Sex, Lies, Hostility in the Court

Feb. 12, 2008 — -- A written opinion by a state appellate court judge in Florida that criticized one of his fellow judges has spiraled into a rare public airing of personal grievances between some of the state's top judges, accusations of sexual affairs, as well as misconduct and perjury allegations by the state judicial ethics panel.

The misconduct case, as told through the depositions of several judges on Florida's First District Court of Appeal, provides an uncommon look at the inner workings of an appellate court, whose deliberations are normally shielded from public view.

Judges in the First District have accused each other of lying, of having an affair with a court clerk and of threatening each other. Judge Michael Allen, the author of the opinion that set the case into motion, has been charged with conduct unbecoming a judge and may face charges for making false statements under oath.

Judge Charles Kahn, who was criticized in Allen's opinion, was described by his colleagues as acting, at times, "volatile," "irrational" and "schizoid." At one point, after Kahn signed up for a concealed weapons training class, the marshal in charge of court security testified that he put a lock on the door to the judges' robing room to stop Kahn from getting into a retirement party.

"He didn't seem to be as stable as I — it was scary," Donald Brannon, the marshal, said in his deposition.

Kahn did not return a phone message left at his office seeking comment. In his deposition he said he would not describe himself as volatile or tempestuous; he apparently never got a gun permit.

Allen was charged last year by the state Judicial Qualifications Commission with conduct unbecoming a judge for criticizing Kahn in a published concurring opinion. According to documents filed by the special counsel prosecuting the case, Allen's opinion was motivated by ill will and based on "innuendo and supposition." The opinion accused Kahn of corruption and amounted to nothing more than "character assassination," according to the allegations made in the documents.