Allen Circuit Court Judge Thomas Felts was arrested for suspicion of drunk driving while in Indianapolis last Friday. Judge
Felts told Indiana Lawyer he regrets what’s happened.
Judges getting arrested and breaking the law isn’t anything new. Judges are human, just like the rest of us. However, after working intimately with the law day after day, knowing the consequences of drunk driving, you would think they would be even more acutely aware of their actions that break the law.
He isn’t the first one to be charged with drunk driving or public intoxication. Carroll Circuit Judge Donald Currie received a public admonition following his 2007 arrest for public intoxication.Marion Superior Judge John F. Hanley was arrested in December 2006 in Indianapolis for operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration equivalent to at least .15 gram of alcohol and later pleaded guilty to the charge. Another Marion Superior judge, Hon. Israel Nunez Cruz, was arrested in Hendricks County in June 2006 and charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated. Both received public reprimands.
What’s going through the minds of attorneys and judges when they get into trouble with the law? What does this do to the reputation of judges charged and/or convicted of crimes? Judge Felts is up for re-election this November. Will the general public hold this against him and other judges who have gotten into legal trouble, or will voters even remember when election time rolls around?
Judges getting arrested and breaking the law isn’t anything new. Judges are human, just like the rest of us. However, after working intimately with the law day after day, knowing the consequences of drunk driving, you would think they would be even more acutely aware of their actions that break the law.
He isn’t the first one to be charged with drunk driving or public intoxication. Carroll Circuit Judge Donald Currie received a public admonition following his 2007 arrest for public intoxication.Marion Superior Judge John F. Hanley was arrested in December 2006 in Indianapolis for operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration equivalent to at least .15 gram of alcohol and later pleaded guilty to the charge. Another Marion Superior judge, Hon. Israel Nunez Cruz, was arrested in Hendricks County in June 2006 and charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated. Both received public reprimands.
What’s going through the minds of attorneys and judges when they get into trouble with the law? What does this do to the reputation of judges charged and/or convicted of crimes? Judge Felts is up for re-election this November. Will the general public hold this against him and other judges who have gotten into legal trouble, or will voters even remember when election time rolls around?
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Boo Hoo for Judge Felts.
Give me a break Judge Nelson