Kansas City Judge Deborah Neal has come under investigation by a judicial ethics commission for her mental fitness and accepting loans from lawyers to feed her gambling addiction.
Kansas City judge admits to gambling addiction
Kansas City Judge Deborah Neal has come under investigation by a judicial ethics commission for her mental fitness and accepting loans from lawyers, The Kansas City Star reported.
John Kurtz, Neal's attorney, confirmed Neal's gambling problems in a written statement this week. Questions about her gambling arose in April after authorities raided a Kansas City casino and Neal was among the patrons found there at 6:30 a.m.
Neal, 54, has been on paid leave since Aug. 16 and remains hospitalized for treatment of depression.
Legal experts said lawyers who made loans to Neal could face disciplinary action from the Missouri Bar Association. If those lawyers received preferential treatment from Neal, it could be a federal crime.
Kurtz said that Neal has reported the gambling, the loans, and her mental condition to the Missouri Commission on Retirement, Removal and Discipline of Judges and is cooperating with the state's investigation. The commission can reprimand a judge or ask the Missouri Supreme Court to take disciplinary action, including removal from the bench.
“The commission was specifically informed through an admirable self-report on Aug. 16, 2004, that the problems requiring hospitalization involved medically significant and diagnosable difficulties, including depression and a gambling habit/addiction,'' Kurtz said in a written statement to The Star.
Kurtz declined to comment on how long the gambling problem and depression have existed, how many lawyers made loans to Neal and how many, if any, of those lawyers practiced in her courtroom.
While it's unclear how long Neal has had a gambling problem, she filed for bankruptcy four years ago with debts that included $48,000 in federal income taxes. For the last two years, according to court records, about $1,730 has been deducted from her paycheck every two weeks as part of debt payments tied to the bankruptcy.
Kansas City's municipal judges are among the highest-paid in the state. Neal's annual salary is $123,744.
Jackson County Presiding Judge Jay Daugherty said: “Judges should be held to the highest possible standard,” Daugherty said. “When we potentially fail to do so, it's something that concerns the whole judicial system.”
As for the lawyers involved in the loans, Jackson County Circuit Judge John R. O'Malley, a former chairman of the judicial commission, said any who practiced law before Neal should be disciplined.
“At the least they should be suspended,” O'Malley said. “At the most they should be disbarred.”
For a judge to take money from lawyers who practice in his or her court is serious, rare and “very troubling,” O'Malley said, noting no such case arose during his six years on the commission.
Under Missouri's code of judicial ethics, a judge cannot take a loan from anyone “whose interests have come or are likely to come before the judge.” If the value of any loan exceeds $100, a judge is to report the loan as part of a yearly financial disclosure. Omitting details from such disclosures can be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine or up to six months in jail.
A review of Neal's disclosures from 2000 through this year found no reported loans.
“It's a real tension,” Glesner Fines said of Neal's admitted conduct. “You don't want to say it's OK, but you don't want to ignore disabilities like mental illness and addiction.''
The commission includes two judges elected by their peers, two lawyers elected by the board of governors of the Missouri Bar and two laymen appointed by the governor. The commission can reprimand a judge, quietly pressure the judge to voluntarily leave the bench or recommend disciplinary action by the Missouri Supreme Court.
After a formal commission hearing, disciplined judges can appeal to the state Supreme Court. But few do, O'Malley said, because the entire investigation then becomes a public record.
