The state's highest court is considering sanctioning or suspending a Baltimore County district judge who disparaged the Circuit Court benches in Baltimore City and Baltimore County. The hearing in December regarding Judge Bruce S. Lamdin's conduct was the first of its kind in the state since 1984, when the Court of Appeals removed a judge for forging court documents.
The commission privately sanctioned Washington County Judge W. Kennedy Boone III for making inappropriate remarks in court last year, according to a Jan. 18 listing in the Maryland Register. It said Boone called three minority, female assistant public defenders the "Supremes" and insisted that an "experienced male attorney" from the public defender's office represent their client.
In Gatewood's case, the county received an anonymous tip on Oct. 9, 2006, that trucks - possibly as many as 40, an investigation later revealed - were dumping landfill material along the water, where the Patapsco River meets Stony Creek. The county issued a stop-work order Oct. 13, 2006, but inspectors found evidence of more dumping.
