Longing for the days of real judicial unruliness

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By JAN GLIDEWELL

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 6, 2000

Gee, why does Hillsborough County get all of the neat judges? Newswise lately (although we had our glory days with Gary Graham in Citrus, L.R. Huffstetler in Hernando and Dan Rasmussen in Pasco) we're lucky to get someone accused of being arrogant or soft on criminals.

In Hillsborough one judge is trying to explain why he was caught in another judge's locked chambers, and one judge resigned under fire for alleged sexual harassment. A former judge turned prosecutor committed suicide shortly after reporters asked him about financial dealings with employees.

And, if you go back seven years there you'll find accusations of case-fixing, use of escort services, threats and a host of other goodies.

All we get are bad manners and wacky sentences.

And yes, dear letter writers and late-night voice-mail commandos, I'm being sarcastic.

It's kind of nice to live in an area where the worst isn't too bad . . . any more.

Not that it has all been boring.

L.R. Huffstetler, a former circuit judge in Hernando County, drove a van with a wheel cover that said "Have Gavel, Will Travel" and a bumper sticker reading "Here come da judge." He was spread-eagled against that van the night I met him.

Huffstetler had arrived to help in a manhunt and spent a few scary seconds as a suspect at a roadblock before everyone made nice. Later on he developed a reputation for wearing colorful robes in court and, near the end, having his court personnel dress in similar colors.

Included in that group of employees was his wife, Paulette. He hired her as a bailiff, three days before he married her, at the same salary he was paying his chief bailiff.

He has sued both this newspaper and another one when he felt he was wronged. In our case, he won in circuit court; we won on appeal. Later, on the day after he paid some of our court costs -- we donated it to charity -- we accidentally (really) called him a mass slayer. He graciously forgave us.

Huffstetler survived two challenges before the Judicial Qualifications Commission and a fair amount of ribbing from me. I was sad when be retired in 1988. And none of us will probably ever forget former Citrus County Judge Gary Graham who was kicked off the bench in 1993 after the Florida Supreme Court found that he had violated conduct rules and abused his judicial discretion.

Graham, who still practices law in Citrus County, once locked a guy up for wearing a T-shirt with what he considered an inappropriate term for the human derriere on it, sentenced another guy to have his pickup truck cut in half and sentenced a bunch of poisonous snakes to death.

He yelled at one guy for saying "Bull," in his courtroom, and a week later I spent an entire morning in court just to see how he would deal with a defendant named Bull. He looked at me a little testily when he realized why I was there and handled the case routinely.

Graham was ousted from the bench in 1993 and recently accepted a public reprimand and paid about $850 in costs to settle charges before the Florida Bar.

Interestingly, the guy he replaced, Leonard Damron, was removed from office in 1986 after Graham was instrumental in seeking the ouster.

A little down but not out, Graham just finished a battle with Inverness city officials over whether he could put up a flagpole on his property.

Graham won.

Citrus Circuit Judge Michael Blackstone is scheduled for a September hearing on charges that he improperly intervened in trials, conducted his own investigations and used inappropriate language in and out of the courtroom, including calling a female judge a b----. Blackstone, in official records, has admitted some inappropriate remarks, although he doesn't remember using the B word. He also admitted to some errors early in his term that he says have been rectified, but denied other charges.

Pasco County Judge Dan Rasmussen, known for stiff sentences and an attitude that many saw as the epitome of arrogance, once drew national note for calling abortion "murder" while denying a request to delay a jail sentence for a woman who wanted to terminate her pregnancy. Needless to say, the incident pleased roughly as many people as it angered.

In my younger and wilder days I once had a colleague present Rasmussen with a wall clock in the form of a giant Mickey Mouse watch, not knowing she would give it to him in open court. He was gracious and I remained free.

Prosecutors and cops up Hernando way are unhappy with Hernando County Judge Peyton Hyslop for what they think is a too-soft policy on bail for defendants that appear before him . . . Gee, what a novel problem. Bet I can find a public defender to say he's too tough.

Shortly after I came to Pasco County it was Circuit Judge Ray E. Ulmer Jr., who had the nickname "Raiford Ray," who was catching heat for being too tough.

Later his reputation softened a little, but I can never forget the Mother's Day a greeting card arrived at his office.

It was signed by a whole lot of the inmates at the county jail, and informed him that they had voted him "Mother of the Year."

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