Accused judge takes leave of absence

On Friday, Circuit Judge Charles Cope, is scheduled to plead guilty to two misdemeanors in California.

By ANITA KUMAR

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 14, 2001

The top family judge in Pinellas and Pasco counties began an indefinite leave of absence Monday, months after his arrest on charges of trying to enter the hotel of two women while attending a judicial seminar in Carmel, Calif.

Judge Charles W. Cope, arrested on two misdemeanor charges in April, is scheduled to plead guilty Friday, according to the Monterey County clerk of courts office. Cope's attorneys say he will not attend the hearing.

Cope, a Pinellas-Pasco circuit judge since 1992, is taking time off from work with pay "to address some important personal issues," Chief Judge David Demers wrote in a brief statement Monday.

The judge's attorney said Cope reported his arrest to the Florida agency that handles judicial discipline, as he did in 1996 when he was charged with DUI while at a judicial conference in Naples, Fla. The DUI charge was later dismissed.

"I believe he caused it to be reported," said Lou Kwall, his Florida attorney.

The Judicial Qualifications Commission, which has the authority to suspend or remove a judge for violating judicial canons, will not confirm whether it is investigating Cope.

In both the Florida and California cases, arresting officers say Cope was intoxicated.

Demers, who is out of the office this week, and Susan Schaeffer, the acting chief judge, would not elaborate on Cope's leave of absence.

Tom Worthington, Cope's California attorney, said he was "not authorized" to explain why Cope is taking time off from work but said that question would "probably be answered on Friday" at the hearing. Kwall said Cope would be out of his Clearwater office for at least two weeks.

Cope, 52, a married father of three, is charged with two misdemeanors, prowling/loitering and peering into an inhabited dwelling. Carmel police say he tried to enter the hotel room of a 64-year-old woman and her 31-year-old daughter at 12:30 a.m. April 5.

Officers say Cope had been drinking and met the women the previous morning, when police found the trio walking down the middle of a Carmel street at 1:30 a.m., all highly intoxicated.

The women believe Cope took their room key without their knowledge when he first met them and then used it to open their locked door, police said. Only the room's chain prevented him from entering, police said.

Cope, who called the incident a "huge misunderstanding," has pleaded not guilty. His attorneys have said the judge was simply taking a walk through Carmel, something tourists do all the time, and that someone else tried to get into the women's room.

At a pretrial hearing last month, California prosecutors offered him a plea deal. The case was postponed to give his attorneys more time to investigate the case. If Cope doesn't accept it on Friday, his case will be set for trial.

Neither Worthington nor the assistant district attorney handling the case would reveal terms of the proposed plea. The charges carry a maximum penalty of six months in jail.

"We're trying to work something out," Worthington said.

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