Tampabay: Scolding closes a judicial career

TALLAHASSEE -- For 13 years, Cynthia Holloway gazed down from the Hillsborough bench as wrongdoers stepped before her. She weighed their flaws. She dispensed prison or mercy or blistering rebukes.

Friday, in the last act of her judicial career, it was Holloway's turn to be judged.

At 8:25 a.m. her gold high heels clicked up the 11 gray granite steps leading into the Florida Supreme Court building. Flanked by her husband and a lawyer, she passed under the six towering Tuscan columns and through the metal detector.

When Chief Justice Harry Lee Anstead told her to approach the podium, Holloway stood alone, looking up at the seven grim faces of the state's highest court.

"Judge Holloway, you appear before this court today, having been found to have violated several canons of the Code of Judicial Conduct," Anstead began.

Sternly, he told Holloway she had given "misleading and deceitful answers" while under oath in a deposition. Anstead characterized it as an affront to the foundations of the justice system.

"As judges, we know that the administration of justice is dependent on all witnesses testifying truthfully in accordance with the sworn oath to do so," Anstead said.

Furthermore, Anstead said, Holloway had interfered in two court cases by contacting the presiding judges, which "undermines the public's trust and confidence" in the system.

Explaining the court's rationale in giving her a reprimand and a 30-day suspension, Anstead said he hoped it would "demonstrate to the public our intolerance for such misconduct." He also hoped it would encourage Holloway to be "above reproach" in her conduct from now on.

Anstead spoke for six minutes. Holloway stood silently.

"Judge Holloway, this reprimand is ended -- you are excused," were Anstead's final words.

Holloway turned and silently left the courtroom with her husband, lawyer Todd Alley, and her attorney, Michael Rywant.

As she walked into the morning fog past the Capitol building, Holloway didn't want to talk about her dressing-down.

"That's a humbling experience," Rywant said afterward. "... this is certainly not something you look forward to, in terms of having to endure it."

Holloway's troubles began after she confronted a fellow Hillsborough judge in March 2000 about a child-custody case that involved one of Holloway's friends. Holloway's troubles deepened during a deposition in that case, when, according to the Supreme Court, she gave misleading answers about whether she had contacted the other judge.

The Judicial Qualifications Commission, the panel that oversees judges, found Holloway guilty of interfering in the custody case and giving misleading answers. It also found her guilty of improperly asking yet another judge to expedite her brother's uncontested divorce.

The Supreme Court punished her with a 30-day suspension -- timed to hasten her voluntary retirement by a month -- and ordered her to pay her way to Tallahassee Friday to face the reprimand.

Holloway, 46, whose net worth of $18.4-million stems largely from her husband's success as a litigator, was one of Hillsborough's flashiest judges. During the "Donut Day" she hosted once a week for those who worked in her courtroom, she regaled struggling lawyers and court staff with tales of lavish trips and tony shopping jaunts.

Her supporters believe it was her willingness -- and financial ability -- to wage a long legal battle against the JQC to clear her name that prompted her punishment.

Holloway, who flew to Tallahassee on a private jet, was in a talkative mood Friday morning as she waited for her court hearing to begin. She smiled and chatted about the Florida Gators.

That ended when the justices filed in, black robes flowing. As it ended, Holloway looked composed but stricken. Whatever she felt, she kept to herself.

"She had prepared herself for it," said Rywant. "Judges have to be circumspect. They have to be respectful. I think that's what she showed today."

Justice Anstead, who read the reprimand, will decide whether to grant Holloway's wish to be appointed as a senior visiting judge.

"She would still like to serve," said Scott Tozian, another one of Holloway's lawyers. "We've got our fingers crossed on that."

But judges who have been reprimanded rarely win such appointments, said Craig Waters, a spokesman for the state Supreme Court.

Holloway's lapses are "certainly something that would be taken into account," Waters said. "The chief justice routinely inquires about the ethical background of the judge who is up for a senior appointment."

-- Christopher Goffard can be reached at 226-3337 or goffard@sptimes.com .

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