to handle complaints of judicial misconduct using a code of judicial conduct. The New Hampshire code was developed over many years to define how judges, masters, clerks and court reporters will conduct themselves to assure the public that it can feel confident cases will be judged fairly.
The JCC meets at least monthly and, after a thorough investigation of a report of misconduct, will either dismiss the report or carry the matter forward.
Should the committee find that a judge, master, clerk, etc., violated the code, it will determine an appropriate sanction, even so far as recommending suspension to the Supreme Court. But the JCC cannot overturn a judicial decision. That remedy is accorded only to an appellate court, which in New Hampshire is the state Supreme Court.
It is not uncommon for someone reporting what he or she believes to be judicial misconduct - often submitting 20 to 100 pages or more, photographs, and recordings to document their report - only to learn that the committee did not agree and cannot change the ruling or substitute another judge to hear their case.
If litigants report to the JCC that a judge yelled at them, or was biased in some way, was rude or demeaned their testimony or didn't follow the law, the JCC may ask its executive secretary to obtain the sound recording of the trial and/or the transcript for the members to hear and read for themselves.
If the committee votes to move to the next stage of inquiry - a complaint - it will ask for a response from the judge, master, clerk, etc. Should the committee be dissatisfied with the response, it can conduct an additional investigation, leading to the filing of a statement of formal charges and a public hearing, should there be clear and convincing evidence of judicial misconduct. Reaching that level is rare - perhaps once or twice a year out of 80 or 90 reports of judicial misconduct.
In line with the country
There is a national clearinghouse that monitors decisions by judicial conduct committees, so we in New Hampshire can follow trends and statistics. Our 85 percent rate of dismissal of initial reports follows national results.A trend nationally and in New Hampshire is that litigants are appearing pro se before a judge or master (in other words, without a lawyer to assist them), all too often for marital and child custody cases that are emotionally charged.
Not understanding court procedure and how evidence should be presented is often an insurmountable barrier. Litigants can feel disadvantaged, even when the judge goes out of his or her way to help them through their presentation.
I hope this clarifies the distinction between the Legislature's Committee for the Redress of Grievances and the Judicial Conduct Committee. The JCC is governed by Supreme Court Rules 38, 39, and 40. It cannot change a judicial decision. The highest level of sanction for judicial misconduct is to recommend to the Supreme Court suspension from the court system. The Supreme Court has that power, but not the power to dismiss a judge from office. Only the Legislature has that power: to impeach, convict and remove.
There will always be a certain level of tension between the three branches of government as evidenced by comments from the Redress of Grievances Committee chairman and the attorney general. But we cannot forget that our system of governance is based upon the rule of law, and the public must be assured that the administration of justice is monitored independently and diligently. The JCC takes that responsibility with the utmost seriousness, evaluating every single report with respect and thorough consideration.
(Dr. Robert O. Wilson of Hopkinton is chairman of the state Judicial Conduct Committee.)
Wilson,
ReplyDeleteYou deceived the readers of the Concord Monitor several times in your propaganda. First of all, the rule of law is often violated by the Judges in New Hampshire.
The House Redress of Grievances Committee was formed mostly because your Judicial Conduct Committee, as you all admitted before the House Judiciary Committee, has no constitutional authority to do anything, and it does nothing. If your committee was worth the letters in its name, Marital Master Philip Cross would have been fired long ago. The fact that he was never fired by the Judicial Branch demonstrates the extent of the corruption in their own Administration.
The Redress Committee sends out notifications to the individual criminals named in the Petitions, yet they refuse to respond. The seriousness of the recommendations by that committee, which have reached the level for recommendations for impeachment, are a direct result of the violations of law and due process demonstrated in the writing from the criminal Judge's own pen.
Your committee is well known as a circus and nothing more. The corruption in the NH Judiciary is notorious and well published. You don't even have a job. You are the chairman of a corporate fiction. The lengthy history of your committee's failure to accomplish anything is how the Redress Committee got formed. YOU created the Redress Committee. You lied to everyone.
[new post] N.H. Judicial Watch Takes On Judicial And Government Corruption
ReplyDeleteI received the following e-mail message from NHJudicialWatch@gmail.com . David must also include Obstruction of Justice and Hindering Prosecution.
“Attention People!
ANYTIME a judge coerces or perpetrates fraud, denies you due process, violates your rights guaranteed under the constitutions, knowingly adjudicates/and or signs and rubber-stamps a recommendation of a Marital Master who perpetrates such crimes, does likewise as an administrative director, who was informed, and turns a blind eye to such criminal behavior as they review an appeal in their court, is GUILTY of committing a felony, treason, misprision of felony, and misprision of treason.
If the New Hampshire Supreme Judicial Court’s Conduct Committee has become aware of the violations listed above, yet does not report it, they and the New Hampshire Supreme Judicial Court are all GUILTY of misprision of felony and misprision of treason.
Any attorney who fails to act, if he or she has witnessed another attorney and or a judge commit such crimes, and does nothing to report such crimes, then they are also GUILTY, of misprision of felony and misprision of treason.
Anyone in New Hampshire government, who has sworn an oath to uphold the constitutions, who has committed such crimes or witnessed such crimes and failed to report them, is also GUILTY of misprision of felony and misprision of treason.
Any Representative or Senator or Judge or Governor, who was informed by credible evidence or witness that such crimes have been committed, yet conceals or suppresses such a report is GUILTY of misprision of felony and misprision of treason.
From this moment forward, I shall be taking reports of such crimes. I shall be conducting the necessary investigations required to prosecute any and all government employees, public servants, officers of the court, irregardless of their position or standing.
ReplyDeleteAfter such investigations have been concluded, with every bit of energy in me, I SHALL prosecute the perpetrators of felony, treason, misprision of felony, and misprision of treason.
We the people are being raped by PERSONS in government who need to be prosecuted and jailed. Our sons and daughters are subjected to the cruelty of government that has not only failed us, but has openly defied their OATHS OF OFFICE and CONTRACTS with the people.
Please contact me if you have had your due process and rights violated, reported such yet got no relief, or witnessed such. These PERSONS should be prosecuted, so as to remove them, sue them, and jail them. No judge has immunity once they violate their oath of office during the commission of a felony or treason or both.
We have a serious problem in Hew Hampshire. Our judicial branch is using the people for their own ill-gotten gain and they’re doing it in brazen, open defiance to our LAW. I intend to stop it. I need your help.
I intend to bring these matters to the International Common Law Court of Justice at The Hague.
As a man, a living, breathing man, born on and of the land, of sound mind and body, not a PERSON, not a CORPORATION, not an INDIVIDUAL, not a “14th Amendment-U.S. CITIZEN, but an American, I COMMAND all public servants, government PERSONS and EMPLOYEES, to cease and desist from perpetrating these crimes against the people. We are not your underlings. We are not your subjects. We are not your slaves. We are not going to serve YOU. We are not going to be levied and burdened by you! We are not your EMPLOYEES. We are not wards of the court or the STATE. We are not in agreement with any contract, concealed contract, or unlawful ruling of the administrators of any bankruptcy. We do not consent to your jurisdiction over people. We do not consent to the fraud you perpetrate via your gross misperception of any alleged presumption of consent on our part, especially since you do this under the cloak of deceit. We are not beneath any CORPORATION. We SHALL NOT any longer tolerate the actions of those who usurp our law and constitutions, most especially the organic constitution. We are not going to tolerate YOU.
ReplyDeleteThe New Hampshire Supreme Judicial Court operates outside law, and it routinely violates the rights of the people as it maintains a criminal enterprise, which is harming the people. It has no credible standing other that the support of its fellow usurpers. It makes the abusive rules which they claim we are suppose to appeal to them. They operate in camera and concealment. They claim their Judicial Conduct Committee can keep their receipts of complaints in camera. This cannot be done by a government agency unless they are acting as a private CORPORATION. We the people have the right to know. We the people have the right to know whenever our government acts to harm the people. We have no confidence in them.
After a history of abuses, there has been countless complaints, acts of violations, including but not limited to the murder of a jurist and the self immolation of a victim of said abuses. None of which has stopped the criminal activity routinely conducted in the Judicial Branch of New Hampshire Government. We have been insulted with the lies told in the General Court by Edwin Kelly and Howard Zibel. In pain language, the New Hampshire Supreme Judicial Court is NOT a Court of the people. As a man who abides by God’s law, I must act to prevent more of such crimes before they occur. The New Hampshire Supreme Judicial Court acts so as to incite unrest as they endanger our society and the safety of the people. THEY and only THEY are responsible for backing peaceful people into the corner, which precipitates such violent, blow-back reactions from their victims of rampant abuses. The New Hampshire Supreme Judicial Court is the most disgraceful band of common criminals I’ve ever witnessed in my entire existence on this Earth.
ReplyDeleteTo further their insult and harm to the people, these criminals unlawfully require the people’s constitutionally elected County Attorneys to be members of the New Hampshire BAR Association, which allows them to facilitate statutory control over the grand juries of the people, which is a violation of the Taft Hartley Act, the constitutions, and their oaths of office. Title I Chapter 7 in the New Hampshire Statutes demonstrates the compilation of such usurpations: Attorneys General, Director of Charitable Trusts, and County Attorneys. Any high ranking Justice knows exactly which usurpation of the constitutions is being perpetrated in this travesty. Anyone responsible for these crimes is the most serious of felons and traitors. Through their control of the New Hampshire BAR Association, the County Attorneys cannot act in the best interest of the people who elected them, but instead they act in the best interest of the criminal enterprise run by the usurpers in the New Hampshire Supreme Judicial Court. Statutes have NO position over the constitutions. Nothing in the organic constitution or the 10th amendment leaves authority to STATE CORPORATIONS to override the God given rights of the people.
After a history of abuses, there has been countless complaints, acts of violations, including but not limited to the murder of a jurist and the self immolation of a victim of said abuses. None of which has stopped the criminal activity routinely conducted in the Judicial Branch of New Hampshire Government. We have been insulted with the lies told in the General Court by Edwin Kelly and Howard Zibel. In pain language, the New Hampshire Supreme Judicial Court is NOT a Court of the people. As a man who abides by God’s law, I must act to prevent more of such crimes before they occur. The New Hampshire Supreme Judicial Court acts so as to incite unrest as they endanger our society and the safety of the people. THEY and only THEY are responsible for backing peaceful people into the corner, which precipitates such violent, blow-back reactions from their victims of rampant abuses. The New Hampshire Supreme Judicial Court is the most disgraceful band of common criminals I’ve ever witnessed in my entire existence on this Earth.
ReplyDeleteTo further their insult and harm to the people, these criminals unlawfully require the people’s constitutionally elected County Attorneys to be members of the New Hampshire BAR Association, which allows them to facilitate statutory control over the grand juries of the people, which is a violation of the Taft Hartley Act, the constitutions, and their oaths of office. Title I Chapter 7 in the New Hampshire Statutes demonstrates the compilation of such usurpations: Attorneys General, Director of Charitable Trusts, and County Attorneys. Any high ranking Justice knows exactly which usurpation of the constitutions is being perpetrated in this travesty. Anyone responsible for these crimes is the most serious of felons and traitors. Through their control of the New Hampshire BAR Association, the County Attorneys cannot act in the best interest of the people who elected them, but instead they act in the best interest of the criminal enterprise run by the usurpers in the New Hampshire Supreme Judicial Court. Statutes have NO position over the constitutions. Nothing in the organic constitution or the 10th amendment leaves authority to STATE CORPORATIONS to override the God given rights of the people.
In the interest of justice, and for the well being of the people of the New Hampshire Republic, I am personally taking the initiative to form a Common Law Grand Jury to investigate, organize, and prosecute those who commit these crimes against the people they have sworn an oath to serve. We are living under the reign of terror by those with titles of honor and nobility. We have been violated and harmed by those who believe they are above Natural Law, Common Law, Constitutional Law, and those of which believe that Common Law is supposed to be replaced by Statute, which is intended to run government, not over the people. These criminals have perpetrated fraud and an undercurrent of dissent against the people with the assistance of clever wordsmiths acting as their agents in the General Court. I seriously recommend anyone who does not wish to be included in these prosecutions to abandon the joint effort of the conspirators who have already proven themselves to be traitors and felons.
ReplyDeletePlease forward all complaints of felony and treason and complaints you’ve forwarded to the Judicial Conduct Committee to me at NHJudicialWatch@gmail.com so I may review your credibility and documented proof of these crimes. I will hold all your information in confidence. I will accept these complaints from public servants in confidence. Anyone who works in or around the courts and their administrations may expect my full cooperation. I shall be traveling around New Hampshire to spread this message. We must stop those who have wrested control from the people. I encourage court workers, attorneys, security personnel, Sheriffs and their deputies, State Representatives, victims of court abuse, or witnesses of such crimes, to contact me. We have waited long enough. We are tired of witnessing the attacks of those who intend to destroy the House Redress of Grievances Committee, which they do in violation of their fiduciary duty to protect the people. Those who wish to destroy that Committee act in defiance to their oaths of office to uphold the constitutions, specifically Articles 31 & 32, First Part of the New Hampshire Constitution. These are the ones I intend to target with the highest priority along with the criminals in the Judicial Branch. These PERSONS are attempting to undermine the General Court, the court of the people. Their goal is to make the General Court irrelevant.
We have an imminent threat of a foreign power encroaching upon or rights and lives through domestic terrorism against our people via the Judicial Branch of our government. They hurt our families for a living.
ReplyDeletePlease post this in all your FaceBook pages, blogs, Yahoo groups, and any organization which is intended to inform and serve the people. I will do the work for you, so you may conduct your daily business and I will work tirelessly to help your young ones. I have dedicated my life to you. I need ALL your help. I need ALL of you. I need you to spread the word. I need you to distribute my message to all Media. I need you to print this out and spread it to the litigants in the courts, the walls in your clubs and businesses, government and public buildings, your friends and families, your fellows in civic groups, law enforcement officers, your barber shops and hair salons, court employees, those who have been falsely imprisoned, your Representatives, your church groups and organizations, OathKeepers, Libertarians, patriots, Law abiding people, disgruntled attorneys who fear getting disBARred, and to ANYONE you can think will be interested in helping and who has been victimized by those who have perverted their roles as public servants. Tell everyone! Anoint all deeds with prayer! God is not here to serve us. We are here to serve God. America belongs to God and us. In the name of LAW, I need YOUR HELP.
In order to destroy a nation without military intervention, you must destroy its society. To destroy it’s society, you must destroy the families. To destroy the families, you must discard the fathers or the mothers or both. In order to do this, you must have no God in you, and you must serve evil. To serve evil, you must be a criminal to your core. In order to succeed at these crimes against the people, you must have a corrupt judiciary, so as to rule and legislate and execute the agenda from the courts.
This is exactly what is happening in New Hampshire. I, one man, will stand in defiance against them, for YOU! For the people and our little loved ones who have been stolen from us, I SHALL BRING THESE CRIMINALS DOWN! I can stand in front of you, if you stand behind me. I NEED YOUR HELP!!! PLEASE HELP ME!!! Please gather all your single dollar bills and put them to work for our cause. I need help to produce videos for YouTube and all cable access channels across New Hampshire. They’re preying upon our families and they’re eating us alive.
PASS CACR 26! Vote to amend the constitution. The Court is under the people. We are not under the court. The courts have precipitated this issue because of their chronic abuses and cries. They ARE NOT to be trusted to make rules. THEY have proven that beyond the shadow of doubt. They do NOT serve you!”
NHJudicialWatch@gmail.com
Your servant,
David Johnson
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This court will take notice that the supreme Court ruled, [that] "The state citizen is immune from any and all government attacks and procedure, absent contract."
ReplyDeleteDred Scott vs. Sanford, 60 U.S.
(19 How.) 393 (1857).
I am a state Citizen – not a 14th amendment / legalistic ‘person’.”
Whenever a judge acts where he/she does not have jurisdiction to act, the judge is engaged in an act or acts of treason.
U.S. v. Will,
449 U.S. 200, 216, 101 S.Ct. 471, 66 L.Ed.2d 392, 406 (1980); Cohens v. Virginia, 19 U.S. (6 Wheat) 264, 404,
5 L.Ed 257 (1821)