Since returning from a one-year paid leave of absence, Charles Cope's work calendar shows nothing scheduled in his courtroom or office for 51 days.
By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
Published August 2, 2003
CLEARWATER - As Circuit Judge Charles W. Cope fought allegations of misconduct last year, his former boss raved about his work habits.
"He has one of the best work ethics of all our circuit judges," former Pinellas-Pasco Chief Judge Susan Schaeffer told a Judicial Qualifications Commission panel.
Not everyone agrees.
Since returning last August from a one-year paid leave of absence, Cope's work calendar shows nothing scheduled in his courtroom or office for 51 days, or about 10 work weeks, a St. Petersburg Times review shows.
"For a guy who got a whole year off with pay it seems pretty appalling," Pinellas County Judge Walt Fullerton said. "I don't think anyone is proud of him. He's a black eye to the judiciary."
About 16 of the 51 days were in 2002, a year in which Cope battled criminal charges in California.
Cope, 54, declined to speak directly about his work schedule, so it is unclear how many of those 51 days might have been used for vacation or unscheduled court business.
"I have always been accessible to both litigants and attorneys," Cope said in a statement through a court spokesman. "It's called managing the calendar."
Court spokesman Ron Stuart said, "As far as the time off, he said some of it was devoted to legal reading and research. He didn't specify which days."
Cope's work calendar - which lists trials, hearings and appointments - offers no hint about the 51 days, except for two days when he attended a judicial conference.
Pinellas-Pasco Chief Judge David Demers said judges, like legislators or county constitutional officers, have no set rules or laws outlining vacation time.
Demers said Cope is not obligated to tell him about time off, and Demers doesn't have an explanation for Cope's 51 days.
"I'm not sure it's a relevant question," Demers said, referring to a judge's time off.
Demers said he only becomes interested in judges' time off if their caseload becomes backlogged, hindering the efficiency of the courts. In Cope's case, he said, that hasn't happened.
Court records show Cope's caseload has been no higher than other family law judges in Pinellas during much of the last year. But during three months ending in June, Cope had the second-highest caseload among seven family judges.
Cope, through the court spokesman, said his "statistics speak for themselves."
Demers said judges' work can't be measured solely by their calendar because they take work home, work odd hours, often on weekends, and do considerable legal research not reflected by a calendar.
"It's not a 9-to-5 job," he said. "A judge is really a judge 24 hours a day."
In about a dozen of those 51 days, Cope's schedule shows that scheduled trials or hearings were canceled after a settlement.
Though the hearings or trials usually were canceled weeks in advance, Cope marked his calendar "Hold for CWC" (Charles W. Cope) so his calendar would remain empty.
For instance, an all-day hearing scheduled for Dec. 2 was canceled on Nov. 8. But Cope declined to reschedule anything for the date.
Cope schedules nothing before 9 a.m. or after 5 p.m., with 90 minutes each day for lunch. He sometimes schedules "desk time" during the day.
If he works outside the 9-to-5 time frame, it is not reflected on his calendar.
Frequently, Cope leaves his Friday afternoons open with no scheduled cases or appointments.
Cope was forced to take a paid leave while he battled criminal charges in California. He was accused in 2001 of getting drunk while in Carmel for a judicial conference, stealing a woman's room key and trying to enter her room at night. Cope denied the charges.
But he pleaded no contest last year to public intoxication, and prosecutors dismissed five other charges, including a charge he stole the key. Cope was fined $1,000.
A JQC panel cleared Cope of the most serious charges he faced, though it found him guilty of public intoxication and improper sexual conduct.
The Florida Supreme Court is scheduled to publicly reprimand him Aug. 28.
Lyrissa Lidsky, a professor of legal ethics at the University of Florida's law school, said judges are seldom accused of taking excessive vacation. Busy dockets that need tending see to that, she said.
"This sounds strange," she said. "Judges are public officials. And the taxpayers have the right to hold them accountable on how they use their time."
