Judge Joseph Slaven

A recent Judicial Tenure Commission complaint accuses Slaven of misdeeds, including:

Calling the chief judge “Shackel-fool” from the bench and seemingly mocking her after she told him to make his face visible during Zoom hearings, where it had been obscured.

He subsequently obscured his face with flowers and a Bible during a session, called her a “control freak” and referred to “clueless” people, the complaint said. Slaven told the commission he simply repeated what an attorney said when he made the first comment and was not referring to the chief judge with the latter comments. The commission qualified those defenses as making false statements.

Promoting the candidacy of Tinney by randomly discussing him and displaying slideshows with his picture while on the bench. He’s also said to have printed 160 copies of Tinney campaign materials and voter precinct maps using court resources.
Recording conversations with Shackelford in 2021 and 2022 and lying about it when she directly asked him if he was recording during one.

Directly disobeying orders from her to not copy court staff on emails with concerns on court policies, then copying them on an email saying her misunderstanding of court rules might be due to a lack of reading comprehension.

Repeatedly failing to follow court rules to wear his black robe, even when prompted by multiple chief judges and a state court administrator. Sometimes he placed it in his lap.
Calling court staff incompetent and threatening contempt.

Driving with expired registration and an illegible license plate.