TALLAHASSEE - Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Charles W. Cope received a verbal lashing and warning from Florida's highest court on Thursday for conduct deemed unfit for a man in his position.
"You, Judge Cope ... have gone astray," Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Harry Lee Anstead said. "And public confidence in you, and the system, has been shaken."
Cope stood silently as he was reprimanded for his behavior two years ago while in California for a judicial conference. He was publicly intoxicated and had improper intimate contact with a woman.
Cope, 54, is the 14th judge reprimanded by the Supreme Court since 1984. The procedure is reserved for judges whose personal or professional conduct is considered unbecoming, though not serious enough to warrant suspension or removal from office.
Cope's appearance before the court was a low point in an 11-year judicial career marked with controversy. He has weathered two alcohol-related arrests, including a 1996 DUI that was dismissed; and in-patient alcohol rehabilitation. The California incident, which resulted in a criminal case, brought legislative threats of impeachment.
Anstead reminded Cope that the public expects judges to work at judicial conferences.
"Instead ... you became publicly intoxicated on a nightly basis and made public sexual advances to a woman you had just met," Anstead said. "Such conduct would be inappropriate for anyone but is manifestly unacceptable for a judge."
Later, Anstead told Cope, "Now because of your irresponsible conduct, the entire judiciary in Florida must shoulder the damage you inflicted to public confidence in Florida's judiciary."
Then Anstead warned that any further transgressions would be dealt with harshly.
After the 10-minute reprimand, Cope walked out of the court hand in hand with his wife, Linda. He refused to talk with reporters and gave his wife a long hug before they departed together in a white Ford Escape.
The reprimand was the culmination of an ordeal that began on April 4, 2001. That's when Cope encountered a 31-year-old veterinarian, Lisa Jeanes, and her mother, Nina Jeanes, outside their Carmel, Calif., hotel.
Cope, who admitted he was intoxicated, said he tried to help the women find their lost hotel key. Carmel police say Cope, a married father of three, actually stole the key. Cope denied it.
Cope testified he later went on a beach walk with Lisa Jeanes. Cope said they returned to his room and engaged in sexual foreplay. Jeanes denied the judge's version of events, saying she ran from Cope after he tried to kiss her on the beach.
The next night at about midnight, the Jeaneses said they were awakened by Cope trying to open their door by using a key. Only the door chain prevented him from entering, they said.
Police found Cope, who also was intoxicated that second night, walking the streets nearby.
After a trial last June, a Judicial Qualifications Commission panel found Cope guilty of public intoxication and improper intimate contact with Jeanes. The commission, an independent panel which investigates charges of misconduct by Florida state judges, rejected other allegations, including charges that Cope stole the key.
Last year, Cope pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of public intoxication to end the criminal case against him in California.
With political baggage like that, some say re-election will be difficult for Cope.
On Wednesday, Clearwater attorney Walter "Skip" Schafer Jr. became the first person to announce he will run against Cope next fall.
"I think people have lost confidence in his fitness to serve," Schafer said.
Cope has refused to say if he will run. In March, a local lawyer, Dean Kantaras, sent e-mails around Pinellas soliciting support for Cope and saying the judge intended to run. Kantaras hasn't returned calls for comment.
"He faces certain defeat," said political consultant Mary Repper, whose firm is consulting for Schafer. "There is no way he can survive this. I can't believe he will actually run."
Former state Rep. Larry Crow, who served on the judiciary committee that looked into impeachment, said Cope's chances are slim, though not impossible.
"In general politics, I'd say he wouldn't have any chance at all," Crow said. "But judicial elections are a strange breed. Historically, they're low-interest, low-budget campaigns. It depends if his name recognition with voters is high. My inclination is that, yes, it is."
One vote Cope can count against him will come from John Schestag, a political gadfly who traveled from Pinellas to witness the reprimand.
"The man is unfit to be on the bench. For that matter, I think he's unfit to be Pinellas dog catcher," Schestag said.
Whatever happens, some say it would be in character for Cope to run given the tenaciousness with which he fought JQC charges.
"Charles isn't a quitter," said defense lawyer Denis de Vlaming, who introduced the Copes about 25 years ago.
"Win, lose or draw, when you get that much publicity, and the publicity is what it was, it's a tremendous price to pay," de Vlaming said. "The bloodletting certainly takes a toll."
