More on Knucklehead Judge Eileen O'Connor

The article below is from today's Miami Herald. Foes of this judge are trying to get her moved out of the criminal division to the civil division while an investigation is done into whether she lied on the application she submitted for the 17th circuit judgeship she now holds.

To me it seems clear Judge O'Connor lied and therefore she should be removed from the bench. She is a total hypocrite in light of the Stacey Forbes affair and biased or prejudiced to boot. I just won't hold my breathe till something is done about this woman.

Miami Herald article- http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11904954.htm

BROWARD CIRCUIT COURT

Critics seek judge's removalEmbattled Broward Circuit Judge Eileen O'Connor says she has always been truthful, despite allegations that she lied on her judicial application. Critics are calling for her removal.
By SARA OLKON AND JAY WEAVERsolkon@herald.com

The attorney for a black 19-year-old jailed for allegedly lying about his arrest history during jury selection called on Broward Circuit Judge Eileen O'Connor Wednesday to remove herself from the criminal bench, citing a concern that she may be biased against minority defendants.

The mother of the prospective juror, meanwhile, has started a petition drive to compel O'Connor to move herself to the court's civil division.

The pair are taking aim at O'Connor as a result of Herald reports that she failed to disclose on her 2003 judicial application that a black federal prosecutor had filed a racial discrimination complaint against her when O'Connor headed the Fort Lauderdale division of the U.S. attorney's office.

A Jewish prosecutor had also filed a religious discrimination complaint against O'Connor, which ended with the Department of Justice paying a $10,000 settlement.

In a letter to the judge, attorney Bill Gelin urged O'Connor to disclose all facts regarding past allegations about her conduct in the workplace -- ``for the sole reason of dispelling any and all doubt that you may harbor a conscious or unconscious bias or opinion regarding members of minority groups.''

Gelin said that if the judge fails to do that, he would ask the Broward Circuit Court's chief judge to reassign her to the civil division until a state judicial panel concludes an investigation into a new ethics complaint filed against her by the Fort Lauderdale branch of the NAACP.

Gelin said that he and other Florida Bar members are particularly concerned about O'Connor's ability to be impartial in criminal cases involving minority defendants -- especially following the judge's decision in March to sentence his client, prospective juror Stacey Forbes, to four months in jail on a contempt-of-court charge because he failed to reveal his arrest history during jury selection.

''I would, in the interest of preserving the integrity of the criminal justice system, humbly ask that you make [a] request to Chief Judge Dale Ross for temporary reassignment to a civil judgeship where the liberty of accused minorities is not at stake,'' Gelin wrote to O'Connor.
Gelin copied Ross on the letter, he said.

O'Connor's lawyer, former federal prosecutor Michael Tein, said Wednesday the judge had not seen Gelin's letter.

''Bar rules prohibit judges from commenting on pending motions for recusal,'' said Tein, who is a law partner with O'Connor's former boss, ex-U.S. Attorney Guy Lewis.

But Tein said: ``Everyone knows that just because someone is accused of something doesn't make it true. Judge O'Connor is an eminently fair judge and treats all parties equally.''