A judge received a scolding from the Florida Supreme Court for 14 admitted ethics violations, including unconstitutionally ordering a probationer to attend church, but he will be allowed to remain on the bench.
Circuit Judge Richard Albritton Jr. of Panama City declined comment after Chief Justice R. Fred Lewis warned him the high court would not be so mild if he failed to mend his ways.
"Your behaviour is unacceptable," Lewis told Albritton, who stood silently beside his lawyer facing the seven justices. "It's a stain on all of us."
He initially was accused of 36 violations. He did not admit to the remaining 22 allegations, but they were cited in the Supreme Court opinion. In one instance he was accused of telling a woman in open court that she "needed to close her legs and stop having babies", the justices wrote.
Other admitted violations included jailing a young mother because she was unable to remember her address, soliciting gifts and invitations to lunch, getting hunting trips from lawyers and demeaning a Department of Children & Families staffer because of her young age.
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