State: Public reprimand recommended for Cope

Public reprimand recommended for Cope

By BILL LEVESQUE

TALLAHASSEE -- The Florida Supreme Court should publicly reprimand embattled Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Charles Cope for his conduct during a California judicial conference last year, a state commission recommended Monday.

A hearing panel of the state Judicial Qualifications Commission, which oversees the state's judges, found "clear and convincing evidence that Judge Cope is guilty of certain ethical violations."

The findings are a recommendation, and the Florida Supreme Court will ultimately decide Cope's fate. The court could follow the recommendation, ignore it, or take a more severe approach.

It is not clear when the court will consider the recommendation.

Cope and his attorney, Bob Merkle, could not be reached late Monday.

Cope was arrested in April 2001 in Carmel, Calif., after two women said he attempted to enter their locked hotel room after making unwanted advances toward one of them.

In June, the commission cleared Cope on four counts of improper judicial conduct related to the complaint, but left him facing two charges, one for public intoxication and another for "inappropriate conduct of an intimate nature."

The hearing panel's decision to drop the four allegations in June seemed to indicate that members did not put much stock in the testimony of Lisa V. Jeanes, a veterinarian who said Cope had made unwelcome advances toward her during the conference.

The recommendations made public Monday were the panel's findings on the remaining two charges.

Cope still faces a criminal trial in California related to his arrest.

On the night of April 4, 2001, Cope, 53, went for a walk while intoxicated. He met two women, a 64-year-old doctor and her 31-year-old daughter, Jeanes, and had a conversation with them on their hotel balcony. The women also were intoxicated, court documents say.

Later, Cope walked on the beach with Jeanes. She says he tried to kiss her repeatedly and that she finally ran away.

Cope testified the pair passionately kissed and returned to his hotel room for foreplay that stopped short of sex. Jeanes said Cope is lying.

The next night, the women said, Cope used a key he stole from them to try to break into their hotel room.

In its earlier ruling, the JQC's six-person hearing panel rejected claims that Cope stole a hotel key from the women; attempted to break into their hotel room; lied to police; and failed to disclose his arrest to the JQC "or anyone else."

With those four charges wiped away, John Mills, the JQC's attorney, focused on the remaining two.

Mills said Cope knew that judges are required to maintain their judicial integrity at all times, he said.