Sept. 25, 2007 — After more than four months, the Commission on Judicial Disabilities has a full complement of members and is set to conduct hearings into complaints filed against V.I. Superior Court Judge Leon Kendall.
Senate President Usie Richards has named St. Croix attorney Robert Molloy to fill the vacancy left by the 2001 death of St. Croix businessman Mario de Chabert, according to Sen. Ronald Russell, the commission's chairman. Since de Chabert's death, the commission has functioned without its full complement off five members.
Molloy is an assistant attorney general, assigned to the Office of Collective Bargaining on St. Croix, according to Jessica Gallivan, chief labor negotiator. Previously Molloy served as clerk for District Court Judge Raymond Finch. Russell said Tuesday that Richard's nomination, which came after several months, was "appropriate now that we are moving to hearings."
V.I. Bar Association President Scot McChain has named Bruce Marshack as a temporary replacement for commission member Andrew Capdeville, who recused himself earlier this month. According to McChain, Marshack is a retired former U.S. Attorney.
Capdeville made the decision to recuse himself "in any matters involving Judge Kendall" when the commission decided to proceed to hearings, Russell said. Earlier this month, Russell announced that the commission had opted to hold hearings in the case, as opposed to issuing a "written statement."
Speculation had arisen over Capdeville's presence on the board because of his reported allegiance to Kendall. Community activist Maria Ferreras, who organized a public demonstration in April calling for Kendall to step down from the bench, filed a motion in May in V.I. Superior Court asking that Capdeville bow out of the investigation. (See "Commission Member Asked to Recuse Himself in Judicial Review of Kendall.")
"The commission within the next week to 10 days is setting up the final procedures for the hearings," Russell said Tuesday. "They should be held the week of Oct. 15, and we should have a decision by the first week in November."
Completing the panel are former senator Robert O'Connor, chairman of the V.I. Port Authority board, and labor leader Luis "Tito" Morales.
The commission is empowered to retire or remove a judge for cause. By law its proceedings are confidential.
A formal 53-page complaint about Kendall's conduct on the bench was sent to the V.I. Commission on Judicial Disabilities April 26 by an organization based in Washington, D.C. (See "Judicial Watchdog Group Files Complaint Against Judge Kendall.")
Subsequently, two more complaints were filed with the commission, one by the Women's Coalition of St. Croix and the V.I. Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Council, and another by St. Thomas businesswoman Jennifer Packard.
Mary Mingus, coalition executive director, said at the time, "We are requesting the removal of Judge Kendall (from the bench) because of his violation of the American Bar Association judicial canons and the violation of the V.I. Code in terms of a judge's failure to perform judicial duties in a responsible manner."
Kendall has been publicly critical of the advocacy groups. In January he said in court that he thought the minimum sentence he was forced to impose on convicted rapist Ashley Williams was too long and that members of the media and victims' rights advocates were more dangerous than the man convicted of forcibly sodomizing a homeless man with a wooden chair leg. (See "Judge Kendall Gives Rapist Minimum Sentence, Says Victim was Lying.")
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