Former Leflore County Court Judge Solomon Osborne will face a public reprimand for racially charged remarks he made before the Greenwood Voters League in 2006.
The Mississippi Supreme Court ordered the discipline Thursday. The court also directed Osborne to pay $730 to cover the cost of the proceeding.
The punishment, while humbling, is more lenient than the lifetime ban from judicial office that the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance had been seeking.
Brant Brantley, executive director of the judicial watchdog agency, sounded disappointed that the consequences weren’t more severe for the serial offender.
“What sort of message does that send?” Brantley asked.
Prior to Thursday’s action, Osborne had been publicly reprimanded once by the Supreme Court and suspended twice. Last May, while serving a 180-day suspension without pay, Osborne resigned from the bench.
“We’ve never had anyone come before the commission as many times as Osborne has,” Brantley said.
Osborne, 60, could not be reached for comment.
Brantley said while the Judicial Performance Commission was pleased that the court ordered a reprimand, the agency could appeal the court’s decision.
“We’ll present that option to the commission, and they’ll determine whether they want the court to reconsider having him removed from office,” Brantley said.
The commission is scheduled to meet next week.
During his 2006 speech to the Voters League, Osborne, who is black, told the crowd, “White folks don't praise you unless you're a damn fool. Unless they think they can use you. If you have your own mind and know what you're doing, they don't want you around.”
Osborne’s comments were made in response to then Greenwood Mayor Harry Smith’s appointment of two African-Americans to the city’s Election Commission. Smith is white.
According to the watchdog agency, 48 complaints were filed against Osborne after an article containing the comments appeared the Greenwood Commonwealth.
The court’s opinion, written by Justice George Carlson, said, “Osborne’s actions constituted willful misconduct in office and … brought the judicial office into disrepute.”
Osborne, in his defense, cited his right to free speech.
Responding, the court said, “No one is compelled to serve as a judge, but once an individual offers himself or herself for service, that individual accepts the calling with full knowledge of certain limitations upon speech and actions in order to serve the greater good. A calling to public service is not without sacrifice, including the acceptance of limitations on constitutionally granted privileges.”
“In the end, we find that Judge Osborne’s disparaging remarks were not protected speech,” the court said.
The Judicial Performance Commission also accused Osborne of perjury for initially denying, under oath, that he had made the inflammatory remarks.
The Supreme Court, however, rejected the accusations of perjury because it said the commission did not formally charge Osborne with the offense. “A verdict without a formal complaint is no different from a criminal trial without an indictment,” the court noted.
Brantley, when asked about the court’s reasoning on the perjury allegation, only said, “We’ll live with that. We feel like we did our part.”
The high court also dismissed the Judicial Performance Commission’s claim that Osborne’s membership in the Voters League violated judicial rules.
Osborne’s reprimand is to take place in open court on the first day of the next term of Leflore County Circuit Court. Court is scheduled to resume in March.
Osborne was replaced on the bench by Kevin Adams, a former chancery court administrator. The position comes up for election in 2010.
The Supreme Court is still considering another recommendation, based on an unrelated case, that Osborne be banned for life from the bench. That case involves a then 17-year-old Greenwood female whom Osborne ordered detained n a move the commission claims was the result of “improper, illegal and inappropriate” acts.
During the past 20 years, the court has removed 10 Mississippi judges for misconduct.
