Recent Violence Spotlights Judges' Vulnerability

ByABC News
March 11, 2005, 7:21 PM

March 14, 2005 — -- As a trial judge in Colorado for 22 years, Bill Dressel presided over cases involving everything from felonies to civil disputes and family issues. And though there was potential for anger and violence with parties involved in each type of case, he didn't dwell on the risk -- even after a distraught father showed up at his house one Christmas Day.

"It becomes something you become very lax about," Dressel said. "You really don't think about it till something comes up that raises a concern."

But as two recent cases have shown, those on the front lines of the judicial system can be vulnerable to violence that creeps from the confines of the courtroom into their personal lives. In Atlanta on Friday, Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes, a court reporter and a sheriff's deputy were killed when Brian Nichols, on trial for rape and other charges, wrested a gun from a deputy and opened fire, authorities said.

On Feb. 28, the husband and mother of U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow were slain in her Chicago home. Police believe they were killed by electrician Bart Ross, who was apparently angry over Lefkow's dismissal of his medical malpractice case. Ross killed himself during a traffic stop in Wisconsin.

While rare, the threat of violence against jurists is real, though those involved say it most often stems from domestic relations cases involving divorce, custody or abuse.

"A lot of the focus today, of course, has been on the criminal cases," said Gayle Nachtigal, president of the American Judges Association and a circuit court judge in Oregon. "Historically, the most dangerous kind of case a state court judge could be dealing with is a domestic case. That's where emotions are really out of control."

Dressel said part of the reason judges have become complacent is the added security that was put in place in most courthouses after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, including metal detectors and other screening devices. Now president of the National Judicial College in Reno, Nev., which provides judicial education and professional development for judges, he said judges are taught to follow the U.S. marshals' training guidebook, which prepares them for what to do if a violent event were to occur.